About the Book

The meaning of a text is not fixed, standards of criticism change, and in matters of literature and criticism there is always space to accommodate one more opinion. Drawing from a diverse range of writing on literature, this book covers areas like English classics, literature in translation, Continental literature, Indian literature, literature of the diaspora, Indian writing in English and the changing face of English criticism in India. Offering a critical reexamination of literary judgements past and present, this book abundantly serves the basic principles of literary criticism: discussion, dialogue, debate, disagreement and dissent.

About the Author

Mohammad Asim Siddiqui is Associate Professor at the Department of English, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. His areas of interest include postcolonial fiction, cultural studies and film studies. Abdur Raheem Kidwai is Director, UGC Academic Staff College, and Professor, Department of English, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. His areas of interest and publications include Romantic writers, literary orientalism, ELT, and the English translations of the Quran.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Mapping the Field of English Studies in India by Mohammad Asim Siddiqui Revisiting the English Canon • Doctrine in Doctor Faustus: A Deconstructionist Reading — Rashmi Mehta • The Search for Godhead in Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus — Ankur Sharma • “Too wide apart our faith has been”: William Wordsworth’s Orientalism — Abdur Raheem Kidwai • Unweaving a Rainbow: Heroines of Keats’s Lyrics — Seemin Hasan • Exploring Terra Incognita: Johnson’s and Boswell’s Journey to Scotland — Shehla Ghauri • Lady Mary Montagu’s Rhetoric(s) in The Turkish Embassy Letters — Farha Hiba Parvez • ‘Agony and Glory’ of Clym in The Return of the Native: A Study in Humanistic- Existential Model of Behaviour — Nikhat Taj The American Connection • Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The House of Seven Gables: A Discourse of History and Culture — Rubina Iqbal • The Self and the Environment: Tom Canty’s Struggle with Authentic Identity in Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper — Madihur Rehman Suhaib • The Glass Menagerie: An Interdisciplinary Approach — Sami Rafiq • Buckling Under Feminist Charges: Women in Ayn Rand’s Lesser Known Works — Akbar J. A. Syed On to the Counter-Canon • Home in Exile, Exile at Home: The Case of Asian Diasporic Writing — Ameena Kazi Ansari • Reading Select Plays of Tagore in the Post-Colonial Perspective — Nazia Hasan • Spiritual Odyssey of Sindi Oberoi in Arun Joshi’s The Foreigner. — Rashmi Attri • Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being: An Existential Discourse — Mohammad Asif Aligarianonia • Through the Eyes of the Aligarh Journal of English Studies: Moments in the Narrative of Literary Criticism at Aligarh — Mohammad Asim Siddiqui • Asloob Ahmad Ansari as a Literary Critic — Mohammad Asim Siddiqui • Masoodul Hasan’s Writings in English: A Bibliographic Essay — Mohammad Asim Siddiqui • Theatricality and Bleak Perspectives in Zahida Zaidi’s Bahut Door Tak Raat Hogi — Samina Khan • Asloob Ahmad Ansari’s Works in English and Urdu — Amirullah Khan, Sajidul Islam and Shahabuddin Saquib • Zahida Zaidi’s Works in English and Urdu: An Annotated Bibliography — Taj Mohammad • English Language Teaching (ELT) at the Aligarh Muslim University: Key Developments and Future Directions — Raashid Nehal • Interview with Professor Masoodul Hasan — Mohammad Asim Siddiqui