: Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya
: T.V. Reddy's Fleeting Bubbles An Indian Interpretation
: Modern History Press
: 9781615994144
: 1
: CHF 6.00
:
: Belletristik
: English
: 180
: DRM
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB

Prof. Ramesh, with his thorough knowledge of the Western and Indian poetics, as well as the culture of the land is the right person to explain and interpret the poems of T. Vasudeva Reddy'sFleeting Bubbles. This collection of poems holds a mirror as it were to the existing social situations in India. Following an introduction, this book exploresFleeting Bubbles in six phases: Rural, Urban, Political and Social, Subjective, General, and Spiritual phases. Each chapter focuses on the aspects of a particular thematic pattern as it is analyzed and explained.
Prof. Ramesh occupies a special place, an unenviable position with his total reliance on Indian poetics, while analyzing and interpreting a poem by an Indian poet. As such with his toolkit of integrated critical background and approach, he can easily open the chambers of the concealed beauties of the poems of Dr. T.V. Reddy and make it accessible to the average reader.
The poetry of Dr. Reddy is loaded with the rich ore of ambiguity and Prof. Ramesh has successfully unearthed the hidden layers and beauties of the poems ofFleeting Bubbles and decoded the lines for reader's understanding. As one goes through this book, the reader can understand better the critical concepts of Dr. Ramesh and the nature of his critical approach in understanding and interpreting a poem.
Dr. Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya, (1947 -) is a distinguished scholar, researcher, a bilingual writer in English and Bengali and editor from Kolkata. He did M. A. in three subjects, M.Phil. and Ph.D. in English and Sutrapitaka Tirtha and has retired as a college lecturer and professor. He has written more than forty books in English and Bengali and has published hundreds of critical articles and poems. He lives near Sri Ramakrishna Mission at Belur in Kolkata.

Chapter 1: Introduction

Among all the genres in literature, poetry is the earliest and the most appealing one, and right from the early times it has its sway on the minds of all the people, both literate and illiterate. Thousands of years before the emergence of Greek literature, the earliest epicThe Ramayana was written in Sanskrit in ancient India by sage Valmiki probably 5000 years before the birth of Christ or by all knowledge even earlier and its appeal is as fresh as it was eons ago in the days of Sri Rama the legendary King of Ayodhya in ancient India and the hero of the immortal epic. About three thousand years before the advent of Christ the second great epicThe Mahabharata was written in Sanskrit by Vyasa and there is no place or village in India where these two great epics are not read everyday even now. Scholars and historians of the West have totally failed to arrive at the correct date or period of composition of these two great ancient Indian epics thereby misleading generations of readers.

With the passing of millenniums its appeal is growing on the international scene. It is not only a lengthy poem abound with all the literary beauties and flourishes but a permanent work of art and a monument of ethics, aesthetics and human values. That is the reason for its unfading greatness, growing popularity and increasing appeal. In the early times after the advent of Christ, stream of immortal poetry flowed from the quill of Kalidasa the distinguished poet in Sanskrit and while reading hisSakuntala the German poet Goethe danced in joy at its poetic beauty that transported him to higher realms. Such is the inspiring spirit and artistic merit of poetry. In the same way in English literature Shakespeare has become an immortal writer with his poetic plays and sonnets of supreme quality. Can we in India forget the unforgettable lines of immortal poets such as Gray, Wordsworth, Shelley or Keats?

To this category belong a few Indian poets in English. In the period before independence Toru Dutt, Sarojini Naidu, Tagore and Sri Aurobindo wrote good poetry judged from any literary or critical standard and their greatness cannot be questioned by any sane or rational reader or critic. All of them come in the long line of Indian poets writing in Indian tradition; language may be English in which they have written, but they are Indians and they never felt that they were away from the land and spirit of India which they projected in their writings. Toru Dutt with her stay with her parents in France and England at the early age imbibed multi-cultural discipline and after returning to India equipped herself with necessary knowledge of ancient Indian epics which enabled her to write some of her best poems on Indian themes.

As a matter of fact Tagore wrote first in Bengali and later translated some of his writings into English. Sarojini Naidu, born and brought up in Hyderabad, was very much influenced by the multi-cultural living conditions, architectural beauty and harmony of the place. The process of thinking was essentially Indian as their minds were steeped in Indian tradition and culture. During her stay in England she was advised by the famous writers of the period Arthur Symons and Edmund Gosse to focus on Indian themes in her poems which she scrupulously followed. With Aurobindo, English was almost his mother tongue as he entered England in his seventh year and after fourteen years soon after the completion of his education he returned to India in 1893. As a matter of fact Aurobindo as a student in London and Cambridge did outshine his British compeers in English and in classics and he scored the highest mark in Greek.

Almost a similar feat was achieved a few years later by Sir C.R. Reddy (kattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy who belonged to the same Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh from which the present poet T.V. Reddy comes) who outshone the British students as an inspiring orator and he was an outstanding debater and he was the first Indian student to be chosen as Vice President of the Union Society. When he was the Vice President of the Union Society, John Maynard Keynes who later rose to be a world-famous econo