40.

Which of the following statements on

the ending of Kafkas Metamorphosis is correct ?
The death of Gregor Samsa is marked by
(A) violent convulsions.
(B) a slow ebbing away of life hardly perceptible.
(C) the miraculous appearance of a
priest to administer the last rites.
(D) the intense mourning of the
cleaner who discovers the body
Ans: 40 B ( He remains motionless through the night, thinking to himself all the while that he must go
away to relieve them of their suffering. As dawn breaks, he dies.)
Kafka is renowned for his visionary and profoundly enigmatic stories that often present a grotesque
vision of the world in which individuals burdened with guilt, isolation, and anxiety make a futile search
for personal salvation.
His major works include: The Trial (Der Prozess), The Castle (Das Schloss), Amerika and The
Metamorphosis. Most of his works were published posthumously.
His complex and impersonal stories are so unique that his name inspired an adjective - kafkaesque.
Franz Kafka's novella/play The Metamorphosis, published in 1915, opens with one of the most famous
lines in fiction: "As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed
in his bed into a gigantic insect." The creature has also been translated as "vermin," "cockroach," or
"beetle," an ambiguity which is as inherent to rest of the work. The Metamorphosis follows Gregor's
interaction with his family, his job, society, and finally death.
Everyone has a different opinion of what it means: the Freudians, the Marxists, the Postmodernists. but
the general consensus is that it's a brilliant portrayal of alienation, betrayal and self-sacrifice. Kafka
doesn't go on a philosophical rant about the fate of man, rather he perfectly encapsulates it in a brilliantly
dark and comic masterpiece, all in succinct, deadpan language.
"I need solitude for my writing; not 'like a hermit' - that wouldn't be enough - but like a dead man."
- Franz Kafka
.
41. Archetypal criticism accepts as its
informing principle that archetypes
are present in all literature and
provide the basis of its
interconnectedness. Practitioners
include
Code :
I. Northrop Frye
II. Dorothy Van Ghent
III. Derek Traversi
IV. Maud Bodkin
The correct combination according to
the code is :
(A) I and IV are correct.
(B) I and III are correct.
(C) II and IV are correct.
(D) I and II are correct.
ANS: 41 A ( Archetypal/Myth Criticism is a form of criticism based largely on the works of C. G. Jung
(YOONG) and Joseph Campbell . Some of the school's major figures include Robert Graves, Francis
Fergusson, Philip Wheelwright, Leslie Fiedler, Northrop Frye, Maud Bodkin, and G. Wilson Knight.
These critics view the genres and individual plot patterns of literature, including highly sophisticated and
realistic works, as recurrences of certain archetypes and essential mythic formulae. Archetypes, according
to Jung, are "primordial images"; the "psychic residue" of repeated types of experience in the lives of
very ancient ancestors which are inherited in the "collective unconscious" of the human race and are
expressed in myths, religion, dreams, and private fantasies, as well as in the works of literature. (Abrams,
p. 10, 112). Some common examples of archetypes include water, sun, moon, colors, circles, the Great

Mother, Wise Old Man, etc. In terms of archetypal criticism, the color white might be associated with
innocence or could signify death or the supernatural.
Key Terms:
Anima - feminine aspect - the inner feminine part of the male personality or a man's image of a woman.
Animus - male aspect - an inner masculine part of the female personality or a woman's image of a man.
Archetype - (from Makaryk - see General Resources below) - "a typical or recurring
image, character, narrative design, theme, or other literary phenomenon that has been in literature from
the beginning and regularly reappears" (508). Note - Frye sees archetypes as recurring patterns in
literature; in contrast, Jung views archetypes as primal, ancient images/experience that we have
inherited.
Collective Unconscious - "a set of primal memories common to the human race, existing below each
person's conscious mind" (Jung)
Persona - the image we present to the world
Shadow - darker, sometimes hidden (deliberately or unconsciously), elements of a
person's psyche
42. In the sonnet Death, Be Not Proud, Donne says to death: Those whom
thou thinkst thou dost over-throw /Die not, poor death, nor yet canst
thou kill me. What does he mean ?
(A) Death is very strong.
(B) Death is not death, because after death we wake up to live eternally.
(C) One must face death courageously and defiantly.
(D) Death is not as strong as he thinks he is.
ANS:42 D The meaning is "shortly after we die (compared to 'sleep'), we'll wake up and live eternally. In
this sense, it's death that shall die". Paradox is very common in metaphysical poetry. John Donne
concludes his poem with a couplet that first balances the ideas of death as a sleeping and death as a
waking, and then summarizes the more profound paradox that a person's death is his victory over dying
and death.
43. In which of the following plays of Luigi Pirandello the stage itself, the
symbol of appearance and reality, becomes the setting of the play ?
(A) Right You Are (If You Think,You Are)
(B) To Clothe the Naked
(C) The Life I Gave You
(D) Six Characters in Search of an Author
Ans: 43 D Luigi Pirandello was an Italian dramatist, novelist, poet and short story writer. He was
awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature for his "bold and brilliant renovation of the drama and the
stage".
Pirandello's works include novels, hundreds of short stories, and about 40 plays, some of which are
written in Sicilian. Pirandello's tragic farces are often seen as forerunners of the Theatre of the Absurd.
Luigi Pirandello(1867-1936) was born in Girgenti, Sicily. He wrote a great number of novellas which were
collected under the title Novelle per un anno (15 vols., 1922-37). Of his six novels the best known are Il fu
Mattia Pascal (1904) [The Late Mattia Pascal], I vecchi e i giovani (1913) [The Old and the Young], Si gira
(1916) | [Shoot!], and Uno, nessuno e centomila (1926) [One, None, and a Hundred thousand. But
Pirandello's greatest achievement is in his plays.He wrote a large number of dramas which were
published, between 1918 and 1935, under the collective title of Maschere nude [Naked Masks]. The title is
programmatic. Pirandello is always preoccupied with the problem of identity. The self exists to him only
in relation to others; it consists of changing facets that hide an inscrutable abyss. In a play like Cos (se
vi pare) (1918) [Right You Are (If You Think You Are)], two people hold contradictory notions about the
identity of a third person.
The analysis and dissolution of a unified self are carried to an extreme in Sei personaggi in cerca
d'autore(1921) [Six Characters in Search of An Author] where the stage itself, the symbol of appearance
versus reality, becomes the setting of the play.
Premiering to great controversy in Rome, Six Characters in Search of an Author recounts the fate of a
family of characters left unrealized by their author. Desperate to come to life, the characters interrupt the
rehearsal of another Pirandello play and demand that the director and cast stage their story. Pirandello
retrospectively grouped this surreal tale in a trilogy of "the theater in the theater," along with Each His
Own Way (1924) and Tonight We Improvise (1930). Taking the theater itself as its setting and subject, this
trilogy drew upon the relations between all the major players of the dramatic spectacledirectors, actors,
characters, spectators, and criticsto "present every possible conflict." As such a deeply self- referential

or meta-theatrical work, Six Characters is also a key exercise in what Pirandello termed il teatro dello
specchio or "the mirror theater," a play that turns a mirror onto the theater itself.
44. Given below are two statements, one is labelled as Assertion (A) and the
other is labelled as Reason (R) :
Assertion (A) : Many modern British writers infused their works with an extreme sense of uncertainty,
disillusionment and despair.
Reason (R) : The writers were responding to the devastation of war and feeling disconnected from the
traditions of the past.
In the context of the above statements, which one of the following is correct?
Codes :
(A) Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).
(B) Both (A) and (R) are true, but
(R) is not the correct explanation of (A).
(C) (A) is true, but (R) is false.
(D) (A) is false, but (R) is true
Ans: 44 A
Characteristics of Modernism in Literature
Marked by a strong and intentional break with tradition. This break includes a strong reaction against
established religious, political, and social views.
Belief that the world is created in the act of perceiving it; that is, the world is what we say it is.
There is no such thing as absolute truth. All things are relative.
No connection with history or institutions. Their experience is that of alienation, loss, and despair.
Championship of the individual and celebration of inner strength. Life is unordered.
Concerned with the sub-conscious.
In Modernism, there is an emphasis on impressionism and subjectivity in writing (and in visual arts as
well); an emphasis on HOW seeing (or reading or perception itself) takes place, rather than on WHAT is
perceived. An example of this would be stream-of-consciousness writing.
Thematic characteristics
For the first-time reader, modernist writing can seem frustrating to understand because of the use of a
fragmented style and a lack of conciseness. Furthermore the plot, characters and themes of the text are
not always presented in a linear way. The goal of modernist literature is also not particularly focused on
catering to one particular audience in a formal way. In addition modernist literature often forcefully
opposes, or gives an alternative opinion, on a social concept. Common concerns of modernism are: the
breaking down of social norms, rejection of standard social ideas, and traditional thoughts and
expectations, rejection of religion and anger against the effects of the world wars. As well, modernists
tend to reject
history, social systems, and emphasize alienation in modern urban and industrial societies.
Modernism in American Literature :
In American Literature, the group of writers and thinkers known as the Lost Generation has become
synonymous with Modernism. In the wake of the First World War, several American artists chose to live
abroad as they pursued their creative impulses. These included the intellectual Gertrude Stein, the
novelists
Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the painter Waldo Pierce, among others. The term itself
refers to the spiritual and existential hangover left by four years of unimaginably destructive warfare.
The artists of the Lost Generation struggled to find some meaning in the world in the wake of chaos. As
with much of Modernist literature, this was achieved by turning the minds eye inward and attempting to
record the workings of consciousness. For Hemingway, this meant the abandonment of all ornamental
language. His novels are famous for their extremely spare, blunt, simple sentences and emotions that play
out right on the surface of things. There is an irony to this bluntness, however, as his characters often
have hidden agendas, hidden sometimes even from themselves, which serve to guide their actions. The
Lost Generation, like other High Modernists, gave up on the idea that anything was truly knowable. All
truth became relative, conditional, and in flux. The War demonstrated that no guiding spirit rules the
events of
the world, and that absolute destruction was kept in check by only the tiniest of margins.
.
45. Which among the following statements is not correct ? Badal Sircars Pagla Ghora is a play about
(A) the condition of women in post- Second World War Bengal.
(B) the political and religious conditions of the time.
(C) sexual passion.

(D) lack of communication between men and women.

ANS: 45 B Badal Sircar (15 July 1925 13 May 2011), also known as Badal Sarkar, was an influential
Indian dramatist and theatre director, most known for his anti-establishment plays during the Naxalite
movement in the 1970s and taking theatre out of the prosceniumand into public arena, when he founded
his own theatre company, Shatabdi in 1976. He wrote more than fifty plays of which Ebong Indrajit, Basi
Khabar, and Saari Raat are well known literary pieces, a pioneering figure in street theatre as well as in
experimental and contemporary Bengali theatre with his egalitarian "Third Theatre", he prolifically
wrote scripts for his Aanganmanch (courtyard stage) performances, and remains one of the most
translated Indian playwrights. Though his early comedies were popular, it was his angst-ridden Ebong
Indrajit (And Indrajit) that became a landmark play in Indian theatre.[4]Today, his rise as a prominent
playwright in 1960s is seen as the coming of age of Modern Indian playwriting in Bengali, just as Vijay
Tendulkar did it in Marathi, Mohan Rakesh in Hindi, and Girish Karnad in Kannada.[5]
He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1972, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1968 and theSangeet Natak
Akademi Fellowship- Ratna Sadsya, the highest honour in the performing arts by Govt. of India, in 1997.
( Theme: Minor issues obstruct road to happiness)
Written in the 70s Badal Sircars PAGLA GHODA is a milestone in Indian Theatre. It speaks of human
values , sense of commitment, pain , agony, ecstasy and turmoil face by us humans till we lie on the pyre
.Its a brilliantly written play with a very simple premise of four men from different walks of life chatting
at a funeral of a young girl. A mystery shrouds her death but when they start to excavate the truth behind
her death skeletons from their own cupboards start piling on them and then the play becomes a magically
layered narrative and an engrossing modern fable to watch.
About the play - The play's setting is a shamshaam ghat (crematorium)where four men have come to
perform the last rites of a girl. While the girl burns on her funeral pyre, the four men drink whiskey and
play cards. In the process, they also narrate their love stories. Slowly, the love-life of all the men is
unearthed, barring one, who is too reticent to speak. Towards the end, this man acknowledges his love for
the girl who is burning.......... In a stunning climax, the burning girl shrieks for her beloved calling him to
take him out from the funeral pyre.............