Literary Ocean

Tautology: Defintition, meaning and Examples

Definition The term ‘tautology’ comes from Greek ‘tauto’, meaning the same’, and ‘logia’ means ‘way of speaking’. It means etymologically ‘to make the same statement as already made’. In fact, when the same fact or idea is repeated in different words or expressions, the case becomes one of tautology. Characteristics and Examples Repetition of an…

1 day ago0Comments BySupriya Maity

Novels

Dramatic Significance of the Hockey Match in The Untouchable

One of the remarkable dramatic Scenes in the novel "Untouchable" is the Hockey match in the evening between Bakha and his friends. The two teams scheduled to play on the ground are the 31st Punjabis and the 38th Dogras, which consist of the untouchable boys. Anand portrays a lively picture of the match, "It was…

3 days ago0Comments BySupriya Maity

Essay

Beat Generation: Characteristics, Famous Writers & Works

The term ‘beat’, in this restricted sense, is generally believed to have been devised by Jack Kerouac (1922-69). It bears connotations of down-beat, off-beat, down-and-out, drop-out and beatitude, and denotes a group of American writers (especially poets) who became prominent in the 1950s. They are particularly associated with San Francisco, USA, and their generally accepted…

September 21, 20260Comments BySupriya Maity

Literary Terms

Walter Benjamin’s Concept of Constellation: Meaning and Analysis

Walter Benjamin famously proposed the concept of ‘constellation’ in the ‘Epistemo-Critical Prologue’ to Ursprung des deutschen Trauerspiels (1928), translated as The Origin of German Tragic Drama (1977), that ideas are to objects as constellations are to stars. That is to say, ideas are no more present in the world than constellations actually exist in the heavens, but like constellations,…

September 20, 20260Comments BySupriya Maity

Plays

Poetic Justice or Moral Anarchy in King Lear? A Critical Discussion

Poetic justice is a sort of ideal justice, which the poets and critics are expected to impart in allocating rewards and punishments to the characters they create. It is an ideal world of justice where crime and punishment exist bound more or less by a nexus of transcendental mathematics. Poetic justice as an idea, however,…

September 17, 20260Comments BySupriya Maity

Plays

The Role of the Witches in Macbeth by William Shakespeare

In William Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth”, the witches are weird sisters. In some way, they resemble the mythological Fates, who impersonally control human destiny. They are malevolent characters. They embody evil. They control the sequence of events of the play in a true sense. When they meet Macbeth and Banquo, they greet Macbeth as the thane…

September 16, 20260Comments BySupriya Maity

Poem

Ode to the West Wind: Activities of the West Wind by P.B. Shelley

P.B.Shelley’s celebrated ode titled Ode to the West Wind is an invocation to the spirit of the wild and uncontrollable west wind. He extols this spirit of the west wind in its two-fold capacity as a destroyer and preserver. The poet celebrates here the uncontrollable power of the west wind. He describes its activities on the…

September 15, 20260Comments BySupriya Maity

Essay

Readerly and Writerly Text: Roland Barthes’ Theory Explained

The terms ‘readerly/writerly’ text are devised by Roland Barthes (1915-80), the French critic, to make a distinction between two basic kinds of text: the lisible (‘readerly’) and the scriptible (‘writerly’). He expounds on this in his book S/Z (1970). By a ‘readerly’ text he means a book (a novel, say) to which a reader’s response is more or…

September 14, 20260Comments BySupriya Maity

Author

Leo Strauss (1899–1973): Biography, Political Philosophy and Works

Leo Strauss (1899-1973) was a German-born Jewish-American political philosopher. He is often referred to as the “father” of neoconservative philosophy. In 1921, he received his Ph.D. from the University of Hamburg under the guidance of Ernst Cassirer. He also took classes at Freiburg, where he was taught by Martin Heidegger and Edmund Husserl. He was involved…

September 13, 20260Comments BySupriya Maity

Author

Jeremy Collier: Biography, Works and A Short View (1698)

Jeremy Collier(1650-1726) was an English theatre critic, clergyman, and theologian. He was born in Cambridgeshire. He was educated at Caius College, University of Cambridge, receiving a BA (1673) and MA (1676). He was a supporter of James II. He refused, as a nonjuror, to swear the oath to William III and Mary II and was…

September 12, 20260Comments BySupriya Maity