Studies in Literature in English, Vol. 14, is intended to meet the growing demand for the series. The volume covers a wide range of authors and subjects across space and time.
The seven essays on mainstream British literature cover a range of canonical authors including the poets Robert Herrick, John Keats, and novelists like Thomas Hardy and E.M. Forster, in addition to W.H. Auden’s wartime poetry and Edward Bond’s post-war drama.
The volume is further enriched by the illuminating essays on renowned American authors like O. Henry, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, in addition to a new perspective on Black American literature. Furthermore, Caribbean immigrant writing as represented by Samuel Selvon’s works receives critical attention. The discussions focused on the Indian literary scenario shed new lights on Rabindranath Tagore, and R.K. Narayan, as well as some known partition writers.
Another highlight of the present volume is its reflection of the growing interest in, and validity of, apparently daring comparisons across cultures and spaces. Thomas Hardy’s Tess has been studied alongside the famous Sanskrit dramatist Kalidasa’s Śakuntalå, whereas American Black literature has been studied together with Marathi Dalit literature of India, and Robert Herrick with John Crowe Ransom.
Students, scholars and general readers of English literature will find the anthology both useful and enjoyable.
A full Professor since 1982, and recently retired, Dr Mohit K. Ray is one of the seniormost Professors in the country. He has four books and a large number of research papers published in scholarly journals in India and abroad, which reflect his wide range of scholarship including Criticism, Comparative Literature, New Literatures, Canonical Literature, Comparative Poetics and Translation Studies.
Professor Ray has attended and chaired sessions as an invited participant in many international Conferences, Seminars, and Colloquia held in different parts of the globe—England, France, Portugal, Austria, Finland, Estonia, America, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, etc.
Professor Ray has studied several languages including Latin, Sanskrit, Arabic, French, and German.
His latest literary works in English include: T.S. Eliot: Search for a Critical Credo; Studies in Literary Criticism and Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness: A Critical Study.
Besides these, he has edited several anthologies of critical studies, and edits The Atlantic Critical Review, an international quarterly of global circulation. He is also at present working as the Chief Editor of Atlantic Publishers & Distributors (P) Ltd., New Delhi.
Professor Ray has also done a UGC-sponsored Major Research Project on “A Comparative Study of the Indian Poetics and the Western Poetics”.
Professor Ray is associated with many international bodies including Association Internationals de Litterature Comparee, Paris, and Association Internationale des Critiques Littéraires, Paris.
