Studies in Literature in English, Vol. 8 (Hardbound - 2004)

The fifteen essays included in this volume are refreshingly original and cover a wide range of authors and subjects. Looking briefly at Keats the essays move on to the great Victorian novelist and poet, Thomas Hardy, then linger for a considerable period in the world of T.S. Eliot, the greatest poet of the twentieth century, examine the expatriate sensibility of two American women writers—Bharati Mukherjee and Jhumpa Lahiri—of Indian extraction, reconnoitre West Africa through the eyes of Mary Kingsley and Gerald Durrell, visit Chinua Achebe and then end up with the Afro-American novels.

An excursion into the worlds of these writers is bound to be as delightful as it will be rewarding. Since most of the authors discussed are widely prescribed in the university syllabus in India and abroad, teachers, scholars and students of English literature in English will find this volume extremely useful. The general readers who are interested in literature in English will also find this book an interesting and precious aesthetic experience.

Mohit K. Ray (a full professor since 1982) is one of the senior most Professors in the country. He has three 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, German, etc.

He has edited several anthologies of critical studies, and edits The Atlantic Critical Review, an international quarterly of global circulation.

Professor Ray is a distinguished member of many international bodies including Association Internationale de Littérature Comparée, Paris, and Association Internationale des Critiques Littéraires, Paris.