Technics of Literature: An Introduction to Literature and Literary Theory in India

Course Description

An introductory exploration of modern Indian literature from the colonial to the contemporary period, examining how literary texts engage with key debates on colonialism, nationalism, identity, modernity, and globalization. Through close reading and critical theory, the course develops analytical skills to understand literature as a historically and politically mediated form of aesthetic expression.

Syllabus

Full Syllabus

Weekly Topics

1. Literature and Theory: An Introduction
2. Narrative, History, and the Making of Consciousness
3. Colonial Reality and the Emergence of Literary Realism
4. Caste, Untouchability, and the Crisis of Representation
5. English India: Language, Empire, and Literary Form
6. Transitions and Ruptures: Colonialism, Partition, and Decolonization
7. New Nation, New Affects: Gender, Desire, and the Postcolonial Subject
8. Centers and Peripheries: History, Nation, and the Subaltern
9. Signs, Culture, and the Politics of Representation
10. Indian Literature and the Global Imagination
11. Violence, Inequality, and the Contemporary Indian Novel
12. Techniques of Literature: Form, Politics, and the Question of Literature