REVIEWS
Literature
and Literary Criticism, by M. G. Bhate, Senior Professor of
English, Fergusson College, Poona. (Karnatak Publishing House, Bombay 4. Price
Rs. 2-8.)
WE
live now in the age of T. S. Eliot. Not only is he to be regarded as the
greatest poet–he has been awarded the Nobel Crown–but also as the greatest
critic, and therefore literary dictator of the age. It is natural that those
who have been bred up on the standards and values of an earlier age are
disappointed in reading Eliot. They seek in vain the old verbal melody, and the
old clarity of expression. We need initiation to be able to comprehend Eliot.
We had learnt a formula that a work which needs footnotes is for that reason
worthless, but apparently today, all worthwhile writing may be enjoyed only by
a select few. It was once our conviction that 17th century poetry as in Donne
was overburdened with religion, as superficiality and complacency characterised
the 18th century, and the 19th century ushered in a time when values were
judiciously blended and poetry steered clear of the Syclla of religion and the
Charybdis of thoughtlessness. Now overwhelming spirituality has taken
possession of poetry, and the poet roams over unchartered oceans of thought,
without the restraint derived from the need to make his wanderings intelligible
to the reader. Prof. Bhate seems to write in imitation of the style of his
adored masters: “….the main argument of this book, that literature stimulates
the ‘whole soul of man into activity,’ that it embodies the total response of
the human personality to life, a response, of course, on the contemplative
plane–in an effort to see life steadily and see it whole.”
At
the very beginning of the book, the author, differentiating between oral and
written literature, refers obviously to the tendency of poets like Eliot: “It
has also increased the danger of his resorting to a system of private
word-symbols and becoming inaccessible to the common reader behind a cloud of
obscurity.” In the chapter, Writer, Literature, and Reader, we read: “Ambiguity
is central to the nature and function of literature, it is wrong-headed to
demand mathematical exactness from the literary artist.”
A
fresh formulation of the first principles of literature is naturally called for
with every new movement making itself felt in the literary world. The need is
all the greater when the new movement is perplexing. The present thesis fulfils
such a need. Three stars have been visible in the firmament of criticism for
some years now, T. S. Eliot, I. A. Richards, and F. R. Leavis. The present book
collects the rays shed by these.
The
subject of the book is no doubt developed for the most part on a basis to which
nobody can take exception. But the too frequent quotation from Eliot and
Richards creates an impression that the book is a piece of unabashed propaganda
for the two dictators who have obtained possession of the literary
kingdom. One wonders at the confidence of the author in ranking Richards with
Aristotle and Eliot with Goethe.
The
seventeen chapters in the book are like expanded paragraphs relating to the
subject of the book. The six chapters hover about ‘criticism’ and state its
principles, problems and functions. The different types
of criticism are enumerated next and the extent to which criticism is creative
is also explained. The next four chapters tell how language, life,
and society stand in relation to literature. The concluding five chapters take
up the time-honoured subjects connected with the functions of literature, in
what proportions delight and instruction enter into them and to what extent it
is the personal necessity of authors, or it is an imitation, or criticism of
life.
The
theme is well-sustained throughout in readable style, with useful and valuable
citations from books and critics. The book may serve as a manual of constant
reference to students at universities.
The book is well got
up.
Tom
Munro Saheb, Governor of Madras: A Portrait, with a
Selection of His Letters, by P. R. Krishnaswami. Foreword by His Excellency the
Hon’ble Lt. General Sir Archibald Edward Nye, Governor of Madras.
(Higginbothams, Madras, Price Rs. 4-8; cloth gilt Rs. 5.)
STUDENTS
of Indian History repeat the reforms of Akbar or the causes for the decline of
the Moghul Empire in India. Have their professors cared to teach them the lives
of eminent personalities in Indian History, or have the students seen for
themselves the existence of biographies revealing the traits of
personalities responsible to build nations and empires, to lay rules and
regulations?
We
need not think that only a hero-worshipper could be an intelligent biographer.
A critic who could appreciate the thoughts and actions of his subject,–to him
the personalities that stirs his heart to sympathy starts speaking. The author
of this book is a sympathetic critic who tries to establish some similarity
between a famous imaginary character of Thackeray and Sir Thomas Munro, more a
genuine Englishman than a British Indian administrator.
Munro’s
letters reveal the man that he was; and Mr. P. R. Krishnaswami’s knowledge of
English literature and British Indian history has sought
the sources of inspiration for a novelist like Thackeray, and found in a
personality as that of Munro’s the birth and fulfilment of an immortal imaginary
character–Colonel Newcome. Mr. Krishnaswami writes a simple prose that makes
his critical approach easy and our reading interesting.
Ananda
Ranga Vijaya Champu of Srinivasa Kavi, Edited with a
Critical Introduction, Notes and a Sanskrit Commentary of his own by V.
Raghavan, M.A., PH.D., University of Madras. With a Foreword by His Excellency
C. F. Baron, Governor of French India. (To be had of the Editor or B. G. Paul
Co., G.T., Madras. Price Rs. 4.)
DR.
V. RAGHAVAN has done a solid service to the cause of Sanskrit and historical
studies by bringing to light the valuable text of the historical work called Ananda
Ranga Vijaya Champu by Srinivasa Kavi. The work deals with the life and
work of Ananda Ranga Pillai, a distinguished statesman of the Tamil country,
who played a conspicuous part in the early period of Anglo-French struggle for
domination in South India.
In
the extant Sanskrit literature we do not come across many historical Kavyas,
for the Sanskrit poets rarely deviate from the beaten track of choosing their
subject-matter from the well-known Itihasas and Puranas. It is a welcome
departure that Srinivasa Kavi has made in selecting the biography of a
historical figure in the person of his patron as a fit theme of his poetry. The
hero served the French company in India and by sheer strength of character and
ability came to occupy the Position of Dubashee and personal adviser of
Dupliex, Governor of French Settlements in India from 1741 to 1754 A.D. To the
students of history, he is more familiarly known as the author of a private
diary, a unique work of its kind among the sources of South Indian history, and
the present work adds welcome items of information to Ananda Ranga’s diary. In
the feud between Nazir Jung and his nephew Mussaffar Jung for the Viceroyalty
of the Deccan, the French took up the cause of the latter, and the diplomatic
talent of Ananda Ranga who was at the helm of all the French affairs, is said
to have brought about the murder of Nazir Jung, and raised the prestige of the
French power in India. Ananda Ranga was an important man of his time, of
immense wealth and power. He represented the living ideals of a Hindu merchant
prince, enjoying artha, and kama, without detriment to dharma. He was a learned
man and a lover of music and dancing; and poets, musicians, and scholars alike
found in him a munificent patron. Endowed as he was with several gifts, it is
no wonder that poets vied with each other in singing his glory. The most
prominent feature of his character was his steadfast devotion and loyalty to
the French cause; but unfortunately he saw even during his life time that the
French power was like a tottering tree on the bank of a corroding river.
The
author of the work seems to be a native of Tiruvannamalai from his invocation
of the deity of that holy place. Judged from the standard of pandits, he passes
for a poet of Worth. He writes with ease, handling the different metres with
skill. At times, he yields himself to puns and long-drawn sentences,–more or
less a common feature of the Champu Kavyas. He was a master of astrology which
probably endeared him to Ananda Ranga who is depicted as having consulted stars
too often.
In
a learned introduction, the editor has given a critical account of the official
work of the hero, his wealth, the habit of keeping diary in his family; his
learning and patronage, his predilection for astrology, his religion–all
throwing interesting sidelights on the strength and weakness of his character.
In the summary of contents given by the editor, the reader is treated to a
wealth of historical notes, corrections, criticisms, and suggestions and the
copious references here enable him to go direct to the sources dealing with the
subject. The chronological table showing the important historical events, the
genealogical table tracing the descent of the family from the mythical Govinda
down to his living posterity and various other auxiliaries like the map and the
photographs, go to make the edition an ideal one. In view of the increasing
recognition of the Sanskrit language as the lingua franca of the
literary class of India, the editor could have written his introduction also in
Sanskrit. The publication of this important work, we hope, will be an earnest
of still more similar works to be discovered and brought to light by the
assiduous editor.