Culture and Anarchy - Matthew Arnold

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Matthew Arnold (1822 - 1888) was a prominent cultural critic and voracious prose writer belonging to the Victorian age of English literature. He has written many critical essays, but the most discussed and controversial essay is Culture and Anarchy which was originally published in The Cornhill Magazine during 1867 and 1868. Later on the essay was published as a book in 1869. A preface was added to the essay much later in the year 1875.

Image taken from: tanvirdhaka.blogspot.com

Here this thinking activity is written to highlight the key points and to see what students have understood from the essay. Click Here to open the worksheet of Culture and Anarchy.

Click here to open the blog on Culture and Anarchy by Dr. Dilip Barad.

The essay basically deals with the thought of perfection of culture and how anarchy prevails through various class of society. As a social critic, Matthew Arnold divides English society into three major parts,

1. Barbarians - Class of people who are aristocrat and rich, who are more civilized, who live with high morals and thoughts.
2. Philistines - People who selfishly make money, engage in unproductive and leisure activities. They live their life with self-centered manner. Middle class, often called as bourgeois class.
3. Populace - People who are poverty-sticken and pushed down by the Barbarians and Philistines.

He gives the concept of Hebraism and Hellenism to clarify the cultural difference between higher class and middle class of people.

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Alfred Tennyson and Robert Browning

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In English literature the Victorian Age (1850 - 1900) was the remarkable one to bring various changes which were prevalent in the previous ages. Queen Victoria came to reign in 1837, when there was a kind of literary vacuum created by the death of the poets and writers like Keats, Shelley, Byron, of the previous age. To fill this gap, two major poets, Alfred Tennyson and Robert Browning contributed their best in the Victorian literature. Basically this age is known as the age of prose, because the Sun of Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, George Eliot, was shining at middle of the sky.

Alfred Tennyson (1809 - 1892) | Robert Browning (1812 - 1889)

* Alfred Lord Tennyson was a British poet laureate who was one of the major Victorian figures. He has written many poems in blank verse like Ulysses, Idylls of the King and Tithonus, In Memorium.

He knew the true art of poetry. Rather than being a leader he chose to be a teacher. His poetry was rather spiritual and philosophical.

W. J. Long writes for Tennyson,

"Throughout the entire Victorian period Tennyson stood at the summit of poetry in England... For nearly half a century, he was not only a man and a poet; he was a voice, the voice of a whole people, expressing in exquisite melody their doubts and their faith, their grief and their triumphs."

* Robert Browning was English poet and playwright. He became popular by writing dramatic monologues. One of his famous poems was Pauline, published in 1833. The Ring and the Book is his long dramatic narrative poem.

Best be yourself, imperial, plain and true

                                        -Robert Browning

Victorian era was the prime time of revolting the old norms and establishing new ideals. With the succession of Queen Victoria in 1837, the English literature seemed to enter in totally new realm, leaving the Romantic age behind. With the touch of morality, people were becoming more peace loving and curious to learn. In this age slaves were made free. The direct effect was on industries and employments. Apart from the social unrest, it was an age of democracy as the House of Commons came to the ruling power. Several reform bills were passed for needful and poor people.

* Comparing and contrasting the Victorian age and Romantic Age

Difference between the two literary ages

Age of Romanticism (1800 – 1850)	The Victorian Age (1850 – 1900)
Influence of French Revolution (5th May 1789)	Influence of Industrial Revolution (1760 – 1840)
Romantic Enthusiasm, realism	Social Unrest and Democracy, Ideal of peace
Age of Expressionism	Age of questioning, horrors of poverty, deprivation
Age of Poetry, lyrics and ballads	Age of Prose, novels, essays, non-fiction
Poetry - Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats, Byron	Poetry – Tennyson and Robert Browning
Prose – Jane Austen (female novelist)	Prose - Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Thackeray.
Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads	Dickens’s Oliver Twist, G. Eliot’s Middlemarch

1. Democracy - Many disputes an empirical wars were settling down and democracy was established. Henry VIII was the last monarch who enjoyed the chamber at the Palace of Westminster in England, and after tremendous changes and alterations, England found the shining the rays of democracy and the House of Commons became the ruling power of the country.

2. Social Unrest - It was the time of social unrest where people were utilizing their freedom but they were divided into rich and poor classes. Slavery was the central force for this unrest. For industrial use, rich used to purchase slaves There were many class differences, such as a working class person and some landlord kind of person, but the unrest was that they shared the same land, same locality. They used to walk along at streets. In short, huge difference was there in people. Some of the people were working at mills and factories, as it was the time of industrial revolution and some of them were belonging to high society and elite class who were the owners of the cotton and wool mills and factories.

* Charles Dickens and George Eliot

Charles Dickens (1812 - 1870) | George Eliot (1819 - 1880)

Charles Dickens and George Eliot were the major and prominent prose writers and novelists of the age. They have made an active attempt to highlight the provincial life and the life of the darkness. The area of society where only few put the eyes and

Works of Charles Dickens - He has written four major novels including, A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield and Oliver Twist. Here is one quote form A Tale of Two Cities. Charles Dickens was the voice of the unheard. He has produced a remarkable novel Oliver Twist, in which the character of Oliver is best portrayed by Dickens, speaking of the innate true Victorian time.

"It was the best of the times; It was the worst of the times..." - Charles Dickens

George Eliot actually was a female writer whose actual name was Mary Ann Evans. As per the patriarchal tendency of the Victorian Age, she hid her identity and produced literature by the pen name George Eliot. Middlemarch A Study of Provincial Life (1871 - 72), is the notable novel by her, portrayed the best provincial life.

In a nutshell, the Victorian Age was fully rich with literary production along with the shackling social unrest, handling the shining shrine of democracy. The age reflected the whole new spirit which were going to be the significant one for England in the succeeding ages. Authors, through their pens, made the age more true to it's type and more considerably important age of the whole English literature.

Thank You!

References:
(1) Long, William J. English Literature: Its History and Its Significance for the Life of the English-Speaking World. AITBS, 2015.

(2) "Alfred, Lord Tennyson." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Contributors, 13 Jan. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred,_Lord_Tennyson.

(3) "Robert Browning." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 6 Jan. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Browning.

(4) "Victorian Literature." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Jan. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_literature.

(5) "Victorian Era." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Dec. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_era.

(6) Habib, Habibur Rahman. "Alfred Tennyson vs Robert Browning Two great Victorians a Comparative Study."

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Derrida & Deconstruction

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"If this work seems so threatening, this is because it isn't simply eccentric or strange, but competent, rigorously argued, and carrying conviction."

- Jacques Derrida

Jaques Derrida (1930 - 2004)

Structuralism and Post-structuralism is the knot from which the two branches of philosophy separates. Click here to know more about both dialects. Jacques Derrida was one of the famous post-structuralist critic who gave the idea of Deconstruction. In his essay Structure, Sign and Play he discusses the process of Deconstruction at length. He has refused to define the term because even in the process of giving the definition it loses the meaning and deconstructs itself.

* Blog for further understanding of deconstruction by Dr. Dilip Barad, Click Here

* Blog on Flipped Learning - Derrida and Deconstruction

Click Here

Here, for the application of deconstruction a TV advertisement is taken.

* Sprite commercial advertisement



Title : Talking Bottle - LIKES (Hindi)
Voice artists: Vijay Raaz as Bade/Bottle and Anand Tiwari as Chhote/Glass
Telecast Year : 2017

---- Transcript of the Commercial ----

C : बड़े !
B : हं...
C : वो कपल कितना कुल है ना !!
B : अबे जो खाने के नहीं, लाइक्स के भूके होते है वो कुल नहीं, फूल होते हैं।
C : ओहह...
B : हम्म, कुल तो वो टोपीवाला है छोटे, वो सिर्फ खाने का भूका है
C : ओहह, पर हम किसके पास जा रहे है ?
B : ठंड रख छोटे, जाएंगे तो टोपीवाले के पास ही...
C : तू इतना क्लियर कैसे है यार !?
B : क्यूंकि...  स्प्राइट, क्लियर है।

This advertisement can be read as post structuralist critic. Here one should be clear about the medium of art, which is advertisement and to be more specific, the advertisement in audio visual mode. If one wants only to listen the advertisement may not get the real essence of meanings taken in the video. To analyse the TV advertisement, one should be ready for both, audio interpretation and visual analysis.

To be keenly interested in such analysis, keeping Derridean though in mind, it's visible that meanings deconstruct on their own from their face values. Binaries like Bade and Chhote itself reflect the privileged and unprivileged sides. The ice breaks (it is a phrase which is commonly used for taking the initiative to start the conversation) by Chhote, exclaiming upon the coolness of one couple. Again a binary occurs here. There can be two different possibilities for the listener and for the viewer. The listener may take multiple meanings of the word couple. It can be of two females, two males or male-female. Viewer will be more privileged to see the contextual meaning of the word couple. Moving ahead, Bade speaks in authoritative voice about the difference between coolness and foolishness of the people, who seek for likes over the food. In the meantime, the couple click photos of the dishes and take selfies to put on social media. All of a sudden, phone falls in the bowl full of soup or some liquid food item. The camera frame moves on the solo guy who is deliberately taking the big bites of burger, interested in nothing else than eating. Bade speaks of this topiwala's coolness and appreciates his hunger for food over soical media likes. Lastly, Chhote puts a question to Bade that for whom they were about to serve, either for a couple or for that guy. Bade, in the air of finality, answers that they are going to be served for that topiwala guy. Chhote asks in amazement that how come Bade is so clear about it. And then the tagline of the commercial, is uttered. Sprite... Clear Hai !!!

Without disturbing the core of advertisement one can simply observe that how deconstruction happens on its own. Going through meanings, various binaries like listener and viewer, Bade and Chhote, clear unclear, (unclear is not a privileged side so it is invisibly present in the advertisement) one comes to know that the text or a work of art be it an audio visual art or written one, can be read against itself. Literal meanings of the words stand responsible for the deconstruction. Topiwala can be meant as a person who sells caps. Couple can be of anybody as mentioned above. The last tagline of the advertisement is also questionable. Things, especially food items differ by their respective appearances and taste. Here the drink Sprite, looks clear in appearance, similar to water, but when tasted, it's different. 

The behaviour which is labelled as cool and foolish is also becoming questionable. For the listener who is not at all watching the visuals may not understand why and for what the couple is labelled as fool until the listener knows the contextual meaning of likes.

Another underprivileged thing for the listener is that, it cannot be seen that what food the topiwala is eating. It can happen that topiwala might be eating something which is harmful for metabolism and in addition of consuming this drink may be resulted as dehydration or diarrhoea. Now this is not at all a cool practice. :))

On the contrary, for the listener it can be believed that the couple might have ordered some healthy and nutritious meals, then they might be putting photos on social media. Here it becomes legible for the couple to receive likes, and the overall behaviour can be looked as cool.

One can see some signs here. Couple, Food, Likes (the invisible sign) and Drink. They play the key role in understanding the exact situation of the advertisement, they're of good help to make deconstruction easy.

Thank You!

Structural Linguistics - Study of Language

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This blog is a part of Structuralism blog. Click here to navigate the mega link.

It can be said that Structuralism, when applied to linguistics, adds more scientific values to the term linguistics. Ferdinand de Saussure, father of Modern Linguistics, explained that how language is made up of signs, signifier and signified. Language is standing on the base-bricks of  signs. Apart from human beings, animals world has no language or utterance, still they have signs.

* Let's understand the terms Langue and Parole by this video



* Ferdinand de Saussure and Structural Linguistics



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Deconstruction - Jacques Derrida - Descriptive Answers

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This blog is an interlink of the thinking activity of Derrida and Deconstruction blog. Click Here to visit the full activity. Here are the responses of the questions asked in the flipped learning activity. Along with the video links of the unit, the answers are given as per the follow up of the questions. Answers are independently written by the quiz taker.

Some important links to visit for sources.

1. Derrida and Deconstruction blog by Dr. Dilip Barad - Click Here

2. NMEICT Project blended learning Literary Criticism Google Site - Click Here

3. Flipped Learning GTU Google Site developed by Dr. Dilip Barad - Click Here
4. Flipped Learning Network Blog by Dr. Dilip Barad - Click Here

Video 1: Defining Deconstruction

Question 1.1: Why is it difficult to define Deconstruction?

Ans: It is difficult only because we see deconstruction everywhere. According to Derrida, the term in not meant for breaking anything. Instead Derrida questions that is it possible to define something ? And if yes, then what are the limitations and to what extent can we define something ? To an extent it can be said the to define a particular system or a philosophy, is to bind them with the words, putting limitations to understanding. Deconstruction has different meaning other than it's literal one. It is the inquiry into the foundation. Derrida refuses to define this term on the grounds of those questions.

Question 1.2: Is Deconstruction a negative term ?

Ans: No, it's not the term which denotes the literal meaning of breaking or destroying something but, it suggests to review or inquire the very foundations of philosophy. It is the question to the conditions on which the philosophical or intellectual system is standing strongly. Derrida by the Deconstruction, wants to change the Western thoughts. By deconstruction Derrida explains at length, in his Letter to a Japanese friend professor Izutsu, that the conditions are producing a system yet they put some limits on it. So, the term doesn't contain a negative meaning.

Question 1.3: How does Deconstruction happen on its own?

Ans: Keeping Derridean thought at center, philosophical system is produced by the conditions and the same conditions are putting limitations to it. Conditions are based on the binary units and oppositions That's why deconstruction happens on it's own.

Video 2: Heidegger and Derrida

Question 2.1:

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Question 2.2:

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Question 2.3

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Video 3: Saussure and Derrida

Question 3.1
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Video 4: DifferAnce



Question 4.1
Ans:

Question 4.2
Ans:

Video 5: Structure, Sign and Play



Question 5.1
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Question 5.2
Ans:

Video 6: Yale School



Question 6.1
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Question 6.2
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Video 7: Other Schools and Deconstruction



Question 7.1
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Question 7.2
Ans:

Thank You!

Structuralism Thinking Activity

Hello Readers!

Structuralism is a method to study various structures of culture, literary theories and narratives, linguistics, history and many other discourses. It can be compared to the skeleton of the body. It is majorly a study of narratives and structures. It focuses upon how a story moves ahead, and what structure it follows. Here as a student of English literary theory and criticism, one is set to apply the methods of structuralism observed by various critics and structuralists. Ferdinand de Saussure, Gerard Genette, Roland Barthes, Claude Levi Strauss were the critics who have worked on Structuralism.

Each work of art has the basic structure. Similarly, literature follows some structure. Be it prose or verse, performed or presented at theaters. Literature is nowadays seen in a wider context tearing the veils of pages and books, it has come afar towards TV shows, web series, movies, advertisements, posters are also mentioned as literature. Just like books they are also subject of reading, studying and critiquing. Structures play the vital role in literature. Different narratives are interwoven in and around the structure of literature.

Here is the unit ending thinking activity in which students are to apply the theory to various works of art like movies, TV shows, web series, advertisements, literary text which majorly connects with larger narratives. Click here to visit the source blog of Dr. Dilip Barad.

* Being a structuralist critic, one can analyse and apply Structuralism in Bollywood movies. Here, the application is to be seen as a literary theory and criticism, a sub branch of Structuralism. Going deeper from particular to general viewpoints. These movies may lead us to study the larger narrative or a generalized method of narrative, widely accepted.

Dil Dhadakne Do (2015)

Movie: Dil Dhadakne Do (Let the Heart Beat)
Release Year: 2015
Director: Zoya Akhtar
Production: Excel Entertainment and Juglee Production

* This movie can be analysed from many viewpoints by asking some simple questions like

* Who is narrating a story ?
- Here we see something different yet very interesting in narration that it's an animal. A Bullmastiff dog named Pluto is narrating the whole story. He introduces all the characters and carries the load of some fragments like highlighting human nature with a view point of animal. The narrator is Homo-diegetic in film. It is also a character as well as narrator in the movie.

* What structure does the movie have ?
- Structurally, the movie follows this pattern: Story begins with the sailing of the ship or a cruise, at the day time, which is quite good omen but here the cruise is full of businessmen so one can predict that events will have some complications. Along with the cruise, the narration also moves ahead and story unfolds.

* Order - The story follows this order. A1 - The beginning of day, sailing the ship boarded with businessmen, B1- Kabir meets Farah, love at first sight, they hide their meetings C1 - Kabir's father wants to make partner with a rival businessman, tries to make family relations by marrying Kabir to Naina.

* Can we find any other narrations and structures like this movie ?
- A 1997, movie Titanic also has the same structure of love.

* Duration ? - Round about a week.
* Frequency - As the movie has many small events and incidents, they occur just after the completion of their adjacent ones. Though the narration voice sparks frequently in between the two events.

Gully Boy (2019)

Movie: Gully Boy (Street Boy)
Release Year: 2019
Director: Zoya Akhtar
Production: Excel Entertainment and Tiger Baby

Going from particular to general viewpoint, Chasing the dream is a prime structure of this movie, and then story moves in and around the narrative. The struggle of managing for living and earning can be seen as the meta narrative or sub narrative of the movie.

Here we shall see the concept of narratology given by Gerard Genette.

* Order
The order of this movie can be put like this. A1 - An optimistic, average looking guy who seeks for better prospects in music, rap and hip hop song culture. B1 - He loves a girl, they keep their meetings private. C1 - Sky, a music scholar and student of foreign university comes and meets Murad, they make music. D1 - Dream fulfillment, Murad as successful rapper.

* Mood
Mood of the movie is taking pendulum swings, but still it holds the audiences minds.

Structuralism is the vast field to dive into. Indeed this blog would be just a little attempt towards the application of the theory on movies. It can be applied in any literary text, TV series and web series

At the end of the blog, here are some important blogs on Structuralism, you may like to visit.
* Structural Linguistics - A structural study of language.

Thank You!