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Poverty, Social Problems and Cultural Diversity in

Poverty, Social Problems and Cultural Diversity in. R. Tagore, Narayan and Salaam Bombay Kate Liu, Fu Jen. Background . Caste system Religious Conflicts  Language Differences and Illiteracy  Social Problems --poverty, internal migration, slums in Bombay, government inefficiency

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Poverty, Social Problems and Cultural Diversity in

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  1. Poverty, Social Problems and Cultural Diversity in R. Tagore, Narayan and Salaam Bombay Kate Liu, Fu Jen

  2. Background • Caste system • Religious Conflicts •  Language Differences and Illiteracy •  Social Problems--poverty, internal migration, slums in Bombay, government inefficiency •  Colonialism -- in the background

  3. Tagore: “Flute Music” 1. A man in poverty-- • compared to a lizard; • save the cost of light • his office • his girl 2. The function of flute music

  4. R. K. Narayan--biographyPinchia Feng • born in Madras in 1906 • full name: Rasipuram Krishnaswami Ayyar Naranayanaswami-->1935 • Graham Greene • the Sahitya Akademi Award (1960) • A. C. Benson Medal (The British Society of Literature, 1980)

  5. R. K. Narayan-- biography • in the U. S.--The English Speaking Union Book Award; Fellow of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters (1982) • a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament (1989)

  6. Narayan the Writer • V.s. Naipaul (1999): “He wrote about people in a small town in South India: small people, big talk, small doings. That was where he began; that was where he was fifty years later. To some extent that reflected Narayan’s own life. He never moved far from his origins.” (“The Writer in India”)

  7. Narayan the Story-teller • “I’d be quite happy if no more is claimed from me than being just a story-teller. Only the story matters, that is all. If readers read more significance into my stories than was meant originally, then that’s the reader’s understanding of things. But if a story is in tune completely with the truth of life, truth as I perceive it, then it will be automatically significant.”

  8. “Annamalai”--narrative • narrative time and technique: How does the story start? How does it end? Does the story follow a chronological order? • narrative point of view • letters within the story: What do they tell us?

  9. “Annamalai”--regional color • How does Narayan characterize Annamalai and the peasant community in (southern) India ? • Can we call “Annamalai” a story of regional color? • Can you think of any example in Taiwanese literature that is similar to this story?

  10. “Annamalai”--language • language and class • linguistic hegemony: English vs Tamil

  11. Salaam Bombay: The migrants in a city (1) I. Chaipau: • his name (Krishna) • his family and home address • his “family” in the city

  12. Salaam Bombay: The migrants in a city (2) • Manju’s family • Chillum • The ghetto boys -- sleep by the railroad station

  13. Salaam Bombay: a series of betrays 1.Chillum -- a drug pusher and addict Baba His wife & Manju Krishna The Sweet Sixteen

  14. Salaam Bombay: survival • How do Krishna and the other kids survive? • Skin chicken, • rob an old man, • serve in a rich man’s wedding party

  15. Salaam Bombay: social factors • State intervention: Chiller Room • drug, prostitution and Bollywood • traces of collonial influence: • cricket, tourists, statues, movies • Religion: helpless. E.g. Ganesh

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