User:English Honours DDUC/Introduction to Literary Studies

About the Course

This course titled “Introduction to Literary Studies” was designed and brought to the classroom of the first-year students of B.A. (H) English, by Dr. Pramesh Ratnakar, Associate Professor in the Department of English, DDUC, in the last month of his teaching career (January, 2023). As an ode to our teacher, we, the students of ZEST, The English Department, have compiled and uploaded the course online in the public domain for the world to make use of the treasure trove of the knowledge herein. We present to you the course with much love, and hope that you learn, be amazed and have fun with it as much as we did.

Overview of the Course

Dr. Pramesh Ratnakar developed this course for the first-year undergraduate classroom when ‘Introduction to Literary Studies’ was included as a core paper in B.A. (H) English from the session 2022-23 onwards. The course was co-taught by Ms. Jagriti Gupta. The course is built around ‘Wheels within Wheels’ - a diagrammatic representation, that he came up with, of the entire scope of literary studies. These diagrams have been explained using Exupery’s The Little Prince. Freewriting as a tool in a literary classroom has been explored. The function of literature and the role of a teacher in a literature classroom were taken up as we went along. Finally, dealing with examinations - writing examination answers, handling last-minute anxieties, etc. - were taken up too. Multimedia tools are used to reach out to the students and make this course interactive and informative. Audio and video recordings, images, text messages are all used for this course. A WhatsApp group chat was created for the course where the students and teachers shared and discussed their ideas. Snippets from the chat also appear at appropriate places.

Tools Dr. Ratnakar Uses for Literary Studies:

1.Peek into an ILS course Classroom

Literature was discussed on two fronts: one, as an art of rereading and two, as a linguistic concept. As a rereading, it was emphasised upon how, even though everyone reads, it is the literature student who rereads and re-rereads. It is in this act (and art) of rereading that the literature student finds (and creates) meaning(s). As a linguistic concept, literature can be broken down to the smallest unit of phoneme. The students were then given an overview of phonetics as well. Hence, from the phoneme to the word is the domain of phonetics; from word to sentences that of grammar and from sentences onwards is the domain of literature and discourse. Whatever was discussed in class was recalled by students on WhatsApp. Putting together those recalls will give us the larger picture of the course material. Here are snippets from the chat. [1]

2 Wheels Within Wheels

‘Wheels within Wheels’ is a diagrammatic representation of everything that literary studies encapsulates. Here are the diagrams: [2]

This theoretical framework has then been explained using the text The Little Prince. It has been best explained by Dr. Ratnakar himself in the audio interview with Ms. Jagriti Gupta attached herewith. (ILS audio 1 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bf-GmkKsFszcCLJA3WZdjy2lU5_9PZJf/view?usp=share_link)

Here is the transcription of the audio - https://docs.google.com/document/d/18UXq23M1KpwNEhIlYcMpNEHSUX2rpX9rlTWCThzpEwA/edit?usp=drivesdk

Why choose The Little Prince has been discussed in another audio interview that Dr. Ratnakar did with Dr. Abhishek Kukreja a few years ago. [3]

3.Free-Writing

Free writing is a tool which Dr. Pramesh teaches all his students to use. It is deployed to get rid of the mental barriers within the student, which encumber the free flow of ideas. The idea is to begin penning down one’s thoughts and continue without pausing (to rest, to think, or otherwise) till the piece is done or the time limit is over. This subdues the inner critic who censors one’s expression even before they are made. One can thus bypass this censorship and channel heartfelt thoughts and ideas onto the paper. One can also establish the ‘flow’ state using this tool where ideas get strung together in an uninterrupted and creative manner. It can be a deeply cathartic process. To free-write:

1.Either define the minimum word, space, or time limit (2 pages of a notebook, 250 words, 5 minutes, etc.).

2.Free-writing can be done without any topic in mind. Or it could alternatively be woven around a topic, intention, thought, or feeling.

3.Begin writing/typing. Start putting whatever is coming into your mind on paper.

4.Free-writing is not fast-writing— write at a comfortable pace. The only condition is to NOT STOP before the set limit is reached.

5.Do NOT pause to reflect. Write whatever comes to your head. (TIP: If the mind goes blank, just keep writing randomly till a thought comes again. For example, you may just keep writing, “…. Ah, I can’t think of anything now, what to do, what to write, there’s nothing that crosses my mind, will I have to stop? But I can’t stop, just can’t, can’t, won’t. I got an idea now. Shouldn’t elephants have been pink?...”

6.Do not worry about the quality of the content, its structure, form, or grammatical correctness. It can all be very random, sketchy or even unpunctuated. All of that is fine.

7.You may exceed the limit if you like the ‘flow’ state and go on writing for as long as you like.

In one of the messages, dated 23 January 2023, shared by Dr. Ratnakar on the WhatsApp group chat, he elaborates the use of freewriting: Let us start with freewriting- a concept developed into a very effective pedagogical tool for developing writing by one Dr. Elbow.

The basic idea is that our miraculous brains are designed to make connections It is we , because of our insecurities and bad experiences develop blocks that restricts our expression. Writing, without letting the pen stop, and without worrying about grammar etc. Gets you into a more expressive mode.

The writing process, a process which in some form or the other most good writers adopt, is said to consist of seven steps: pre-writing, outlining , drafting rough, revising, drafting fair, Proof reading. Free writing would come under prewriting, the stage when you open up your mind and try and come with as many ideas and perspectives as you can.

So much for the 'writing' part, now let us turn our thoughts, to the pre-fix "free". In time, when you are at home and celebrating the free world of the blank page, you will begin to hear a voice in your writing, your own distinctive, individual voice, and you find will words obeying the call of that voice, and then you will discover in your own words, those moments in time when you were more than what thought you could ever be, and freedom is not just another word for nothing left to lose. One of the great rewards of ' literary studies'. An example:[4]

How can free-writing be used for literary studies?

The course had begun with a freewriting exercise on the very first day - 26 December 2022. Students were encouraged to do a freewriting and the submissions then taken by Dr. Ratnakar to be looked at. Following are the freewriting submissions by students - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1UYEQDWw09_csg3CG9PbYDBn3MjnAUbTA?usp=share_link Following is Dr. Ratnakar’s response to the freewriting that students did - https://drive.google.com/file/d/14SNa4jYRp0pa1Qrp45aePd55yK8UJksL/view?usp=share_link

Freewriting done by students gave an entry into the minds of the students and Dr. Ratnakar used those insights to further design the course. One of the main lines of thought that he picked up on was the anxieties that the students had - entering college, trying to find their footing, coming to terms with the changed syllabi and curriculum, facing university exams for the first time, everything under the sun while also having fun.

The anxieties, Dr. Ratnakar felt, arose because of the very little time students had spent with each other. More cordial interactions between the students could calm them down. But how do you achieve that? You make a fun and interactive activity out of it. Dr. Ratnakar came up with a set of 30 questions. These, by the look of them, are simple questions on likes and dislikes and such, but, deep down, unearth the intricacies of an individual. The activity: 30 questions that Dr. Ratnakar had first framed some years ago, some of which were given a bit of a contemporary touch by Ms. Jagriti, were circulated to the students. They were required to scout around with a list of students' names and note down answers to the questions against the names. This necessitated each student's interaction with every other student in class. Once the students' answers were collected, they were collated and included in one file. 30 questions: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11F9TJ1HDq0pQNlgPMOBzR3c4h_cGZqUZWWj_4OQDVnk/edit?usp=drivesdk

Students' responses: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xIdp8DuuEZI3kNsF-W-h4Zs3uGWa-J57/view?usp=drivesdk

The idea behind the activity was very simple - have fun while you get to know each other and work together towards greater good. Literary studies doesn't happen in isolation. It happens only when everyone - students and teachers - come together and build spaces where you discuss literature and life.

Literature as a subject for exams: Handling Examination as Literature Students

Here’s an answer writing handout, designed by Dr. Ratnakar, that was circulated in the classroom. It includes the framework for writing an answer and an illustration using Mohan Rakesh’s Halfway House: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oKqL8DGF7p7YdslSgnjj5ZL2nW69_X8M/edit?usp=share_link&ouid=115438052342385280382&rtpof=true&sd=true

A similar exercise for Aphra Behn’s The Rover: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18_iBh6_zbtAywNPHOeWyL6BUINyLaQgS/edit?usp=share_link&ouid=115438052342385280382&rtpof=true&sd=true

Here is a snippet from the WhatsApp chat which happened after the students had appeared for their ILS exam held on 28 February 2023. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eJ1qlUplHKL3F3DavPO598o9uF8gTJ-lEQQ-e4LrXuk/edit?usp=share_link

Discussions on Anxieties about Reading and Teaching Literature

A.)The Utopian Function of Literature - discussion on the function of literature began when Dr. Ratnakar struck up a conversation with the first-year students on the WhatsApp group. He sent across a video message expressing his intent of sending across some audios which he wanted the students to listen to carefully and then comment upon. The students got to the task immediately and the discussion that happened is for all to see. Access the video and audio messages by Dr. Ratnakar and the discussions in this folder: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1u9RHTZOjDAru1Wa81crxtzsGY3FFwG8h?usp=share_link

B.)Anxieties of the Teacher - Since Dr. Ratnakar was designing and teaching this course in the last month of his teaching career, his anxieties, too, were apparent. He addresses these and the role of a literature teacher in this audio interview with Ms. Jagriti Gupta https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1sXM0PKKtDyi6eYEzNBU9iwFnk3xnXuP2?usp=share_link

Here is the transcription of the audio - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1g9OgxkT3ewCjzPeTvNvgPHwcBQP-DXCtANRt7RBsFHg/edit?usp=drivesdk