The poetics and politics of late modernism: a comparative study of Derek Mahon and Arun Kolatkar
Year: 2022
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The thesis studies the works of Arun Kolatkar and Derek Mahon — from India and Ireland — who wrote from 1950s to 2000s and from 1960s to 2020, respectively. Their works respond to social and political issues, which unfolded during these periods, including but not limited to sectarian violence in Ireland, religious and linguistic conflicts in India, neo-imperialism and late capitalism. The thesis begins by studying the poets’ early contributions to the international phenomenon of the ‘little magazine’, which allowed them to forge their distinctive styles, and assesses how the cultural milieu of the 1960s and 70s fostered experimentation with modernist and avant-gardist forms. It then explores the poets’ works published in the contexts of sectarian conflicts in Ireland and growing Hindu religious conservatism in India. Mahon’s Lives, The Snow Party and Courtyards in Delft and Kolatkar’s Jejuri experiment with modes of address and perspectives to address these political developments both directly and obliquely. To study the poets’ late-career responses to neo-imperialism and late capitalism, the thesis assesses the politics behind allusions to classical and mythological models in their works. Such autumnal stock-taking tendencies are present in Mahon’s Harbour Lights, The Hudson Letter, Life on Earth and An Autumn Wind and Kolatkar’s Kala Ghoda Poems and Sarpa Satra. It then investigates the poets’ employment of play and irony which allows them to deliver an acerbic critique of limit conditions — such as sectarian and communal violence, economic disparities — without assuming a moralistic stance. The thesis examines ways in which Mahon and Kolatkar refurbish received forms and themes: their negotiation of publishing contexts, experimentation with perspectives, adaptations of classical and mythical texts, as well as ironic underpinnings. All of these establish the poets’ particular position within the Irish and Indian canons.
Author: Narang, Tapasya
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7023961981