Maharashtra PSC: English (Literature) : Revised Syllabus for State Services (Main) Examination (Optional)

English (Literature) (Code No : 202)
Paper I : Literature in English during 1600 - 1900
Standard : Degree

Total Marks : 200
Nature of Paper : Conventional Type
Duration : 3 Hours

Note :
1) Answers to this paper must be written in English only.
2) This paper will test the candidate’s abilities to comprehend, to analyse, to interpret, to criticise, to appraise the subject matter related to the topics/sub topics mentioned below.
3) Texts for detailed study are listed below. The paper will require a first-hand and critical reading of the texts. The paper will also test candidate’s knowledge related to the theoretical and critical Background as will as appreciation of the texts.

Section - A (Marks : 50 ) DRAMA
1)1. Dramatic Theory : The Renaissance, Elizabethan Drama, Neo-classicism, Restoration Drama, Drama of Ideas.
   2. Texts : The candidates are expected to have a critical understanding of the following texts in the light of literary theory in general as well as the issues mentioned in Topic no. 1.01 of the paper in particular.
    a) William Shakespeare : Hamlet.
    b) Ben Johnson : Volpone.
    c) William Congreve : The Way of the World.
    d) George Bernard Shaw : Arms and the Man.

Section - B (Marks : 50) POETRY
2).01. Poetic Theory : Metaphysical Poetry, The Epic and the Mock-epic, The Romantic Movement, Victorian Poetry
   .02. Texts : The candidates are expected to have a critical understanding of the following texts in the light of literary theory in general as well as the issues mentioned in Topic no. 2.01 of the paper in particular.
    a) John Donne: ‘Canonization’, ‘Death be not proud’, ‘Love’s War’, ‘Good Morrow’
    b) Andrew Marvell: ‘To his Coy Mistress’, ‘Eyes and Tears’, ‘Bermudas’, The Garden
    c) John Milton : ‘Paradise Lost’, Book I and II.
    d) William Wordsworth : ‘She dwelt among untrodden ways’, ‘Tintern Abbey’, ‘She was a Phantom of Delight’, ‘Ode on the Intimations of Immortality’.
    e) John Keats : ‘The Eve of Saint Agnes’, ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’, ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’, ‘Ode to a Nightingale’.
    f) Robert Browning: ‘My Last Duchess’, ‘A Grammarian’s Funeral’, ‘Andrea Del Sarto’, ‘The Patriot’.
    g) Alfred Tennyson : ‘The Lotus Eaters’, ‘Ulysses’, ‘Crossing the Bar’, ‘The Lady of Shalott’.

Section - C (Marks : 50 ) NOVEL
3) .01. Theory of the Novel : The Rise of the middle class, The Rise of the Reading Public, The Rise of the Novel, The Novel and the Romance, The Victorian Novel.

.02 Texts : The candidates are expected to have a critical understanding of the following texts in the light of literary theory in general as well as the issues mentioned in Topic no. 3.01 of the paper in particular.
    a) Henry Fielding : Tom Jones.
    b) Jane Austen : Sense and Sensibility.
    c) Charles Dickens : David Copperfield.
    d) Herman Melville : Moby Dick.

Section – D (Marks : 50 )
The Beginnings of English Studies in India
4) 1) The impact of Colonialism on India – the culture contact and the problem of acculturation.
    2) The Anglicist v/s Orientalist debate. Macaulay’s minute of 1835 on Indian Education. Introduction of English Language and Literature in India
    3) Rise of Nationalism in the English Educated Indian middle class.
    4) Imperialism and Orientalism.

This expects a post-colonial prospective, which is available in the following reference books :
    1 Gauri Vishwanathan : Masks of Conquest
    2 Rajeshwari Sundar Rajan : The Lie of the Land
    3 Edward Said : Orientalism.
    4 Leela Gandhi : The Post Colonical Theory .
    5 Bernard Kohn : Colonialism and its forms of knowledge
    6 Partha Chatterjee : The Nationalism and its fragments: Colonial and Post colonial histories.
 

Paper II
Literature in English during 1900 - 1990
Standard : Degree

Total Marks : 200
Nature of Paper : Conventional Type
Duration : 3 Hours

Note :
1) Answers to this paper must be written in English only.
2) This paper will test the candidate’s abilities to comprehend, to analyse, to interpret, to criticise, to appraise the subject matter related to the topics/sub topics mentioned below.
3) Texts for detailed study are listed below. The paper will require a firsthand critical reading of the texts. The paper will also test candidate’s knowledge related to the theoretical and critical background as well as appreciation of the texts.
 

Section - A (Marks : 50 ) DRAMA
1.1) Dramatic Theory : Poetic Drama, Absurd Drama, Drama and Social Realism, Modern Indian Drama

2) Texts : The candidates are expected to have a critical understanding of the following texts in the light of literary theory in general as well as the issues mentioned in Topic no. 1.01 of the paper in particular.
    a) T.S. Eliot : Murder in the Cahedral
    b) Arthur Miller : Death of a Salesman
    c) Harold Pinter : The Birthday Party
    d) Girish Karnad : The Fire and the Rain
 

Section - B (Marks : 50) POETRY
2) .1) Poetic Theory : Modernism in Poetry, Experimental trends in Modern Poetry, Myth in Modern Poetry, Symbolism in Modern Poetry, Confessional Poetry.

    2) Texts : The candidates are expected to have a critical understanding of the following texts in the light of literary theory in general as well as the issues mentioned in Topic no. 2.01 of the paper in particular.
    a) William Butler Yeats : ‘Byzantium’, ‘Leda and the Swan’, ‘Among School Childern’, ‘A Prayer for My Daughter’
    b) T.S.Eliot ‘The Waste Land’. 
    c) Ted Hughes : ‘Crow’s Song of Himself’, ‘Crow on the Beach’, ‘Crow and the Birds’, ‘Crow’s Nerve Fails’.
    d) Sylvia Plath : ‘Morning Song’, ‘Spinster’, ‘The Courage of Shutting Up’, ‘Three Women’.
    e) Nissim Ezekiel : ‘The Egoist’s Prayer’, ‘Background Casually’, ‘Night of the Scorpion’, ‘Goodbye Party to Miss Pushpa T.S.’
    f) Kamala Das : ‘An Introduction’, ‘The Sunshine Cat’, ‘My Grandmother’s House’, ‘A Hot Noon in Malbar’.
 

Section - C (Marks : 50 ) NOVEL
3) .1) Theory of the Novel : The stream of consciousness Novel, Colonization and Post-Colonism. Symbolism and the Novel. Novel and Social Commitment, Feminist concerns in the Indian English Novel.

2) Texts : The candidates are expected to have a critical understanding of the following texts in the light of literary theory in general as well as the issues mentioned in Topic no. 3.01 of the paper in particular.
    a) Joseph Conrad : The Heart of Darkness.
    b) Ernest Hemingway : The Old Man and the Sea.
    c) Mulkraj Anand : Untouchable.
    d) William Golding : Lord of the Flies.
    e) Shashi Deshpande : That Long Silence.
 

Section - D (Marks : 50 ) The Status of English in Independent India
4) .1) The Language policy of the Government of India - English as Associate Official Language.
2) Position of English in the Three-Language Formula - English as a Second/Foreign Language in Independent India.
3)  Uses of English in India today; As a Link Language, Library Language and Language of Business and Commerce.
4) English in Mass Communication - Indianisation of English Grammar and Phonology - ‘Chutnification’ of English in Indian Writing in English.

References Books :
a) V.K.Gokak - English in India.
b) Braj Kachru - Indianisation of English
c) Braj Kachru - The Other tongue
d) Bansal and Harrison - Spoken English for India
e) N. Krishnaswamy and Archana S. Burde, The Politics of Indian’s
    English : Linguistic Colonialism and the Expanding English Empire.