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Papers by Dr. Shalini Sharma
Atypical in the Typical: Poetry in the Age of Hyperspace Subtheme: Emerging Issues in Language, ... more Atypical in the Typical: Poetry in the Age of Hyperspace
Subtheme: Emerging Issues in Language, Literature and Cultural Development
What makes a poem, a poem? The words, the pauses, the spaces, the feelings, the word strings or the stylistics? From Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales to TS Eliot’s The Wasteland, poetry has witnessed an incredible expedition. In the world of internet where your relationships are saved in the mobiles, where the social status updates become a barometer of your success and where the filters of the apps make up for your parlour bills, is it right to assume that poem will still be the same lyrical crossword of thoughts and feelings, as it had been defined. Like all the creations and relations of man, poem too has undergone a cyclonic change. Poetry today is certainly much more than a verbose delight or structural treat of past. This research paper will explore how a poetry has changed not only in content but also in forms. We have a two-word poem to two lines poem that can make any reader scratch his head for the connotations and annotations? Then we can find poem with a fingerprint, with a Japanese alphabet and an enlarged m. Apart from illustrating the changed face of the poem, this paper will also analyse the causes behind these vagaries in the postmodern poetry.
MOTIFS _ A Peer Reviewed International Journal of English Studies Volume 7, Special Issue on Cultural Studies , 2021
From the first narrative of a thirsty crow, to the experiences around us, our lives are punctuate... more From the first narrative of a thirsty crow, to the experiences around us, our lives are punctuated with stories. They will live on till the perpetuity. But can their metamorphosized forms on internet be as appealing as the dramas of Shakespeare, narrated by Charles and Mary Lamb? The literary stories have their own intrigues and turns, can the modern stories in the digital space compete with them. The content creation is increasing by leaps and bounds. With all the possible innovations and experimentations story telling has taken the form of mini tales. With more stories being churned out than the listeners, the question about their literary value will always be asked. This paper explores the literary worthiness of bit-sized, digital and popular culture induced tiny tails.
ELTAI, 2021
Sub-theme: Language and Technology A debatable question that is posed every now and then is-Shoul... more Sub-theme: Language and Technology A debatable question that is posed every now and then is-Should English be the main medium of instruction in nations, where English is not the mother tongue? Nobody can deny the importance of English as a global language. Whether we hate it or love it, learning English is one of the necessities of life. In India where it is said that dialect changes after every 50-100 km, teaching and learning English remains a big area of concern. ELT and ESL are treated as significant offshoots of English here. Almost 14 % of the population of India uses English for communication. But in the parallel world of social media, English seems to be ruling. Most of the Facebook posts, Instagram stories or tweets appear in English. This means that even non-English speaking people are using English.
Drama, being an imitative art, is the closest to real life. The occidental literature has a long ... more Drama, being an imitative art, is the closest to real life. The occidental literature has a long list of successful playwrights, from Shakespeare to Osborne. But in the oriental literature, specifically in Indian Writing in English, drama is not as popular as other genres.
Listening to the thirsty crow's story or crooning, "Here we go round the mulberry bush", always r... more Listening to the thirsty crow's story or crooning, "Here we go round the mulberry bush", always rings in indescribable excitement in each of us. No power can ever usurp from our memories, the tales that moulded our childhood and poems that fired our imagination. Growing up in 80's of India, the colored pages of comics like Champak, Nandan, Twinkle, Chacha Chowdhary, etc.
Rig Veda is the oldest known scripture to have advocated importance of preserving environment. No... more Rig Veda is the oldest known scripture to have advocated importance of preserving environment. No other nation joins hands to pray to the trees and spirits in nature, as is done in India. In all the ceremonies, we evoke the blessing of the earth and that is what true biocentrism and ecocentrism are. In praying for the Dharti Mata (Terra Mater-mother earth) we Indians are taught to move away from anthropocentrism. With a nation so rich in
Conference Presentations by Dr. Shalini Sharma
In the age of digitalization when everything is at a click and a call away, we still have to shar... more In the age of digitalization when everything is at a click and a call away, we still have to share the facebook posts like Beti bachao beti padhao (save daughter, educate her) and Meri beti mera swabhimaan (my daughter, my pride) to be called socially-responsible netizen. In the age of memes, we still depend on the maxims and movements to empower women. Eve ate the Apple of Knowledge before Adam. But sadly, her female progeny was bereft of education for centuries to come. Metaphorically women continue to reel under that First Sin. History has shown the graphical rise in the number of women who could start their educational journey. But those journeys culminated into the degrees or not, remains unanswered in history. This paper delves into the necessity of understanding the relation between education and women empowerment through the literary lens. There will be a passionate global and glocal trip into the dismal spots of history in which woman was considered as a burden to the society, with no rights whatsoever, given to them. With the increasing atrocities, the Indian women started challenging the status quo and kept struggling for their place in the sun. This paper will reflect upon the indefatigable efforts of countless women activists who could manage to metamorphosize the situation of woman in the society. And literature became a weapon in the hands of the revolutionary writers and activists like Tagore, Sarat Chandra, Premchand, Savitribai Phule, Ramabai Ranade, and many more. We owe this day, this conference and this paper to such exemplary ideals.
Satire in its myriad forms has been catching the intended audience off guard since age... more Satire in its myriad forms has been catching the intended audience off guard since ages. Humour, irony, farce and allegory have not only tickled the laughing bones, but have also been able to persuade the readers about need for change in their thinking process. And what better way is there than, hitting it hard at the follies of social structure. Sarcasm many a times does what cannot be done by slogans and debates. Though not a recognised sub-genre, but a substantial tool in the gender sensitisation has been satire, specially in the feminine writing. Female satirists are a hard find in the list of famous literary satirists. It is a thrill to explore how often sarcasm succeeds in bringing caustic smile on the readers’ face. For instance, the closing lines of the famous poem “Pocket-sized Feminist” by Blythe Baird says it all:
They begged us to be careful. To be safe
Then told our brothers to go out and play
This paper aims to explore how satire punctuates itself in the creative pursuits of women poets. With less number of women satirists particularly in India should we assume that women are still not allowed to laugh upon others? Is satire a male-dominated genre? Women have been known to mitigate their fears and pain through tears and giggles. Literature has perfectly portrayed those tears but for giggles we need to search with telescopic vision. And hopefully this paper will discover some stars.
Key Words: Satire, Anomalies, Agony, Humour, Societal norms.
Talks by Dr. Shalini Sharma
Digital Literature has become more pertinent after pandemic. Literary works can communicate to mu... more Digital Literature has become more pertinent after pandemic. Literary works can communicate to multiple age groups. For gen x digital literature can create more appeal. Made up of texts created digitally, and that are (usually) meant to be read on a computer. Technology helps in writing, presenting and understanding writing
Atypical in the Typical: Poetry in the Age of Hyperspace Subtheme: Emerging Issues in Language, ... more Atypical in the Typical: Poetry in the Age of Hyperspace
Subtheme: Emerging Issues in Language, Literature and Cultural Development
What makes a poem, a poem? The words, the pauses, the spaces, the feelings, the word strings or the stylistics? From Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales to TS Eliot’s The Wasteland, poetry has witnessed an incredible expedition. In the world of internet where your relationships are saved in the mobiles, where the social status updates become a barometer of your success and where the filters of the apps make up for your parlour bills, is it right to assume that poem will still be the same lyrical crossword of thoughts and feelings, as it had been defined. Like all the creations and relations of man, poem too has undergone a cyclonic change. Poetry today is certainly much more than a verbose delight or structural treat of past. This research paper will explore how a poetry has changed not only in content but also in forms. We have a two-word poem to two lines poem that can make any reader scratch his head for the connotations and annotations? Then we can find poem with a fingerprint, with a Japanese alphabet and an enlarged m. Apart from illustrating the changed face of the poem, this paper will also analyse the causes behind these vagaries in the postmodern poetry.
MOTIFS _ A Peer Reviewed International Journal of English Studies Volume 7, Special Issue on Cultural Studies , 2021
From the first narrative of a thirsty crow, to the experiences around us, our lives are punctuate... more From the first narrative of a thirsty crow, to the experiences around us, our lives are punctuated with stories. They will live on till the perpetuity. But can their metamorphosized forms on internet be as appealing as the dramas of Shakespeare, narrated by Charles and Mary Lamb? The literary stories have their own intrigues and turns, can the modern stories in the digital space compete with them. The content creation is increasing by leaps and bounds. With all the possible innovations and experimentations story telling has taken the form of mini tales. With more stories being churned out than the listeners, the question about their literary value will always be asked. This paper explores the literary worthiness of bit-sized, digital and popular culture induced tiny tails.
ELTAI, 2021
Sub-theme: Language and Technology A debatable question that is posed every now and then is-Shoul... more Sub-theme: Language and Technology A debatable question that is posed every now and then is-Should English be the main medium of instruction in nations, where English is not the mother tongue? Nobody can deny the importance of English as a global language. Whether we hate it or love it, learning English is one of the necessities of life. In India where it is said that dialect changes after every 50-100 km, teaching and learning English remains a big area of concern. ELT and ESL are treated as significant offshoots of English here. Almost 14 % of the population of India uses English for communication. But in the parallel world of social media, English seems to be ruling. Most of the Facebook posts, Instagram stories or tweets appear in English. This means that even non-English speaking people are using English.
Drama, being an imitative art, is the closest to real life. The occidental literature has a long ... more Drama, being an imitative art, is the closest to real life. The occidental literature has a long list of successful playwrights, from Shakespeare to Osborne. But in the oriental literature, specifically in Indian Writing in English, drama is not as popular as other genres.
Listening to the thirsty crow's story or crooning, "Here we go round the mulberry bush", always r... more Listening to the thirsty crow's story or crooning, "Here we go round the mulberry bush", always rings in indescribable excitement in each of us. No power can ever usurp from our memories, the tales that moulded our childhood and poems that fired our imagination. Growing up in 80's of India, the colored pages of comics like Champak, Nandan, Twinkle, Chacha Chowdhary, etc.
Rig Veda is the oldest known scripture to have advocated importance of preserving environment. No... more Rig Veda is the oldest known scripture to have advocated importance of preserving environment. No other nation joins hands to pray to the trees and spirits in nature, as is done in India. In all the ceremonies, we evoke the blessing of the earth and that is what true biocentrism and ecocentrism are. In praying for the Dharti Mata (Terra Mater-mother earth) we Indians are taught to move away from anthropocentrism. With a nation so rich in
In the age of digitalization when everything is at a click and a call away, we still have to shar... more In the age of digitalization when everything is at a click and a call away, we still have to share the facebook posts like Beti bachao beti padhao (save daughter, educate her) and Meri beti mera swabhimaan (my daughter, my pride) to be called socially-responsible netizen. In the age of memes, we still depend on the maxims and movements to empower women. Eve ate the Apple of Knowledge before Adam. But sadly, her female progeny was bereft of education for centuries to come. Metaphorically women continue to reel under that First Sin. History has shown the graphical rise in the number of women who could start their educational journey. But those journeys culminated into the degrees or not, remains unanswered in history. This paper delves into the necessity of understanding the relation between education and women empowerment through the literary lens. There will be a passionate global and glocal trip into the dismal spots of history in which woman was considered as a burden to the society, with no rights whatsoever, given to them. With the increasing atrocities, the Indian women started challenging the status quo and kept struggling for their place in the sun. This paper will reflect upon the indefatigable efforts of countless women activists who could manage to metamorphosize the situation of woman in the society. And literature became a weapon in the hands of the revolutionary writers and activists like Tagore, Sarat Chandra, Premchand, Savitribai Phule, Ramabai Ranade, and many more. We owe this day, this conference and this paper to such exemplary ideals.
Satire in its myriad forms has been catching the intended audience off guard since age... more Satire in its myriad forms has been catching the intended audience off guard since ages. Humour, irony, farce and allegory have not only tickled the laughing bones, but have also been able to persuade the readers about need for change in their thinking process. And what better way is there than, hitting it hard at the follies of social structure. Sarcasm many a times does what cannot be done by slogans and debates. Though not a recognised sub-genre, but a substantial tool in the gender sensitisation has been satire, specially in the feminine writing. Female satirists are a hard find in the list of famous literary satirists. It is a thrill to explore how often sarcasm succeeds in bringing caustic smile on the readers’ face. For instance, the closing lines of the famous poem “Pocket-sized Feminist” by Blythe Baird says it all:
They begged us to be careful. To be safe
Then told our brothers to go out and play
This paper aims to explore how satire punctuates itself in the creative pursuits of women poets. With less number of women satirists particularly in India should we assume that women are still not allowed to laugh upon others? Is satire a male-dominated genre? Women have been known to mitigate their fears and pain through tears and giggles. Literature has perfectly portrayed those tears but for giggles we need to search with telescopic vision. And hopefully this paper will discover some stars.
Key Words: Satire, Anomalies, Agony, Humour, Societal norms.
Digital Literature has become more pertinent after pandemic. Literary works can communicate to mu... more Digital Literature has become more pertinent after pandemic. Literary works can communicate to multiple age groups. For gen x digital literature can create more appeal. Made up of texts created digitally, and that are (usually) meant to be read on a computer. Technology helps in writing, presenting and understanding writing