World Literatures — DU B. A. (Hons) English Previous Year Question Papers

(b) How does the imposition of foreign written language create what Ngugi calls "colonial alienation" for a child? In what ways does it impact the school going child's self-identity? 7. (a) One of the significant themes in world literature is the experience of colonialism, dispossession and dislocation. Discuss with reference to any text prescribed in your syllabus. (b) The use of the fabulous and the mythic powerfully universalises the human experience. Discuss with reference to any text prescribed in your syllabus. (c) Candidates have to answer all the questions in Part-A and any three questions in Part- B. (d) Questions in Part-A carry 10 marks each and questions in Part-B carry 20 marks each. 1. Write a short note on any one of the following: (a) The incense box in Gurnah's novel By the 2. (a) Identify the "she" in the passage and critically comment on the following passage: Entering the river she was cleaned, shining like a white stone in the rain, and without looking back she swam again swam towards emptiness, swam towards death. (b) Explain with reference to the context the following passage: Our boat is bound for Africa. They have goats and cows just like us, Also snakes that curl Under the frangipani tree. 3. (a) Discuss the elements of magic realism in the story Balthazar's Marvellous Afternoon. (b) Write a note on the use of fear and violence in the story The Blue Bouquet. 4. (a) Memories are but the relics of the past. Analyse how Abdulrazak Gurnah blends the material and the intangible to weave together fragments of memory in the novel By the Sea. (b) Comment critically on the significance of the sea in the novel By the Sea. 5. (a) The act of 'naming' is both a form of colonial erasure and a desperate attempt for cultural survival. Critically analyse how Walcott brings out the ironical complexities in the act of naming in the poem Names. (b) Critically analyse the use of feminine symbolism in Nizar Qabbani's poem, Beirut, Mistress of the World. How does it blend the twin elements of political eritique and love poetry? 6. (a) What according to Ngugi has been the role of language in imperialism? How did it create structural divisions within African society?