The Joys of the Literary
In spite of having come to learn that the study of literature was accommodative of a host of 바카라texts바카라 ranging from novels to films and paintings to cultural phenomena, my confusion regarding the precise meaning of the adjective 바카라literary바카라 persisted until the end of my graduation days. The year was 2012. Feeling half-foolish and half-expectant for some clarity, I posed the problem to Professor Udaya Kumar, my then MPhil supervisor at Delhi University. And there came an illuminating response in his characteristically calm manner. 바카라Literary,바카라 Kumar replied, 바카라is that which evokes pleasure upon studying something.바카라
The professor바카라s statement stuck with me. It wasn바카라t so much a dry, clinical truth as it was a perspective that cut across the binaries of high and low, popular and classical literatures, which acknowledged an experience that any person with basic readings kills was capable of having: a literary experience. In highlighting the role of pleasure, Kumar eased my growing frustration with a global academic tendency that tirelessly promoted a cynicism 바카라 even hatred바카라 towards literary texts in the name of 바카라critical thinking.바카라
As Jon Baskin wrote in an essay intriguingly titled 바카라On the Hatred of Literature바카라 earlier this year, 바카라Our professors had a great deal invested in novels and poems; and it was probably even the case that, at some point, they had loved them. But they had convinced themselves that to justify the 바카라study바카라 of literature it was necessary to immunize themselves against this love, and within the profession the highest status went to those for whom admiration and attachment had most fully morphed into their opposites. Their hatred of literature manifested itself in their embrace of theories and methods that downgraded and instrumentalised literary experience.바카라
Not so Kumar, and thank heavens for that. In spite of being astonishingly wide-read and theoretically proficient, instrumentalisation never marked his pedagogy or politics. He was, and remains, a rare phenomenon in the world of literary studies.
A Pedagogic Excellence
I first met Professor Udaya Kumar during my MA, a course I hardly enjoyed owing to its intensely impersonal environment. Even so, Kumar바카라s lectures made a unique mark amidst all the unhappiness, and I decided that should I do an MPhil, it would be under him. At a time when I was just beginning to realise that not all good scholars made good teachers, it was a
joy and relief to come across the gentle and gracious expertise of a professor like Kumar, who embodied the best of both.
A steady cadence suffused his lectures that never devolved into monotony. His enunciation was effortlessly buoyed by a quiet assurance that only comes with the deepest familiarity with one바카라s discipline. Often holding no more than a single sheet of paper to collate his points, Kumar바카라s analysis of the text at hand took the form of an elegant oral narrative, which was in equal parts politically astute, philosophically revelatory, and aesthetically enriching.
This was a balance that enthralled me, for it made me realize that ideological interpretations and form-appreciation could go hand in hand, generating enthusiasm and wonder. When I finally made it to my MPhil under his supervision, he ensured that this wonder never waned, even as he simultaneously shepherded me towards the precision of thought and expression. For someone who excelled in areas as wide as Modernist studies, theory and criticism, Indian literatures and aesthetic philosophy, Kumar wore his wisdom lightly and courteously.
My most significant and special association with the professor grew in the form of my dissertation topic, which focused on the literary-visual evolution of Shimla, my adopted Himalayan hometown. Always appreciative of my area of study, Kumar intricately guided me towards Shimla바카라s evolution in terms of the place바카라s 바카라history of perception.바카라 This was another phrase that I learned through him. That the emotional act of perceiving could itself be thought about in a historically changeable manner was a thrilling proposition, because it attuned me towards the town바카라s minutest cultural shifts whilst simultaneously keeping me conscious of the general picture.
Landing in Cambridge a few months later with the help of Kumar바카라s reference to pursue further qualifications, I continued to think through his teachings. Before leaving for foreign shores, when I proposed a complete shift in my field for my doctoral work (fantasy literature), not once did he doubt my intentions or calibre. But even as I delved into my new area, I kept building on my former research. Kumar바카라s role as a supervisor had instilled a confidence to continue with my previous interest in an individual capacity, and this, unarguably, was one of his finest gifts as a teacher: the birthing of a steady intellectual assurance in his student.
Despite my PhD topic bearing no ostensible relationship to Kumar바카라s academic output, I regularly visited his works to explore refreshing ways of academic meditations, which, for all their complexity, steered clear of verbosity and blanket judgements. Instead, his reflections created probing conversations amongst authors, theorists, and readers, and this emphasis on dialogue could also be seen in his politics, whose most recent instantiation emerged in the form of his unstinting support for Professor Hany Babu and his work.
And just as Kumar unambiguously lauds the work of his contemporary, he himself is esteemed for collective endeavours. One of the other abiding memories from my MPhil is of Professor Alok Rai inviting Kumar to his course for rigorous intellectual exchanges, each stalwart enthusiastically absorbing ideas from the other.
The Death of Decency
When I first learned of the recent misbehavior meted out to Kumar by the JNU Executive Council, which unjustifiably denied his leave for a prestigious fellowship in France, it came as a shock but not much as a surprise, given the current climate of country-wide authoritarian highhandedness. After months of harassment, the professor moved the Delhi High Court, which not only gave a judgment in his favour but also awarded him the money in costs.
TV anchor Ravish Kumar has increasingly argued that our countrymen who senselessly desire to become a 바카라vishwa-guru바카라 (바카라teacher of the world바카라) should first look into the deplorable plight of our own gurus. Among the many ills plaguing the profession of teaching, 바카라uncivility바카라 ranks high, a trait that is fast becoming the hallmark of our society, as the social commentator Santosh Desai has recently observed. In our evolution as a nation, we have somehow forfeited the importance of behaviour as 바카라unnecessary바카라 or 바카라merely cosmetic.바카라 George Orwell바카라s words thus come to mind, who said that 바카라If men would behave decently the world would be decent.바카라 Learning from Kumar바카라s unwavering decency may well be a good place to begin with.
(Views are personal)
*Siddharth Pandey is a writer, photographer and curator who has published widely in academic and popular platforms. Currently, he is writing two histories of Shimla. He can be found on Instagram @shimlasiddharthpandey
