EGO 130 Writing Lives: An Interactive Literary Series By Professor Vrinda Nabar Visiting Research Professor Kavivarya Bakibaab Borkar Chair in Comparative Literature (A one credit course under CBCS for Goa University PG students under Department of English) from 8th January, 2018 to 17th January, 2018  

  • Goa University

    Visiting Research Professors Programme

    Kavivarya Bakibaab Borkar Chair in Comparative Literature

    EGO 130 Writing Lives: An Interactive Literary Series

    By

    Professor Vrinda Nabar

    Visiting Research Professor

    Kavivarya Bakibaab Borkar Chair in Comparative Literature

    (A one credit course under CBCS for Goa University PG students under Department of English)

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    The course is open to PG students and Research Scholars of Goa University. Not more than 25 students will be selected for the credit course. Members of the general public are welcome to attend.

    Dates: 8th January, 2018 to 17th January, 2018   

    Venue: Conference Hall, Main Building, Goa University

    Schedule:

    Monday, 8 January: 2:00-5:00 p.m.: Introduction, discussion, workshop;

    Tuesday, 9 January: 2:00-5:00 p.m.: Discussion, workshop;

    Thursday, 11 January: 2:00-5:00 p.m.: Discussion, 1st assignment (10 Marks);

    Monday, 15 January: 2:00-5:00 p.m.: Discussion, workshop;

    Tuesday, 16 January: 2:00-4:00 p.m.: Final assignment (15 Marks – 5 of these will be for class participation through the course);

    Wednesday, 17 January: 2:00-3:00 p.m.: Handing over of assignments/grades. Final discussion.

    Note:

    1. Attendance is mandatory. Marks will be deducted for unauthorized absences.
    2. Attendance at the final examination is also mandatory.
    3. Participants are expected to read the prescribed material and have clearly-formulated responses.
    4. The workshops may include group exercises and oral/written presentations.
    5. Emailed assignments/ soft copies will not be accepted.

     

    Maximum number of students: 25. Selection will be made if there are more than 25 registrations for the course. Only those who register online on the VRPP website will be considered for selection to the course.

    Course Coordinator: Professor Nina Caldeira, Head, Department of English

     CLICK here for Online Registration

     

    Deadline for applications is 4th January, 2018

    Display of list of selected participants: 5th Janaury, 2018

    EGO 130 Writing Lives: An Interactive Literary Series

     

    This course carries forward some of the themes covered in the earlier course on “The Gender of Literatures” and combines the study of course material with the actual classroom exercise of writing lives. The course would focus on the recommended readings, but would encourage students to additionally study documentaries and cinema related to the theme. We would look at various literary genres (fiction, non-fiction, poetry) which have used the autobiographical/biography in unusual ways, and attempt to write responses based on the insights gained through interactive discussions. The syllabus would remain gender-focused but its pedagogical scope would extend beyond the mere ambit of “Gender Studies” and critique the different ways in which women and men have written lives.

    In “writing lives” participants would use the readings and class discussions to refine and hone their own course offerings. They would work with the instructor to harness experience, academic study, and the “histories” and “geographies” implicit in contexts to produce short written assignments.

    While originality and creativity would matter, this is NOT a creative writing workshop but a course that insists on academic rigour and evidence of careful study. Marks would also be assigned for evidence of having studied the prescribed material and for participation in classroom discussions.

     

    Recommended Readings (Tentative List, may be expanded/modified).

    Selections from:

    1. Simone de Beauvoir: Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter;
    2. Kamala Das; The Old Playhouse and Other Poems; My Story;
    3. Indira Sant; Snake-Skin and Other Poems of Indira Sant;
    4. Dava Sobel: Galileo’s Daughter;
    5. Billy Collins: Sailing Around the Room: New and Selected Poems;
    6. Louis MacNeice; Selected Poems;
    7. John Updike: selections;
    8. Anjali Purohit: Ragi-Ragini: Chronicles from Aji’s Kitchen;
    9. Wendy Doniger: The Ring of Truth: Myths of Sex and Jewelry.
    10. Mamta Kalia: Tribute to Papa and Other Poems;
    11. Frank McCourt: Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir

     

    Bio of Professor Vrinda Nabar

    A former Chair of English at the University of Mumbai, Vrinda Nabar (b. 1948) studied at the universities of Mumbai and Oxford. She has been a Visiting Professor at Northwestern University (Illinois, USA) and at the Open University (Milton Keynes, UK). Her teaching and research interests have focused on postcolonial issues, Indian literature in English and in English translation, India and the Diaspora, and transnational feminisms. She has also made public presentations of her work at Northwestern University, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Loyola University (Chicago), West Chester University (PA, USA), the Open University (UK), the Sahitya Akademi, Xavier Institute of Communication, Mumbai, and various universities and colleges in India.

    In addition to academic papers and review articles, Vrinda Nabar’s published work includes: the academic bestseller Caste as Woman; Family Fables & Hidden Heresies: A Memoir of Mothers and More; The Bhagavadgita (Introduction and Translation); The Endless Female Hungers: A Study of Kamala Das; and Snake-Skin and Other Poems of Indira Sant (co-translated from the Marathi). She has co-edited Postcolonial Perspectives on the Raj and Its Literature, and Mapping Cultural Spaces: Postcolonial Indian Literature in English. She has also published translations from the poetry of Bakibaab Borkar, Sadanand Rege, Narayan Surve, Mangesh Padgaonkar and Jibanananda Das.

    Vrinda Nabar has freelanced extensively for Indian newspapers, radio and television since the 1970s. She wrote the monthly columns “Book Beat” (The Times of India), “First Person” (The Free Press Journal) and “View from My Window” (Harmony); a fortnightly column of arts and ideas for The Indian Post; and was Literary Editor (Fiction) for The Independent (Bombay). She conceptualised and compèred the monthly show “A Time For Books” for Bombay Doordarshan, and presented Marathi poets in translation as well as a series of literary magazines, “Writers of Tomorrow”, for All India Radio, Bombay. For a short while she also worked as a senior Consultant in Corporate Communications with the Tata Group. She lives in Mumbai, India.

    Please visit www.unigoa.ac.in/vrpp or email- [email protected] for further details

    Ramrao Wagh

    VRPP Coordinator, Goa University

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