Arghya Jana Literature Guide

I Music-hall Comedy Vladimir and Estragon—who call each other Gogo and Didi—are clearly derived from the pairs of cross-talk comedians of English music-halls. Their dialogue has the peculiar repetitive quality of the cross-talk of comedians’ patter: Estragon.        So long as one knows. Vladimir.         One can bide one’s time. Estragon.         One knows what to expect. Vladimir.         No further need to worry.           (Page 38) And the parallel to the music-hall and the circus is even explicitly stated: Vladimir.         It’s worse than being at the theatre. Estragon.        The circus. Vladimir.         The music-hall. Estragon....

Various Interpretations of Pozzo and Lucky as Symbols Various interpretations of the Pozzo-Lucky relationship and its significance have been offered by critics. According to one interpretation, these two men represent a master and a slave. According to other interpretations, Pozzo and Lucky symbolise the relationship between capital and labour, or between wealth and the artist. Another view, which seems to be very far-fetched, is that this relationship has an autobiographical origin, Pozzo representing James Joyce and Lucky representing Samuel Beckett. (It is a well-known fact that, in the initial stages of his literary career, Beckett was deeply attached to James Joyce and was almost like a disciple to him.) One of the critics tells us that Pozzo is no other than Godot himself. According to this view, Godot is God, Pozzo is Godot, Pozzo is therefore God; and since Pozzo is nothing but a tyrant and a slave-driver, so too is God. Another critic characterises Pozzo as the Go...

Postcolonial literature refers to writing from regions of the world that were once colonies of European powers. The term refers to a very broad swath of writing in many languages, but the emphasis in this class (in an English department) is on writing in English. The writers in this course come from quite different backgrounds, including Africa, South Asia, and the Caribbean, but they struggle with some similar issues, chief among them being the legacy of colonialism – of European dominance. Postcolonial literature is of particular importance partly because much of it is stylistically original and different from earlier European literature, (one thinks of the number of postcolonial writers who have received prestigious literary prizes in recent years). But postcolonial writing is also important because the texts – as literature – have the potential provide perspectives on the world that are unavailable from textbooks and the newsmedia. The best postcolonial literature aims to ...