Poverty, Social Problems and Cultural Diversity in

R. Tagore,

Narayan

and Salaam Bombay

Kate Liu, Fu Jen

Background Caste system Religious Conflicts Language Differences and

Illiteracy

Social Problems--poverty, internal migration, slums in Bombay, government inefficiency

Colonialism -- in the background

Tagore: “Flute Music”1. A man in poverty--

compared to a lizard; save the cost of light his office his girl

2. The function of flute music

R. K. Narayan--biography

Pinchia Feng

born in Madras in 1906 full name: Rasipuram Krishnaswami

Ayyar Naranayanaswami-->1935 Graham Greene the Sahitya Akademi Award (1960) A. C. Benson Medal (The British

Society of Literature, 1980)

R. K. Narayan-- biography

in the U. S.--The English Speaking Union Book Award; Fellow of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters (1982)

a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament (1989)

Narayan the Writer V.s. Naipaul (1999): “He wrote

about people in a small town in South India: small people, big talk, small doings. That was where he began; that was where he was fifty years later. To some extent that reflected Narayan’s own life. He never moved far from his origins.” (“The Writer in India”)

Narayan the Story-teller

“I’d be quite happy if no more is claimed from me than being just a story-teller. Only the story matters, that is all. If readers read more significance into my stories than was meant originally, then that’s the reader’s understanding of things. But if a story is in tune completely with the truth of life, truth as I perceive it, then it will be automatically significant.”

“Annamalai”--narrative

narrative time and technique: How does the story start? How does it end? Does the story follow a chronological order?

narrative point of view letters within the story: What do

they tell us?

“Annamalai”--regional color

How does Narayan characterize Annamalai and the peasant community in (southern) India ?

Can we call “Annamalai” a story of regional color?

Can you think of any example in Taiwanese literature that is similar to this story?

“Annamalai”--language language and class linguistic hegemony: English

vs Tamil

Salaam Bombay: The migrants in a city (1)I. Chaipau:

his name (Krishna) his family and home ad

dress his “family” in the city

Salaam Bombay: The migrants in a city (2) Manju’s family Chillum The ghetto boys -- sleep

by the railroad station

Salaam Bombay: a series of betrays

1.Chillum -- a drug pusher and addict

BabaHis wife & Manju

Krishna

The Sweet Sixteen

Salaam Bombay: survival How do Krishna and the

other kids survive? Skin chicken, rob an old man, serve in a rich man’s

wedding party

Salaam Bombay: social factors State intervention: Chiller Room drug, prostitution and Bollywood traces of collonial influence:

cricket, tourists, statues, movies

Religion: helpless. E.g. Ganesh