falling,' continued Professor Mishra, 'I think we should, without prejudice to items five, six, and seven, wind up the meeting. We can take up those items next month.'
But Pran was unwilling to be dissuaded from pressing on with the unresolved question of Joyce. 'I think we have now collected ourselves,' he said, 'and can approach the issue under discussion quite calmly. If I were willing to accept that Ulysses might be a bit, well, difficult for B.A students, would the committee agree to include Dubliners on the syllabus as a first step? Dr Gupta, what do you think ?'
75Dr Gupta looked up at the slowly circulating fan. His ability to get speakers on Old and Middle English invited to the departmental seminar depended upon Professor Mishra's goodwill: outside speakers entailed incidental expenses, and funds had to be approved by the head of the department. Dr Gupta knew as well as anyone what 'as a first step' implied. He looked up at Pran and said, 'I would be willing -'
But he was swiftly interrupted in his sentence, whatever that might have been. 'We are forgetting,' Professor Mishra cut in, 'something that even I, I must admit, did not bear in mind earlier in this discussion. I mean that, by tradition, the Modern British Literature paper does not include writers who were living at the time of the Second World War.' This was news to Pran, who must have looked astonished, because Professor Mishra felt compelled to explain: 'This is not altogether a matter for surprise. We need the distance of time objectively to appraise the stature of modern writers, to include them in our canon, as it were. Do remind me, Dr Kapoor … when did Joyce die ?'
'1941,' said Pran sharply. It was clear that the great white whale had known this all along.
'Well, there you are …' said Professor Mishra helplessly. His finger moved down the agenda.
'Eliot, of course, is still alive,' said Pran quietly, looking at the list of prescribed authors.
The head of the department looked as if he had been slapped across the face. He opened his mouth slightly, then pursed his lips together. The jolly twinkle appeared again in his eyes. 'But Eliot, Eliot, surely - we have objective criteria enough in his case - why, even Dr Leavis -'
Professor Mishra clearly responded to a different drummer from the Americans, reflected Pran. Aloud he said, 'Dr Leavis, as we know, greatly approves of Lawrence too '
'We have agreed to discuss Lawrence next time,' Professor Mishra expostulated.
Pran gazed out of the window. It was getting dark and the leaves of the laburnum now looked cool, not dusty. He went on, not looking at Professor Mishra : '… and, besides,
76I
Joyce has a better claim as a British writer in Modern British Literature than Eliot. So if we -'
'That, my young friend, if I may say so,' cut in Professor Mishra, 'could be considered a species of quibbling.' He was recovering quickly from his shock. In a minute he would be quoting Prufrock.
What is it about Eliot, thought Pran irrelevantly, his mind wandering from the subject at hand, that makes him such a sacred cow for us Indian intellectuals ? Aloud he said: 'Let us hope that T.S. Eliot has many more years of life, of productive life. I am glad that, unlike Joyce, he did not die in 1941. But we are now living in 1951, which implies that the pre-war rule you mentioned, even if it is a tradition, could not be a very ancient one. If we can't do away with it, why not update it ? Surely its purpose is that we should revere the dead above the living - or, to be less sceptical, appraise the dead before the living. Eliot, who is alive, has been granted a waiver. I propose we grant Joyce one. A friendly compromise.' Pran paused, then added : 'As it were.' He smiled: 'Dr Narayanan, are you for “The Dead” ?'
'Yes, well, I think so,' said Dr Narayanan with the faintest of responding smiles, before
But Pran was unwilling to be dissuaded from pressing on with the unresolved question of Joyce. 'I think we have now collected ourselves,' he said, 'and can approach the issue under discussion quite calmly. If I were willing to accept that Ulysses might be a bit, well, difficult for B.A students, would the committee agree to include Dubliners on the syllabus as a first step? Dr Gupta, what do you think ?'
75Dr Gupta looked up at the slowly circulating fan. His ability to get speakers on Old and Middle English invited to the departmental seminar depended upon Professor Mishra's goodwill: outside speakers entailed incidental expenses, and funds had to be approved by the head of the department. Dr Gupta knew as well as anyone what 'as a first step' implied. He looked up at Pran and said, 'I would be willing -'
But he was swiftly interrupted in his sentence, whatever that might have been. 'We are forgetting,' Professor Mishra cut in, 'something that even I, I must admit, did not bear in mind earlier in this discussion. I mean that, by tradition, the Modern British Literature paper does not include writers who were living at the time of the Second World War.' This was news to Pran, who must have looked astonished, because Professor Mishra felt compelled to explain: 'This is not altogether a matter for surprise. We need the distance of time objectively to appraise the stature of modern writers, to include them in our canon, as it were. Do remind me, Dr Kapoor … when did Joyce die ?'
'1941,' said Pran sharply. It was clear that the great white whale had known this all along.
'Well, there you are …' said Professor Mishra helplessly. His finger moved down the agenda.
'Eliot, of course, is still alive,' said Pran quietly, looking at the list of prescribed authors.
The head of the department looked as if he had been slapped across the face. He opened his mouth slightly, then pursed his lips together. The jolly twinkle appeared again in his eyes. 'But Eliot, Eliot, surely - we have objective criteria enough in his case - why, even Dr Leavis -'
Professor Mishra clearly responded to a different drummer from the Americans, reflected Pran. Aloud he said, 'Dr Leavis, as we know, greatly approves of Lawrence too '
'We have agreed to discuss Lawrence next time,' Professor Mishra expostulated.
Pran gazed out of the window. It was getting dark and the leaves of the laburnum now looked cool, not dusty. He went on, not looking at Professor Mishra : '… and, besides,
76I
Joyce has a better claim as a British writer in Modern British Literature than Eliot. So if we -'
'That, my young friend, if I may say so,' cut in Professor Mishra, 'could be considered a species of quibbling.' He was recovering quickly from his shock. In a minute he would be quoting Prufrock.
What is it about Eliot, thought Pran irrelevantly, his mind wandering from the subject at hand, that makes him such a sacred cow for us Indian intellectuals ? Aloud he said: 'Let us hope that T.S. Eliot has many more years of life, of productive life. I am glad that, unlike Joyce, he did not die in 1941. But we are now living in 1951, which implies that the pre-war rule you mentioned, even if it is a tradition, could not be a very ancient one. If we can't do away with it, why not update it ? Surely its purpose is that we should revere the dead above the living - or, to be less sceptical, appraise the dead before the living. Eliot, who is alive, has been granted a waiver. I propose we grant Joyce one. A friendly compromise.' Pran paused, then added : 'As it were.' He smiled: 'Dr Narayanan, are you for “The Dead” ?'
'Yes, well, I think so,' said Dr Narayanan with the faintest of responding smiles, before
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