Realism and Naturalism in Samrat Upadhyay’s The Guru of Love

This research project seeks to explore realism and naturalism in Samrat Upadhyay's novel, The Guru of Love, in the context of Nepalese society. It analyses how the novel delineates a realistic account of Nepalese middle-class people's hardships, struggles, and problems they face internally and externally through the character of Ramchandra, the protagonist of the fiction, an ordinary mathematics teacher who faces some hindrances in search of a better life and developing a career in the capital city. The principal objective of the study is to find the realistic, naturalistic, and materialistic elements in the novel, to examine the psychic predispositions that characters come through realistically, and to analyze the role of love and sex in terms of spirituality and emancipation as they all fall into the parameters of naturalism and realism. This study is developed through a theoretical framework based on realism and naturalism for the close textual analysis of the novel. The principal finding of the research paper is that the major characters of the novel, The Guru of Love, suffer from the conflict between their desires and their socio-economic realities. The article also surveys how material prosperity fails to resolve all the problems that human being goes through. It is expected that the paper stands as a reference for the research scholars interested to explore in the area.

THE TOPIC OF FAMINE IN THE STORY “АДӘМНӘР” (“PEOPLE”) BY G. IBRAGIMOV: CRITICAL AND LITERATURE STUDY INTROSPECTION

The story of Galimjan Ibragimov “People” in different eras was evaluated by literary scholars from various points of view. From the middle of 1920s-1930s - vulgar-sociological treatments formed a basis to exclude the story from the Tatar literature history for many years. After the long-term period of concealment, in 1950s-1970s excessively naturalistic descriptions, not very sustained ideological and art orientation of the story, existence of passive humanity in it and misunderstanding of the principles of socialist realism became an object of criticism. Different views and estimates appear during the perestroika years, uncensored chaos in literature, art when all “forbidden” works began to be published, naturally causing a wide response of experts. Modern studies convince that the story of G. Ibragimov has not lost its relevance to this day, both from the standpoint of historical and literary, and from a purely aesthetic one. The comparative analysis of literary works of different eras about hunger made it possible to feel the influence of time on aesthetic interpretations: from vulgar sociologism, through the Procrustean bed of socialist realism and naturalism to the objective characteristics of pieces of art in the works of scholars of the late XX - early XXI centuries.

Administração da morte: A aposentadoria de Senhor Bougran, de J.-K. Huysmans e A Morte de Ivan Ilitch, de Lev Tolstoi

O presente artigo compara duas narrativas – A aposentadoria de Senhor Bougran, de J.-K. Huysmans e A morte de Ivan Ilitch, de Lev Tostoi – partindo de uma análise do funcionalismo público e da noção de labor na literatura. Busca-se mostrar de que maneira o anúncio da morte afeta as protagonistas a partir de certos lutos e frustrações em suas vidas. De que maneira o discurso literário confrontase com o discurso administrativo e a vida no serviço público se manifesta nessas situações? São analisadas aqui topoi frequentes no realismo e no naturalismo, presente nas obras em questão, como a vegetação, a decoração e o retrato da vida comum do servidor no serviço público. Como são representadas essas existências comuns? De que maneira suas existências comuns se acomodam no espaço do discurso literário? *** Administrating death in J.-K. Huysmans’s Mr. Bougran’s Retirement and Leo Tolstoi’s The Death of Ivan Ilitch ***This article compares two short novels – J.-K. Huysmans’s Mr. Bougran’s Retirement and Leo Tolstoi’s The Death of Ivan Ilitch – in an analysis of public service and the concept of labor in literature. We intend to present the way through which the announcement of death affects the main characters from their grief and frustrations in their lives. How does the literary discourse oppose to the administrative discourse? How is life in public service manifested in these situations? Frequent topoi in Realism and Naturalism, present in both texts are analysed, such as vegetation, decor and a portrait of the common public worker’s life. In what sense are these ordinary existences related to the idea of absurd and how do they fit in the literary discourse?Keywords: Labour; Death; Grief; Absurd; Huysmans; Tolstoi.