No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Ecocriticism analyzes literary texts from environmental perspective to show the changes and impacts of nature upon people and their lives. William Butler Yeats uses elements of nature and blends history with legend in ‘The Curse of the Fires and of the Shadows’ where history says, Hamilton burnt Sligo Abbey in 1642 and legend says, a troop of Hamilton got lost in the deep fog and a man on a white horse misled them, which caused their doom. Yeats’ story contains a plot marking a revenge taken by nature. According to some scholars, natives of colonies are a part of nature. Killing native monks and consequently disturbing nature, Hamilton’s troops committed a crime. Yeats ensures punishment of the criminal for this crime and hence he personifies elements of nature such as fires, shadows, horse and the moon. This paper interprets Yeats’ ‘The Curse of the Fires and of the Shadows’ in the light of ecocriticism in order to find out how natural elements contribute to promote Irishness and raise the voice of colonized Ireland against the colonizer. This research also aims to identify the ecocritical consciousness of Yeats and to discuss what means he receives to punish humans for their crime against nature. In short, this paper explores Yeats’ rigorous use of nature and illustrates the crime of men, nature’s punishment for that crime and the voice of the Irish portrayed with connotative shadows.

Shazia Omar, a Bangladeshi novelist, depicts the less-known imagery of modern Dhaka in her debut novel “Like a Diamond in the Sky” (2009) where she portrays Bangladesh infected with depression, drug addiction, power-play, corruption and fundamentalism. Deen, the protagonist, is lost in addiction, isolated from his mother and outer world but in love with Maria, aware of the future of Bangladesh and eager to search for the meaning of life. Deen, which literally implies the earthly life in Bangla, is an existentialist who is conscious of himself and the people around him. He is aware of his capacity, limitation, existence and essence. He comments on different orders and institutions that hinder at the path of freedom, and about politicization and islamisation in Bangladesh. Not only Deen but also his widowed mother, his friend AJ, drug peddler Falani, the sergeant of the Police, Deen’s girlfriend Maria- all are conscious of their existence and essence. This novel is about a journey from a dark and aimless world to redemption, to a meaningful life. Omar presents existentialism and existential crisis as noticed in Bangladesh in her novel where almost all characters try to find the meaning of life, though in different ways. Omar says in an interview that the novel “explores their feeling of alienation in the chaotic metropolis of Dhaka city” and her protagonist struggles “to find a spiritual connection”. Before writing this novel, Shazia Omar researched in a rehab in Mumbai, visited slums of    Bangladesh and thus shaded light on the darker and less-discussed imagery of Bangladesh. “Like a Diamond in the Sky” is thoroughly examined in the light of existentialism, developed by Descartes, Kierkegaard, Sartre and Heidegger. This paper analyses how “Like a Diamond in the Sky” represents Bangladeshi existentialism, and existentialists who are conscious of existence and essence. It also discusses the observation, of Omar’s characters projected in the novel, about established orders and institutions and finally, desire for freedom and searching for meaning of life.