The Dover Bitch

By Anthony Hecht




The Dover Bitch

So there stood Matthew Arnold and this girl
With the cliffs of England crumbling away behind them,
And he said to her, 'Try to be true to me,
And I'll do the same for you, for things are bad
All over, etc., etc.'
Well now, I knew this girl. It's true she had read
Sophocles in a fairly good translation
And caught that bitter allusion to the sea,
But all the time he was talking she had in mind
The notion of what his whiskers would feel like
On the back of her neck. She told me later on
That after a while she got to looking out
At the lights across the channel, and really felt sad,
Thinking of all the wine and enormous beds
And blandishments in French and the perfumes.
And then she got really angry. To have been brought
All the way down from London, and then be addressed
As a sort of mournful cosmic last resort
Is really tough on a girl, and she was pretty.
Anyway, she watched him pace the room
And finger his watch-chain and seem to sweat a bit,
And then she said one or two unprintable things.
But you mustn't judge her by that.
What I mean to say is, She's really all right.
I still see her once in a while
And she always treats me right.
We have a drink
And I give her a good time, and perhaps it's a year
Before I see her again, but there she is,
Running to fat, but dependable as they come.
And sometimes I bring her a bottle of Nuit d' Amour.

Words and paper cups

1. Professor Jacqueline Rose of the University of London will be speaking on 'The Political Edge of Fiction' (on Edward Said and Palestinian fiction) in Vivekananda Hall, JU (opposite Milan's Canteen) at 3 pm on 7th January

2. Professor James Simpson of Harvard University will be giving a lecture on 'Six Dark, Dynamic and Demeaning Paradoxes of Sixteenth-Century Evangelical Bible Reading' at 3 pm on Wednesday 9th January in Anita Banerji Memorial Auditorium, UG Arts Bldg JU

3. Professor John Kerrigan of the University of Cambridge will be speaking on Macbeth and the notion of 'archipelagizing' literature on Tuesday 15th January at 3 pm in Anita Banerji Memorial Auditorium, UG Arts Bldg JU











Milton in his Time

International Milton Quatercentenary Conference
Department of English
Jadavpur University,
Kolkata 700032, India

Phone/Fax: 91-33-24146681

Conference dates 16-18 January 2008

Venue: HL Roy Auditorium
Institute of Chemical Engineers
Jadavpur University

Tentative Schedule of Speakers
16.1.2008
10.00 am :Registration
10.30 am: Inauguration,
11.00 am: Coffee
11.15 am – 1 am: Academic Session I

James Simpson, Harvard University 11.15-12.15 To be announced
Prasanta Chakravarty, Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bangalore 12.15-1.00:
A Trimme Paradox: The Good Old Cause and the Nature of Republican Liberty in the late 1650s
1.00 pm: Lunch
2 pm – 5.00 pm: Academic Session II
Student Papers: Abirlal Mitra, Jadavpur University, 2.00-2.15: The Pneumatology of John Milton ; Somnath Basu, Jadavpur University, 2.15-2.30: The Absence of Erasmus in The Works of John Milton
C. S. Lim, University of Malaya 2.30-3.15: The Golden Chersonese in Paradise Lost: Milton In & Out of His Time
Niranjan Goswami, Presidency College, Kolkata 3.15-4.00 To be announced
Tea, 4.00 pm
Supriya Chaudhuri, Jadavpur University 4.15-5.00 To be announced
_______________________________________________________________________
DAY II: 17.1.2008

10.00 am: - 1 pm: Academic Session III
John Kerrigan, Cambridge University 10.00-11.00: The Archipelago Enlarged: Milton and Marvell to 1660
Coffee, 11 am
Malabika Sarkar, Jadavpur University 11.15-12.00: Milton's Raphael and Seventeenth Century Curiosity
Samya Seth, Jadavpur University 12.00-12.30: The Secret of Samson Agonistes: Act and Encounter
Sharmistha Mitra, Bidhannagar College, Kolkata 2.45-3.15 The Genesis Account and Paradise Lost

1 pm: Lunch
DAY II 17.1.2008 (continued)
2 pm – 5.00 pm: Academic Session IV
Alexandra Dumitrescu, University of Otago 2.00-2.45: Milton's Inheritance: Between Paradise Lost (1667) and Milton (1804)
Sriparna Ghoshal, Vivekananda College, Kolkata 12.30- 1.00
Blake and Milton – Visual Interpretations
Sneha Kar Chaudhuri, Jadavpur University 3.15-3.45
The Afterlife of John Milton in British New Historical Fiction: A.S.Byatt's "Morpho Eugenia" and Peter Ackroyd's Milton in America
Student Paper 3.45-4.00: Poushali Bhadury, Jadavpur University: Milton and Pullman
Tea, 4.00 pm
Swapan Kumar Chakravorty, Jadavpur University 4.15-5.00 To be announced

___________________________________________________________________________
DAY III: 18.1.2008

10:00– 1 pm: Academic Session V
David Hawkes, Arizona State University 10.00-11.00
Milton and Usury
Coffee, 11 am
Rupin Desai, formerly of Delhi University 11.15-12.00: The Paradox of Sexuality in Books IV and IX of Paradise Lost
Sukanya Dasgupta, Loreto College, Kolkata 12.00-12.45 To be announced
Student Paper 12.45 – 1.00: Hrileena Ghosh (Jadavpur University): Dream not of other worlds: Politics and the rhetoric of "new science" in Paradise Lost
1 pm: Lunch
2 pm – 5.15 pm Academic Session VI
Student Paper 2.00-2.15: Avishek Parui (Calcutta University): Author, Authority and The Judge: "Samson Agonistes" and the voice of John Milton
Amrita Dhar, Jadavpur University 2.15-2.45 "Milton and 'his great duel':Paradise Regained
Mou Banerjee, Jadavpur University 2.45-3.15 To be announced
Nandini Bhattacharya, Bethune College, Kolkata. 3.15-3.45 On Ugliness: A Reading of Paradise Lost and Samsom Agonistes".
Tea, 3.45 pm
Amlan Das Gupta, Jadavpur University 4.00- 4.45 On Misunderstanding God's Will

4.45 pm: Valediction

CERTIFICATE COURSE IN EDITING AND PUBLISHING

Applications are invited from Honours Graduates in any discipline for a PG Certificate Course in Editing and Publishing to be conducted by the School of Cultural Texts and Records, Jadavpur University, in collaboration with the Editing as a Skills Programme, from 7 January 2008-11 April 2008. Classes will normally be held four days a week from 6-8 p.m. Applicants must be below 35 years of age, and have to appear for a screening test on 28 December 2007, at 5 p.m., to be held on the first floor of the UG Arts Building. Course fee: Rs 5,500. Applications may be made on plain paper or by email to culture@school.jdvu.ac.in, addressed to Prof. Swapan Chakraborty, Coordinator, Editing as a Skill Programme, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700 032. Paper applications should be submitted to the School of Cultural Texts and Records, (UG Arts/ Science Building, 3^rd floor, near Film Studies Department) between 11-4 p.m. on working days. Closing date: 26 December. 2007. Photocopies of graduation certificate and mark-sheets must be produced on the day of screening test.

Prof. Swapan Chakraborty
Coordinator, Editing as a Skill Programme, Jadavpur University

A word of Ad-vice

Wokay so this blog is becoming less and less about the blabberbots and more about photographs and finicky questions.

Dear people who are about to depart... GET A HOLD ON YOURSELF. I SURVIVED IT, and YOU GUYS WILL TOO.

Get over the farewell bit. You people are bound to come back and smoke up outside the classrooms and make out inside them and get sloshed in random places.

My advice to the departing Seniors : TEACH THE KIDS THE SALIENT ART OF Lyaeding.

Very important, that. It makes a mind philosophical. It brings out odd quirks about oneself... from detesting chocolate sauce to being the next masochist.... Anything is possible between one ring of cigarette smoke and another.

On another note, LISSEN PEOPLE WE LOVE YOU BUT WE KNOW THAT OUTSIDE JUDE IS A BIG WORLD. And we are not afraid to shove you guys into it. We have muscles. And we have Oomph. We can bust you with either. Or both. Take your pick.

And ok, yes. For Deep. Sit on anyone's face for all we care but don't repeat that song during your own farewell.... Decomposing composers is much better. You can even try the loony bun one. It helps if you sing it while hanging from a tree gracing Milan Da's and attempt to have sex with the black-evolution-monkey-turned-Michael-Jackson dustbin that we have. It clearly states on it : USE ME.

Now Sandy, stop grinning that little I-Know-What-You-Did-On-Friday-The-Thirteenth-At-Princeton -and-I'm-not-Afraid-to-Use-It grin that you possess. Its just plain mean. Makes us lesser mortals feel even more less (And yes I have heard the Curveball Jokes and still think Less is More)....

Auritro and Somnath. Please Assign another set of Ook Ooks {read Tweedledee and Tweedledum(b)} in your place. In case you guys have found them already, I would say.... I always trusted your eff-iciency. If you have not... What the Ef are you two doing hanging around?

Dyuti... Find someone who can do the farewell video. Find someone who can be the general Collector and Editor and Organiser extraordinaire... We need one. Assign more than one people because you're like a one man army. Please Please Please.



Um.

Disclaimer : In small prints, I would like to mention that this is all relevant, but uh, my blog account has been hacked recently so it can be anyone who wrote this. If people come after me with coffee cups I shall not drink from it. I readily declare that my mother is a hamster and my father smells of elderberries. Actually he smells of rum, but no one's coming over to my house to smell him... so there!!

Nature Oriented Venturous Association thanks the generous support extended by the Department of English, Jadavpur University, to the Jogin I (21,205 ft) and III (20,060 ft) Expedition in the post-monsoon climbing season of 2007.

A thorough decontamination from non-biodegradable wastes was achieved at both Base Camp (Kedartal, 15,523 ft) and Advanced Base Camp (16,122 ft) areas. Owing to very heavy snowfall and very strong winds over six continuous days, neither peak was scaled, and we were able to physically remove and carry down far less of the non-biodegradables than we would have liked. However, I am happy to report that all the members and HAPs (High Altitude Porters) of the eleven-strong team have returned to their homes safely. Several other teams in the area were not as fortunate, and more than a hundred trekkers and climbers are still missing and feared lost. It is our deepest wish that the stranded return home safe and whole.

We were in very beautiful lands, and were exposed to great power. I have uploaded some of the photographs here.

Cute Words(Sniglets)

Once upon a time,on a rainy morning ,when most of Kolkata was dripping wet,I decided to google cute words and add them to my list of already cute words.Whether you find them cute,"bisgusting"or downright silly,is of course,a matter of perspective,but here are the words that I found:

Now, Sniglets are words which are "supposed to be found in the dictionary,but aren't".For instance,IF Beyonce Knowles's famous "Bootylicious"wasn't included in the English Dictionary(now it is)it would probably be classified as a 'Sniglet'Comedian Rich Hall is the 'inventor'if I may say so or conjuror(because I think Sniglets are MAGIC!)of the word "Sniglet".

So here's my mini-list of 'Sniglets'

Biscuits that taste disgusting:Bisgusting
the odour that emanates from you after a LENGTHY aerobics exercise:Aeroma
A combination of scrumptious and delicious:Scrumptilicious(I'm sorry,I can't seem to be thinking of ANYTHING but food lately)(This one's from Enid Blyton-more specifically-Secret Seven)
The loose strand of spagetti that beats one around the chin and whiskers:Spagellum
Aquadextrous-the ability to turn off water with both toes)
Fonesia:Forgetting to dial the entire phone number of a particular person while you were almost About to finish dialling it.
Captain Kirk,in his famous Sniglet Blog,defines 'Optograviphobia'as "The Unreasoning fear that a man's eyeglasses will slide off his face into some unpleasent(sic)"

Okay,in a pathetic attempt I've come up with my own 'Sniglets'

Here goes

Dlowning:Drowning while attempting to be funny(this is a 'mule'really-a cross between clown and drowning)

Kiwisitosis:Addiction to kiwi fruit

Assfixation:the disease which ABSOLUTELY forces you to remain err...TRANSFIXED to a person's posterior for the longest time

Bloggerbitosis:People that unnecessarily bite bloggers...

Can you come up with any more 'Sniglets?'

When comes such another?

People have been wondering "After Sandy leaves who will take care of the forum?" "After Deep leaves, who will take care of The Blabberwocky?" but people One important question...


"After Mahadyuti leaves, Who will collect money and organise stuff???"

Who will be the next bakra of JUDE? Who will attempt to fill Mahadyuti's jeans?
Who will it be?

Anyone willing to take in a month-old kitten?

http://ushmi.blogspot.com/2007/09/are-any-of-you-willing-to-take-in-month.html

Jude Tshirt - Order Listing

Blank Noise Kolkata

The Blank Noise Project has started its Kolkata chapter. Five meetings have been held so far, and we are inviting anybody who may be interested for the next meeting, due to be held this weekend.

If street sexual harassment has ever ruined your day, perhaps it is time you took a stand against it.

Contact shuktara.lal@gmail.com or anuj.dasgupta@yahoo.co.in for further information.

Attention, Job-Seekers!

The Telegraph Young Metro is looking for writers. Those interested, call Sayoni at 9836548508.

(From Erythrocyte, whose broadband has unfortunately tanked.)

PS: There won't be any money involved, so only go for this if you want bylines/writing practice.

Research course 11 to 15 June for ex-PGs

The School of Cultural Texts and Records is holding a course for postgraduates in research methods from 11 to 15 June 2007 in the Project Room. Anyone who's finished their MA (ie PG2) can apply. This is being run for the fellows of the school to give them a grounding in research skills, bibliography, archival research, electronic techniques and book history, but 20 outside applicants will be selected.

You need to have passed your MA with 55%(B+) or have given your finals with 55% average in your other sems. The age limit is 25 years. The course fee is Rs 250/-

Please apply on plain paper with a copy of your marksheet or grade card with full contact details including email, phone no and address. Leave the application, addressed to the Director, SCTR, in the project room on the fourth floor next to film studies on any working day from 11.30 am and 4.30 pm. The last date is 18 May.

Courses for next sem

List of Courses to be Offered in the First Semester 2006-07

Here they are! PGs will sign up in the beginning of next sem, to allow PG1 a chance. UG2, UG3 have already signed up, but there may be a few slots available. If you haven't already signed, get in touch with us now.

UG Core
Course Title Course Coordinator
UG1 English Literature 1760-1830 Rafat Ali
UG1 English Literature 1830-1900 Abhijit Gupta
UG2 History of Language, and Old and Middle English Literature Prodosh Bhattacharya
UG2 English Literature 1500-1630 Paromita Chakraborty
UG3 English Literature 1900-2000 Sonia Shahoo

PG Core
Course Title Course Coordinator
PG1 Medieval and Renaissance Literature Sukanta Chaudhuri
PG1 English Literature 1830-1900 Shanta Dutta
PG2 English Literature 1900-2000 Shobha M. Chattopadhyay
PG2 Literary Theory and Culture Studies Supriya Chaudhuri

Extra Departmental Courses
Course Title Course Coordinator
UG1 English Skills A Saswati Haldar
UG1 English Literature and Culture A (Reading Practice) Paromita Chakraborty




UG Optionals
Cluster A
Course Title Course Coordinator
Chaucer and Langland Sajni Mukherji
Renaissance Drama Excluding Shakespeare Swapan Chakravarty

Cluster B
Course Title Course Coordinator
Literature of the English Revolution (UG 3 only) Amlan Dasgupta
British Romantic Women Poets Malabika Sarkar
The Age of Enlightenment Chandreyee Niyogi

Cluster C
Course Title Course Coordinator
Drama in Practice UG2 only Ananda Lal
Writing in Practice UG3 only Rimi B. Chatterjee
Modernist Prose Santanu Biswas
American Novels Shobha M. Chattopadhyay
Tragedy Shanta Dutta
Settler Colony Literature Nilanjana Deb

PG Optionals
Course Title Course Coordinator
Drama in Practice PG1 only Ananda Lal
Writing in Practice PG2 only Rimi B. Chatterjee
Linguistics Sonia Shahoo
Shelley Rimi B. Chatterjee
Foucault Chandreyee Niyogi
Milton Amlan Dasgupta
Old English Prodosh Bhattacharya
Poetry, Politics and Society, 1660-1760 Malabika Sarkar
Caribbean Literature Nilanjana Deb
Special author: R.L Stevenson Abhijit Gupta
Post Modern Fictions Nilanjana Gupta
Science and Victorian Poetry Saswati Haldar
Structure, Sign and Play Santanu Biswas

Comparative Literature Cross-listed Courses (PG)
Course Title Course Coordinator
Comparative Cultural Studies TBA
Area Studies (Canada/Bangladesh/Latin America/Africa) TBA

Za Don

Swapan da




Photograph taken by Amrita Dhar during the Food seminar in 2006

One of the most self-reflexive songs 'bout performing musicians that i know of ...

All The Roadrunning
written by: Mark Knopfler
performed by: Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris
from: All the Roadrunning, Knopfler and Harris



A million miles our vagabond heels
Clocked up beneath the clouds,
They're counting down to show time
When we do it for real with the crowds.
Air miles are owing, but they don't come for free
And they don't give you any for pain -

But if it's all for nothing,
All the roadrunning's
Been in vain.

The rimshots come down like cannon fire
And thunder off the wall,
There's a man in every corner
And each one is giving his all,
This is my fife, this is my drum
So you never will hear me complain -

And if it's all for nothing,
All the roadrunning's
Been in vain

All the roadrunning, all the roadrunning...

Well if you're inclined to go up on the wall
It can only be fast and high
And those who don't like the danger soon find
Something different to try.
When there's only a ringin' in your ears and
An echo down memory lane -

But if it's all for nothing,
All the roadrunning's
Been in vain.

All the roadrunning, all the roadrunning...

The show's packing up, I sit and watch
The convoy leaving town
There's no pretending I'm not a fool for
Riding around and around.
Like the pictures you keep of your old wall of death
You showed me one time on the plane -

But if it's all for nothing,
All the roadrunning's
Been in vain.

A million miles of vagabond sky
Clocked up above the clouds,
I'm still your man for the roaming
For as long as there's roamin' allowed.
There'll be a rider, and there'll be a wall
As long as the dreamer remains -

And if it's all for nothing,
All the roadrunning's
Been in vain.

All the roadrunning, all the roadrunning...
All the roadrunning, all the roadrunning...