Cities from Above in Literature

Moscow, Kolkata1

Authors

  • Sujaan Mukherjee Jadavpur University

Keywords:

Mikhail Bulgakov, Nabarun Bhattacharya, fyataru, flying, points of view, altitude

Abstract

By focusing primarily on Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita and Nabarun Bhattacharya's Kangal Malshat, this paper tries to offer an understanding of the multi-layered implications of the “view from above” in fiction. Distinguishing the literary representations as having a separate set of concerns and problems, as opposed to similar views in visual cultures, the paper focuses on three aspects mainly. The first section deals with the moral connotations of flight and its function in fiction; the second deals with the power/knowledge equation and high-altitude perspectives in literature; and the final sections deal with ideas of history and the high-altitude perspective, along with elements of the carnivalesque in such transgressive texts.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Sujaan Mukherjee, Jadavpur University

Sujaan Mukherjee is a JU-Sylff PhD Researcher at the Department of English, Jadavpur University, India. His primary academic interest is in urban studies and he has worked on projects such as "Envisioning the Indian City", Kolkata Scottish Cemetery project, and the Jewish Community of Calcutta digital archive. In 2015 he received an Archival Fellowship from the India Foundation for the Arts (Bangalore), which enabled him to work on the visual history of tourism in Kolkata.

Downloads

Published

2017-12-01

How to Cite

Mukherjee, S. (2017). Cities from Above in Literature: Moscow, Kolkata1. Sanglap: Journal of Literary and Cultural Inquiry, 3(2), 286–320. Retrieved from https://sanglap-journal.in/index.php/sanglap/article/view/222