Poetics : East and West

Contents: 1. Introduction. 2.  Anandavardhana’s Dhvanyaloka: Dhvanyaloka: Dhvani as a Poetic Language. 3.  The Stylistics of Deviance in Kuntaka’s Vakroktijivita. 4. Russian Formalism and the Dialectics of Poetic Language. 5. The Aesthetics of Form and New Criticism. 6. Conclusion. Bibliography. Index.

"Post-modern literary theories have sparked a great interest in academic world in recent years. These ideas seem particularly powerful in a self-conscious post colonial society like India. This book reflects the legacy of India critical theories and poetic tradition in terms of its similarity in approach to some of the prominent western literary theories. It deals with the concept of poetic language, its nature and definition as interpreted by two major theories of Sanskrit criticism—the Dhvani and the Vakrokti—and two Western theories—the new criticism and the Russian Formalism. It studies the Indian and the western theories independently and enquires whatever there are points of convergence between them."