Pre thinking task on Short stories

The bicentenary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, the US short-story writer, poet, editor and literary critic, is celebrated on 18 January.

Few writers have equalled Poe in his presentation of fictional mystery and supernatural horror, as in ‘The fall of the house of Usher’ (1840). In ‘The pit and the pendulum’ (1842) and other tales he combined factual material with the wildest fantasies. Many of his works are written in the dark romantic style.

In 1841 he published ‘The murders in the Rue Morgue’, which some consider to be the first detective story. He also contributed to the emerging genre of science fiction. Poe was one of the earliest US practitioners of the short story.

Recognition as a major poet came in 1845 with the publication of ‘The raven’. Many of his poems show metrical mastery, haunting resonances and undertones of melancholy.

The view that Poe was a depraved, drug-addled madman and alcoholic is derived from slanderous writings of his old enemy, yet literary executor, Rufus W. Griswold. Every assertion was refuted by those who knew Poe well but the myth persists.

Mystery followed Poe to his death. After his wife died in 1847 he became increasingly unstable and two years later he was found delirious on a street in Baltimore. He died on 7 October 1849, aged 40, without having become coherent enough to explain his condition. The cause of his death remains unknown but speculation has ranged from hypoglycaemia to rabies.

Conflicting accounts surround Poe’s last days. Oddly, he was found wearing clothes that were not his own. It was the day of an election and it has been suggested that he was a victim of “cooping”, a ballot-box stuffing scam in which the victim was shanghaied, drugged and used as a pawn to vote for a political party at multiple locations.

Poe was the first well-known US writer to try to earn a living through writing alone and to establish an international reputation. There was a side to Poe’s nature remote from the macabre.

In ordinary circumstances he was a pleasant companion. His sensitivity to the beauty and sweetness of women inspired touching lyrics, he talked brilliantly and he read poetry in a voice of surpassing beauty. 

# The Black Cat
# The tell-tale heart
# The fall of the house of Usher
# The gold Bug etc.

Our task is to read two following Gujarati short stories

1. Pankor Doshi by Jhaverchand Meghani
2. Mansangh by Dr Jayant Khatri

1.   Read the first Gujarati story and listen to the audio recitation of the second story. Observe how the two wordsmiths work wonders through words! (Absolute obsession of alliteration)

        Mansangh short story by Jayant Khatri and Pankor Doshi by Zaverchand Meghani both story are really interesting and the use of language is pure native Gujarati, it is called vulgar or vernacular language. I observed in Mansangh story two wordsmith works as wonder

એક તો એ અંધારી રાત હતી'.
 નીરસનીજૅન વાતાવરણ

Here story started at dark night. We can say that author created fearful sound for reader.
Second story Pankor Doshi also starts with night.
Words used like “બિહામણી રાત”, “કાળના તમાચા”. Through this words author creates visual images in readers mind.

2.   List out various adjectives that contribute the most in creating the "pre-established design" or effect that the author intended to create.

In both the story writer uses following adjectives.

અંધારી રાત, ધુમાડીયુ કાળુ ફાનસ, નાનકડા જીવ..

3.   Which are the phrases you find frightening? How are they placed in the text?

         I feel frightened while reading this phrase –
હૈયા સૂના કરયા, અંતરમાં લાઈ બળવી, નિગૂઢ રૂદન કરવુ and other story phrase – ઢગલો થઈ પડવુ, મરણોત્તરના મુખે, ચરિત્રતાની દાડીએ, બોકાસા પાડવા.

4. Can you find out any other lexical varieties such as figures of speech like simile, metaphor, personification etc? Briefly explain their significance in the story.

Yes, I can find figure of speech like mephor, personification, exaggeration
Metaphor – મે જોયુ તો માનસંઘની દષ્ટિ શૂન્ય બની ગ્ઈ,
Simile - આભય ફાટી જાય એવુ હસી
Personify - પૃથ્વી અને આકાશ બંને રડી રહ્યા છે
Alliteretion- આસુના દરિયા ની કંઈક ભરતી હતી જાણે!
In the second story –
Exaggeration-
ચાલતુ ગાડુ ઘોડીયા જેવુ બની ગયુ
Simile-
કોઈ ચિતારાએ છાયા ચિત્ર આલયુ હોય તેવુ સ્તબ્ધ ઊભુ હતુ
Assonance -ધન્ય મોલા ધન્ય અલ્લા ધન્ય તારી સાહેબી.

5. What is the impact of listening  to the stories on your mind? Which Rasas/emotions erupt in you during and after the reading/listening sessions?

When reading and listening story at that time I thought such cruel society who destroy someone life. Because both story situation it like same in the first story Mondhi suffering after her husband death and the second story Pankor Doshi condition after her husband death. But here Pankor Doshi for appropriate quote - 'Man can defeated but cannot be destroy'.
When I read first story I felt Karun Rasa to reading Mondhi's life unfortunate.