T 1290.pdf - Pondicherry University DSpace Portal

~My lnterest in Bharati Mukherjee was kindled byDr.P.Marudanayagam Professor and Head, Department of English,and my gurde, Dr.P.Balaswamy, Reader, Department of English,Pondlcherry University. When I was considering thepossibilities of working on Bernard Malamud (on whom I hadearller worked for my M.Phll dlssertatlon) they polnted out thebetter potentlalltles of a comparative study of Bernard Malamudand Bharatl Mukherjee.I was quite fascinated by the strlking simllarlty betweenMalamud and Mukheriee on varlous issues, especrally in thellght of the latter acknowledging the farmer as her llterary'guru';the spate of remarks of crltrcs on them alsoauthenticated my work. Stupendous though the task was, Inerslsted ~n mv effort to comnrehend them flrst and comnarethem aoronos df a maTor them'e common to them both - 'theportrayal' of the human psyche caught in the dialectic oftransgression and resolution - subsuming all other similaritiesand differences between them under lt.My work was made easy by my supervisor, Dr.P.Balaswamy.His patient supervision combined wlth scrupulous criticalattention has corlrull~nated In the frultlon of this dlssertatlon.I have recelved excellent advice, tlmely comments andunflagging encouragement from hlm.It 1s a pleasure to acknowledge the help rendered byDr.P.Marudanayagam, Professor and Head of the Department. Hehas been a source of lnsplration ever slnce my Post-Graduatedays, cheerlng me up whenever my splrlts drooped. He hasconverted me lnto a comparatlst. I respect the lmmense rangeand profundity of hrs learning.I should llke to thank the other members of theDepartment : Dr.~.Thyaqara]an, Dr.P.N.Raman2, Dr.N.Natarajan,Dr.su]atha Vllayaraqavan and Dr. Booma Ralaram for their klndencouragement whenever I approched them.I would llke to thank the entlre staff of PondicherryUnrversity Llbrary, who always helped me without any grudge. Inlace on - record -~--.- m\, .---thanks to the Llbrarlans of the followincr - -Libraries: AmerLcan Studies Research Centre (ASRCI Llbrarv.Central Institute of English and Forelgn Languages (CIEF~)