Ananta Sukla

Rasa, Dhvani and Rasa-Dhvani are the major critical terms in Sanskrit poetics that developed during the post-Vedic classical period. Rasa is used by a sage named Bharata to denote the aesthetic experience of a theatrical audience. But Anandavardhana and Abhinavagupta intermedialize this experience by extending it to a reader of poetry. They argue that rasa is also generated by a linguistic potency called dhvani. Some critics like Bhoja also proposed generation of rasa by pictorial art, and further, some modern critics propose to trace dhvani property in non-verbal arts such as dance and music pleading thereby that these non-verbal arts also generate rasa. The present essay examines these arguments and concludes that generation of rasa is confined to only the audio-visual and verbal arts such as the theatre and poetry, and, dhvani as a specific linguistic potency, is strictly confined to the verbal arts. Its intermedialization is a contradiction in terms.

Concentrating on scholarship over the past four decades, this multidisciplinary approach to representation considers conceptual issues about representation and applies different theories to various arts. Following an introduction that traces the historical debates surrounding the concept of representation, Part One focuses on representation and language, epistemology, politics and history, sacrificial rites, possible world and postmodernism. Part Two applies current theories to painting, photography, literature, music, dance, and film. Writings highlight the vital role representation plays in the formation and appreciation of major genres of art. This work will appeal to art philosophy and aesthetics scholars and to cultural studies and linguistic scholars. Rather than advocate certain theories, the essays illustrate the inherent complexities of representation.

The nature of fiction has long been debated across the humanities, and is of considerable importance for philosophical aesthetics, literary theory, narratology and the history of ideas. This volume offers something entirely new: a selection of multidisciplinary perspectives on fiction written by an international team of contributors at the forefront of their fields, providing a spectrum of approaches to compare and contrast. This volume, divided between historical, cognitive, aesthetic and non-western approaches, targets a wide range of topics, including mathematics, history, religion and metaphysics. This is a seminal volume on one of the most important topics in the humanities.

In recent years, experience has been one of the most ambiguous, evasive, and controversial terms in myriad disciplines including epistemology, religion, literary theory, and philosophical aesthetics. Its association with the subjective consciousness has deprived it of the cognitive status of human knowledge. ^IArt and Experience^R aims to grasp a firmer hold on this elusive concept, via essays written by a distinguished group of international scholars who have rediscovered the foundation of experience and restored its cognitive status in understanding our cultural activities. Indeed, emotions and experience play a vital role in human cognition, and the symbiotic relationship between culture and experience is a subject long overdue for further study. Clarifying the intricacies scholars face in understanding the concept of experience, this volume's broad approach makes it an invaluable contribution to the study of the humanities. Its uniqueness lies in its focusing on the manifold aspects of the concept rather than in drawing any singular, dogmatic conclusion about its nature and function.

The author has made a detailed study, more detailed, he rightly claims, than hitherto attempted, of the concept of mimesis in aesthetic thought and has devoted equal space to Greek and Sanskrit writers... Wilamowitz, the doyen of modern classical scholars, describes mimesis as a 'fatal word' 'rapped out' by Plato. But the present author has demonstrated with great cogency that the word was not 'rapped out' by Plato at all, and that the concept and the word are both as old as Greek thought. He shows too, once again with considerable scholarship and perceptiveness, how Greek art was bound to be sensuous, unmystical and also 'formal' in the best sense of the term. In the four long chapters of the first part of his thesis the author gives at every step evidence of deep study and illuminating insight, and can claim originality both in approach and argument... The chapter on Aristotle contains one of the best discussions of mimesis I have read... the most striking portion of his thesis is his elucidation of poetic truth according to Aristotle. -- Prof. S. C. Sengupta, Jadavpur University The author provides a faithful rendering of both Greek and Indian ideas. The work is valuable for its expositions especially of the Indian theories of art. -- V. K. Chari, Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism (JAAC), USA, Spring 1979 ... A fairly exhaustive comparative study of the concept of mimesis in Greek and Indian aesthetics... wide ranging and at the same time well controlled acquaintance with this proliferating literature is revealed throughout... the co-relation of the Aristotelian linking-up of 'imitation' and 'completion' with Abhinavagupta's integration of imitation with completion is very suggestive and is a help towards the formulation of a universal aesthetic comprising body and soul, the immediate impact of Appearance and the slow revelation of Reality... (the author) has mastered the material and achieved a steady progression in argument so as to sustain the central thesis. -- K. R. S. Iyengar, Professor of English and Vice-Chancellor, Andhra University The book is a significant contribution towards understanding the essentials of Indian aesthetics apropos the Greek (and, through the Greek, the Western)... The author has surveyed the entire field in a masterly manner. His erudition and judgement are both commendable. -- S. K. Ramachandra Rao, Deccan Herald (03.09.1978) ...The author's views hold good even among modern critics including the ones known as 'the Chicago school' and experimental psychologists. -- Indian and Foreign Review (August 1978) The work is a valuable addition to the literature on aesthetics. -- The Indian Express (12.03.1978) The comparison is too smooth and sharply compartmentalized... The book is of great value to those who are interested in the comparative and historical evolution of a very important concept in aesthetics. -- The Hindustan Times (31.12.1978) The work is in two parts. The first part in four chapters examines the concept of imitation in Greek thought, and the second in three chapters explores the meaning of the term in Indian thought... the author offers a brilliant interpretation of Aristotle's theory in the fourth chapter (Pt. 1) which is the best one in the book... The work is a pioneering one and it repays a careful examination. It is probably the first of its kind and every student of aesthetics must read it. -- Prof. P. S. Sastri, Nagpur Times