Euphues the Anatomy of Wit and His England by John Lyly | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. John Lyly is often credited for writing the very first novel of English literature titled Euphues, the Anatomy of Wit, published on 2 December 1578. He again wrote a sequel to this didactic romance by the title Euphues and His England which was entered in the Stationer’s Register on 25 July 1579 and was published in 1580.

These were the prose romances written by John Lyly, one of the Universal Wits who were the prominent authors before the Shakespearean age.

Euphues, the Anatomy of Wit was the first work of its kind that gave shape to the Elizabethan style of the 1580s. John Lyly used an overly ornated style of writing appended by rhetoric that was taught in the Tudor grammar schools and universities during that period. The titular character of the novel is Euphues which became the root word of Euphuism, a writing style that became popular during that period. Euphuism is a style of writing in which more elaborative and ornate words are used in place of simple, easier words. Paradoxes, antithesis, elaborate similes, alliteration, rhetorical questions, and clever word rhyming make the prose more interesting. Euphuism signifies the use of paradoxical and self-correcting language, while its spokespersons express a great deal of self-doubt and contradiction.

Euphues is a Greek word that means ‘Gracefully Witty.’ Roger Ascham first used it in his work The Schoolmaster published in 1570. The Schoolmaster was a treatise on the right order of teaching and pleaded for gentleness and persuasion instead of coercion and punishment in schools. Ascham described Euphues as a student who is apt by the goodness of his wit and active by the willingness to learn. John Lyly used the name Euphues for his titular character.

Lyly’s work is based on a romantic plot but Euphues in the novel writes several letters on a variety of topics including love, morality, and education. Thus, Euphues, the Anatomy of Wit can also be considered as an epistolatory novel. John Lyly used an impressively ornate style of writing in these novels. Some of the very popular quotes from Eupheus, the Anatomy of Wit include-

“It is far more seemly to have thy Studie full of Bookes, than thy Purse full of money,” and

“Is it not far better to abhor sins by the remembrance of others' faults, than by repentance of thine own follies?”

Some quotes from Eupheus and His England are--

“The rules of fair play do not apply in love and war.”

“In misery, it is great comfort to have a companion.”

“As the best wine doth make the sharpest vinegar, so the deepest love turneth to the deadliest hate.” and,

“All is fair in love and war.”

Characters of Eupheus, the Anatomy of Wit:

Euphues is the main character of the novel. He is a student belonging to a noble family of Athens. He looks handsome and rich. He is highly intelligent and witty but he is not a good person and he often lies. Instead of making good use of his intelligence, he uses his wit to lead a life of wickedness. He is excessively obsessed with pleasure and lives like a Casanova. Philatus is a young man from Naples who is a close friend of Euphues. Philatus is a kind and intelligent person who loves a girl named Lucilla. Philatus blindly trusts Euphues but later learns that his trust in Eupheus was misplaced. Lucilla is the daughter of a wealthy nobleman in Italy. She is a beautiful but fickle-minded person. Don Ferado is the wealthy nobleman and father of Lucilla. Eubulus is an old gentleman of Athens who likes Euphues but is worried by his nature and activities. He tries to guide him to the right path by the wisdom of his experience and advises him to work on his character traits instead of devoting himself to pleasure. However, Euphues ignores his advice. Curio is another character, a young but poor man, a man of "little wealth and less wit,” whom Lucilla finally marries.

Summary of Eupheus, the Anatomy of Wit and His England:

The story of Euphues is a romantic comedy. Euphues is a young Athenian man belonging to a noble family from Athens. His family is based in England. Though he is intelligent and witty, he spent his childhood in frivolous activities. He often uses his many gifts for wrongdoings, choosing to chase hedonistic pleasure rather than uphold virtue. As a result, he has turned into a Bohemian Casanova, spending sumptuous money and ample time in chasing girls and various art forms. Euphues decides to go on travel and reaches Naples, Italy. He meets many people who try to lead him into a life of gluttony and non-productivity. Euphues is cautious about their intentions, however, and escapes their sphere of influence.

Then he meets an old man named Eubulus. The wise old man examines Euphues’s behavior and is impressed by his intelligence and wit but is saddened by Euphues' wicked use of his many gifts. He advises him, by the wisdom of his experience, to work on his character traits instead of devoting himself to pleasure. However, Euphues ignores his advice, rather, he offers witty counterarguments against this advice with various rhetorical questions and parallel structure ("this is true and that is true"). Eubulus realizes that he cannot outsmart Euphues and goes away.

After some time, Euphues meets another young and attractive man named Philatus. Euphues realizes that Philatus is a kind and intelligent man and both swear eternal friendship. Philatus believes that Euphues is a good man and a good friend and trusts him with all his heart. However, both of them are vociferously dedicated to their point of view. The two of them become very close friends. Philatus decides to introduce Euphues to his family members. He takes him to meet Lucilla who is the beautiful daughter of a wealthy and powerful nobleman named Don Ferado.

Lucilla is Philatus’s fiancee and both of them have plans to get married soon. However, when Euphues sees Lucilla, he feels that she is the most beautiful girl he has ever seen. He feels a strong infatuation towards Lucilla and thinks about flirting with her. He contemplates the risks of creating this potential love triangle between him, his close friend Philatus, and Lucilla and decides to pursue her. Lucilla is a fickle-minded girl who is not convinced about her affair with Philatus. When Euphues pursues her, she readily accepts his advances. This breaks Philatus who feels betrayed by both, his friend and fiancee. However, Lucilla proves to be much more fickle than Euphues had thought. Euphues begins feeling true love for Lucilla but she leaves him for another young man named Curio, a man of ‘little wealth and less wit.’ Despite being a poor man with not so much intelligence, Lucilla decides to marry him. After the disastrous love affair between Euphues, his best friend Philautus, and Lucilla, Euphues learns about love, life, and morality. Euphues, heartbroken, goes back to Philautus with sincere apologies, then returns to England and denounces philandering and begins advocating a celibate life of prayer and study. After reaching England, Euphues writes a number of letters advising about behavior, morality, loyalty, and love.

In the second novel, Euphues and His England, Philatus forgives the treachery of Euphues and decides to visit him in England. The two friends, now reconciled, decide to visit Canterbury where they meet a young beautiful pastoral girl named Fidus. Philatus soon falls in love with Fidus but she loves someone else. Euphues now acts like a wise advisor for Philatus and tries to soothe him. Philatus listens to Euphues and decides to woo another beautiful girl and succeeds in that. He returns to Naples with his love.

Seeing Philatus happy, Euphues decides to leave England. He eulogizes England and the women of England while trying to soothe his melancholic heart as he still has not recovered from the heartbreak he suffered in Naples.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!

The Strange Case of Billy Biswas by Arun Joshi | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Strange Case of Billy Biswas is the second novel by Indian author Arun Joshi, published in 1972. The story again explores the themes of self-existentialism, alienation, morality, and individual freedom. The protagonist of the novel is Billy Biswas and his case is strange because he does not fit into the accepted norm of the 'civilized' society Billy finds himself motivated enough to rebel and break its shackles to join a world that is far removed from the everyday reality of his former world. He leaves the modern civilized world to enjoy the nascent lifestyle of tribals in the jungle. He is dragged by the mysterious world of the tribal society. The effort to bring Billy back to civilization by arresting him only leads to his tragic end. It is a metaphoric novel depicting a so-called civilized world with its hollowness against the uncivilized tribal world with its simplicity.

Characters of The Strange Case of Billy Biswas:

Billy Biswas (Bimal Biswas) is the main character of the novel. He belongs to a rich Indian Bengali family. His grandfather was the Prime Minister of a famous Princely State in Orissa. After Indian independence, his father became the ambassador to a European country and after that, he became a judge of the Supreme Court of India. Billy’s childhood was spent in Delhi. Since his childhood, he has been a lonely person with a brilliant mind and an obsessive attraction toward nature and a primitive lifestyle. He fails to connect with the modern, evolving, materialistic world and prefers to delve more into the primitive ways of living. At the age of 15, his father sends him to study in America. His father wishes him to become an engineer. However, Billy declines engineering and prefers studying Anthropology which satiates his desire to know more about primitive lifestyles. He deeply studies and researches tribal attitudes and customs. Gradually, his attraction towards primitive ways continues to increase. He suffers hallucinations and begins to develop a split personality in which he sees himself as a lonely primitive man living in an alien world. Romi Sahai (Romesh Sahai) is the narrator of the story. He is a close friend of Billy whom he met in Harlem, America. Romi shares a room with Billy in America. After returning to India, Romi becomes a Collector in Indian Administrative Services. He continues his friendship with Billy who becomes a professor of Anthropology at Delhi University. Romi tries to help Billy in every way possible. Tuula Lindgren is a 30-year-old Swedish woman who came to America for advanced training in psychiatric social work. She comes in contact with Billy and becomes his close friend. She recognizes the split personality of Billy and tries to help him against the hallucinations he suffers. She says that although every human being faces these alienating feelings and hallucinations in a very mild form, Billy feels them quite strongly. She advises him to suppress such feelings of alienation. Meena Chatterjee is a beautiful and sophisticated modern Indian girl whose father is a retired civil servant. Billy marries her but finds that Meena is much more materialistic than he could bear. While Meena truly loves Billy and tries to understand him, she fails to cope with his obsessive attraction to tribal ways of living. Rima Kaul is a young girl who praises Billy’s work in Anthropology. Billy gets attracted to her because he feels that Rima could understand him better than Meena. However, Billy realizes that Rima is sympathetic towards him yet, she can’t understand him. He begins feeling that his affair with Rima is corrupting his soul. He breaks off with her and suddenly disappears. After leaving the civilized modern society, Billy begins living in the tribal region of Stpura forests where he marries Bilasia, a tribal girl. Dhunia is a tribal man of the same tribal community where Billy lives. Billy helped Dhunia in curing his ill grandson. Situ is Romi’s wife who suffers from a chronic migraine. Billy uses tribal medicines to cure her.

Summary of The Strange Case of Billy Biswas:

Billy Biswas was a brilliant but eccentric person since his childhood. He experiences strange hallucinations since childhood that continue to gain strength as he grows old. At the age of fourteen, he went to Bhubaneswar and visited Konark. Along with his uncle’s chauffeur, he went to the tribal people. The chauffeur wanted to enjoy life, but Billy sat there and saw the tribe dance, drink, sing, and make love. Billy felt a strange familiarity with those tribal people. He felt that only tribal peoples had the answer to his questions. His father was a reputed judge of the Supreme Court of India. He had been an ambassador of a European country before. Billy’s grandfather had been a successful courtier of the princely state of Orissa. Billy’s father wishes similar social and materialistic success for his son and hence sends him to the U.S. to study and become an Engineer.

Billy comes to Harlem, America to study but instead of opting for Engineering, he opts to study anthropology. He deeply studies tribal attitudes and customs. In America, he meets Romi who came for education. Romi becomes Billy’s close friend and roommate. One day, Romi and Billy visit a music party with their friends and during the party, Billy suddenly begins beating the bongo drums. He plays a pair of bongo drums at a feverish pitch for nearly a quarter of an hour. Through his music, Romi and others feel the fascinating pull that holds everyone by its absolute vitality. It awakens latent primitive urges in the audience. Romi notices that Billy became the center of attraction for the whole party, he remains aloof and alienated as if he was alone. Billy informs him that he often has hallucinations. Romi introduces Billy to a Swedish woman named Tuula Lindgren who came to the U.S. for advanced training in psychiatric social work. Tuula is a Swedish girl yet her values are centered on the vitalizing force of their life which brings her close to Billy. She is strongly interested in India. She observes the spiritual degeneration in society objectively and knows how to encounter this utter confusion. Billy tries to come out of alienation by participating in life with Tuula and Romi. When Billy tells her about his hallucinations, she says that a great primitive force is disturbing Billy’s psyche. She says that though everyone suffers such hallucinations mildly, Billy is experiencing it at a much stronger level. Tuula advises Billy and Romi to suppress those feelings and hallucinations.

After the death of his father, Romi returns to India and becomes a Collector in Indian Administrative services. Billy too returns and becomes a professor of Anthropology at Delhi University. His family arranges his marriage with Meena Chatterjee, the sophisticated, educated, and very beautiful daughter of a retired civil servant. Meena is a beautiful woman with a caring and joyous attitude. She tries to become a dutiful loyal wife but her temperament doesn’t match with Billy’s. While Meena loves the modern materialistic life of Delhi, Billy doesn‟t find the phony, consumerism-ridden world of Delhi much different from the American materialistic society. Billy does not enjoy his role and finds it difficult to get used to the workings of his job and place. He begins going on undeclared trips and vacations to the mountains and jungles. He undertakes numerous expeditions for investigations among primitive communities in hills and forests. Despite Meena’s efforts, their marriage deteriorates. Meanwhile, Billy meets a young woman Reema Kaul who is interested in Billy’s work. Reema is highly impressed by Billy’s knowledge of anthropology. They develop an affair. Billy feels that he could get that feeling of togetherness from Reema that he couldn’t attain with Meena. However, soon he realizes that while Reema is sympathetic towards him, she doesn’t understand his inner feelings. He feels cheated and he feels that he is also cheating. This inner guilt forces him to break up his relationship with Reema.

Romi meets Billy nearly after three years and finds that Billy has completely changed. He is no more, as optimistic and energetic as he used to be as if he is suffering immensely.

Meena contacts Romi and asks for his help in resolving the issues of her marital life with Billy. However, before Romi can talk to Billy, he decides to go away and disappear. He leaves the world of civilized men and reaches the world where he is not culturally uprooted and socially self-estranged. Soon after the disappearance of Billy, an enormous search is launched by the police. But they can not discover Billy and in the end, declares that he is killed by a tiger. But Romi, who is posted as a Collector in a district of Central India, has not given up hopes of tracing him back. He continues to search for Billy.

After ten years, Romi goes on a tour of interior villages destroyed by a terrible drought. During his tour, he sees a strange man in lion-cloth and when he approaches him, Romi realizes that he is none other than Billy himself. Billy tells him about his life after his disappearance. He says that he needed to search for the true purpose of his life that he had found in the valleys of the Satpura mountains with the tribal people. He is, now, living by the side of a white cliff called Chandtola which is according to him the place of some supernatural forces. He seemed to be in secret communication with the forces of nature and knew the course of events to come.

Romi talks about Billy with other people in the area. An old man named Dhunia informs him that Billy lives with his wife Bilasaia at the foot of a nearby mountain. He says that Billy has magical powers and he helps people by curing them against various diseases. Dhunia informs how Billy cured his grandson when he was about to die. Romi meets Billy again and tells him about his wife Situ who has been suffering a chronic migraines for some time. Billy visits Romi’s wife and uses some indigenous medicines to cure her. He asks Romi not to tell anyone his whereabouts. However, Romi’s wife Situ insists that Romi must tell who was the person who cured her. Romi tells her about Billy and how he found him after ten years. Situ fails to keep the secret. She shares the information about Billy with Meena. When Meena comes to know that Billy is still alive, she again tries to bring him back. Billy’s father insists the police send a search team and bring Billy back.

However, Billy doesn’t cooperate and the local tribal people take a stand with him against the police. In that confusion, a police constable fires a shot at a tribal man but that tribal man is Bill who dies.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of Indian English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!

The Foreigner by Arun Joshi | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Arun Joshi was an Indian English writer who won the Sahitya Academy Award in 1982 for his novel The Last Labyrinth. He was born on July 7 1939 and died in 1993. His father was the Vice Chancellor of Benaras Hindu University. His first novel was The Foreigner which was published in 1968. The novel tells the story of a young man facing problems of alienation, an identity crisis, a sense of void, and an existential dilemma. The story's protagonist is Sindi Oberoi. The story revolves around his loneliness and feelings of anguish and anxiety born of his estrangement from his environment, tradition, and true self.

The story is told in a series of flashbacks and appears highly autobiographical by the protagonist. While the main theme of the novel is alienation and existential crisis faced by the protagonist, it also highlights the difference between the Western and Eastern cultures, Marxism, socio-economic classes, and discrimination against women, and delves into the deeper discussion of nonattachment, suffering, fear of commitment, and the concept of Karma yoga.

Characters of The Foreigner:

Sindi Oberoi (Surinder) is the main character. He is a young man with a sad lonely past. Since childhood, he remained alone and uprooted from any sense of family, culture, and society. He learned from his experience that detachment from human emotions and committed social relationships is a way to avoid sadness. However, he learns that his non-commital attitude and detachment cause more harm than good and he seeks a better way of living. He is an Indian born in Kenya. His mother was an English woman while his father was an Indian businessman in Kenya. His parents passed away when he was just four years old. He was raised by one of his uncles in Kenya who too died away when he was still growing. He goes to London for his education and then he moves to Scotland to work as a librarian in a village. Later, he moved to Boston, America for further studies and to complete his Ph.D. Frank Sinatra is a Japanese girl whom he meets and befriends in London.

Anna is a minor artist working in London with whom Sindi develops an affair. Kathy is an English housewife who develops an extra-marital affair with Sindi. Baburao Khemka is an Indian student in Boston who has become a close friend of Sindi. He is the son of an overprotective Delhi tycoon. Being a young man, Babu is very interested in girls however, his father is strictly against inter-caste and inter-religious marriages. June Blyth is an American girl studying with Sindi and Babu. She befriends Babu and develops a love affair with Sindi. While June wishes to marry Sindi, he does not believe in marriage but in women hunting. He believes that marriage is ‘more often a lust for possession than anything else.’ Sindi also learns that Babu is very much interested in marrying June. He pushes June to marry Babu who is unaware of the affair between Sindi and June. Mr. Khemka is Babu’s father. He is a greedy man who is only interested in making money. Sheila is Babu’s younger sister. Karl is another American friend of Sindi and Babu. His stepmother has extra-marital relationships with other men. After his father’s death, she tries to seduce Karl and thus, Karl leaves the house. Mr. Ghosh is a worker at Mr. Khemka’s factory who continues to study and becomes an Income Tax officer. He doesn’t like Mr. Khemka’s discriminatory and abusive attitude towards lower workers and raids on his factory after becoming an income tax officer. Muthu is a common man and leader of the workers working at Mr. Khemka’s factory.

Summary of The Foreigner:

The story is narrated from Sindi’s point of view and describes the gradual evolution of Sindi Oberoi from a negative philosophy of detachment to a positive aspect. The story begins at a morgue where Sindi is called to identify the dead body of his friend Baburao Khemka who committed suicide.

Sindi is an Indian student pursuing a Ph.D in Boston, America. His father was an Indian businessman working in Kenya and his mother was an English woman. His parents died when he was only four, and he was brought up by his uncle in Kenya. He was educated in East Africa, London, and America. He was denied parental love at a very childhood age. So, he did not feel any kind of love or affection towards his parents. Sindi had felt some kind of security when his uncle was alive. But after his death, the security was destroyed. He grew up as a parentless child who missed the childhood affection and care of parents enabling the tender child to establish a meaningful relationship with the external world. To him, the memory of his parents is “the story of those strangers whose only reality was a couple of wrinkled and cracked photographs.” He grows into a wayward man and finally becomes a wanderer, alien to his own culture. He finds no longer any security and his sense of being an outsider remains to be static. This is why the novel is titled ‘The Foreigner’ because Sindi, wherever he goes, finds himself alien to others. Sindi begins feeling that emotional attachment is the main cause of people’s misery and sadness and favors detachment which leads him to his irresponsible behavior.

After the death of his uncle, he goes to London for studies. He decides to become an Engineer and joins London University. However, he finds that classroom lectures aren’t providing him the knowledge about life and his own problems. Thus, he decides to work outside the University to gain some knowledge about life in general. He begins working as a dishwasher in a local Soho Club where he meets Anna, an amateur artist. He develops an intimate relationship with Anna, however, he intends to avoid involving at an emotional level. Anna, on the other hand, wishes to have a family. Sindi realizes that getting involved with a married woman would be better as such a woman won’t ask for marriage and thus, he develops an illicit relationship with Kathy, a married woman working at the Saho club. Kathy too enjoys Sindi’s company but after some months, she begins feeling guilty about cheating on her husband and declines to continue with Sindi. Sindi fails to accept this and considers it his loss. Being raised in Western culture, Sindi feels nothing wrong or taboo about premarital or post-marital sexual relationships.

After his graduation, he leaves London and goes to Scotland where he begins working at the library of a small village. He meets the local priest of the village and discusses Christian ethics and morality with him at length. After some months, he decides to go to America to pursue his post-graduation. He gets admission to Boston University where he meets June Blyth, a young American girl studying at the same university. June and Sindi develop a love relationship but Sindi again tries to avoid emotional attachment. June wishes to marry him but he doesn’t want to commit to any such relationship. Sindi also befriends Babu Khemka, an Indian student who also loves June and wishes to marry her. June befriends Babu and Sindi feels a feeling of jealousy about this. He questions himself and wonders if he too is possessive about June. He decides to remain detached and pushes June to marry Babu while Babu is unaware of the relationship between Sindi and June. Babu is a typical Indian male who values virginity before marriage and the sanctity of marriage.

After their marriage, June becomes pregnant. Meanwhile, Babu realizes that June and Sindi were romantically involved before his marriage to June. He also notices that even after his marriage, June and Sindi have maintained their relationship to some level. This breaks Babu emotionally and he commits suicide. Sindi is heartbroken by this incident as June also blames him for the death of Babu. June and her unborn child also die during the delivery and Sindi begins questioning himself about his idea of detachment. He feels guilty and decides to go to Delhi and meet the family of Babu.

He meets Babu’s sister Shiela and her father Mr. Khemka who lives in a huge bungalow. Sindi begins working at Mr. Khemka’s factory and notices that Mr. Khemka is a greedy and corrupt businessman who treats his workers very badly. He meets. Mr. Ghosh works as a clerk at the factory. Sindi befriends Muthu, the leader of the factory workers. Sindi realizes that the poor workers of Khemka’s factory are working and living in drastic conditions while Mr. Khemka’s family enjoys a lavish lifestyle. He tries to improve the situation of workers and gains their trust. Mr. Ghosh is a bright student who prepares for administrative services and succeeds. He becomes an Income Tax officer. He decides to raid Mr. Khemka’s factory as revenge for the ill-treatment he faced as his worker. Meanwhile, Sheila develops a friendly relationship with Sindi. Sindi discusses Babu’s death with her. Shiela says that she or her father never approved of his marriage to June. She strongly opposes the idea of premarital sex and favors Indian girls who maintain their virginity till their marriages. Sindi says, “So you think one of these Marwari girls is really superior merely

because of a silly membrane between her legs?” Gradually, Sheila begins trusting Sindi.

Mr. Ghosh finds financial irregularities in Mr. Khemka’s business and Mr. Khemka is imprisoned for embezzlement. In his absence, it becomes difficult for Sheila to manage the business. She asks for Sindi’s help but Sindi begins feeling detached again and wonders if he should run away from the responsibility of managing the factory, factory workers, and Babu’s family. He decides to go away but while he prepares to go, Muthu meets him and tells him how hopeful factory workers are. They believe that Sindi will manage the factory well and will help them improve their condition too. Sindi realizes that staying and facing the problems might be a better option than running away from the responsibilities. For the first time, he feels that while detachment is important, involving in the world’s affairs too is equally important and true emancipation is in remaining detached while fulfilling all the worldly responsibilities. He realizes that this is what Karma Yoga says and this is what he must follow. He decides to stay in Delhi and help Sheila in managing the business.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of Indian English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!