Pastoral and Anti-Pastoral. Representation of City and Village in Literature

Village is not just a place, but an idea. Likewise, a city is not just a place, but a metaphor. Human imagination has conceived both village and city as opposite to one another. When we were tired of living in villages, we invented cities; when we no-longer wanted to stay in the cities, we went back to villages. Village life is conventionally perceived as idyllic with clean air, water, food and helpful neighbors; whereas life in the city is often regarded as complicated, isolated, expensive and dwelling of crime. This collected volume critically discusses the literary representation of the village and the city. Its contributors argue that villages are also capable of crime, violence, and punishment along with cities, and cities can also be a place of deep love, friendship, and compassion just like villages. Many contributors also bring home the environmental implications of both village and city with reference to the contemporary model of development. The volume has a global approach--the contributors examine literary representation of village and city from such diverse locations as India, England, America, Nigeria, Algeria, Island, Turkey, Greece, South Asia, and many more.

Dr. Shubhanku Kochar is currently working as an Assistant Professor at University School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi. He has been teaching since 2012. His areas of interest include African and African Diasporic Literature along with Ecological literary criticism. He is also a member of MELOW, the society for Multi Ethnic Literatures of the World and IACLALS known as Indian Association of Commonwealth Literatures and Language studies. He has written a novel titled Everything Will Be Alright, and his other publications include Treatment of Violence: A Reading of Toni Morrison’s Selected Fiction and An Eco-critical Reading of Alice Walker’s Selected Works, both published by Lambert Academic Publishers of Germany. He has also published nineteen research papers in national and international journals. He has also presented various research papers at national and international conferences. He has contributed book chapters for publishers like Lexington Press, an imprint of Rowman and Littlefield, Vernon Press, Maria Grzegorzewska University Press, Routledge, and Cambridge Scholars Publishing. He has published his latest book Environmental Post-Colonialism: A Literary Response 2021 with Lexington Press, an imprint of Rowman and Littlefield, which can be accessed at the following link, https: //rowman.com/ISBN/9781793634566/Environmental- Postcolonialism-A-Literary-Response

Dr. Neepa Sarkar worked as Assistant Professor and PG Coordinator in the Department of English at Mount Carmel College (Autonomous), Bangalore. She has more than a decade of teaching experience. Her areas of interest include Contemporary Critical Theory, Culture and Gender Studies, Film Studies, Memory Studies, Children’s Literature, Fiction, Poetry, Non-Fiction Writing, Science Fiction and Creative Writing. She has published many research papers in both national and international journals and has presented and chaired sessions at various national and international conferences. She has delivered invited lectures and acted as resource person for colleges and universities. She has published poetry in anthologies and journals. She was a member of the executive council at MELOW (2018-2022) and has also won the Issac Sequiera Memorial Award in 2018. She has also served as Board of Studies Member for various colleges and universities.