The Department of English is one of the premier departments of the college. The department is supported by a committed team of professors who aim at effectively delivering a course in English, which is renowned for uniformly maintaining its standards of academic excellence over the years. The quality of students in the undergraduate programme is commendable. The department is at present headed by Prof. Dr. Chandrani Biswas. The undergraduate programme in English specially aims at shaping the interpretative and critical skills of the students. The syllabus covers a wide range of texts, authors, movements, literary trends, theories and schools of criticism. It encompasses a study of the history of English Literature together with intense analysis of representative works of eminent authors, dramatists and poets such as Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden, Pope, Jane Austen, Dickens, Shaw, Romantic, Victorian and modern poets. The final semester offers courses in specialized areas such as Modern fiction, poetry and drama together with American Literature. Strategies of teaching include lecture method, audio-visual techniques, student seminars, term papers and class discussions.

Professors of the Department are involved in serious academic research. Prof. Dr. Chandrani Biswas has several articles on African and African-American literature in reputed anthologies. Prof. Bertram Da Silva’s interests include Shakespearean theatre, Modern American literature poetry and music. The research interests of Prof Partho Mukherji include Philology, Modern drama, Romantic and Victorian poetry. Prof Dr. Argha Banerjee has several publications to his credit in national and international journals. His research interests include Romantic, Modern writing and Indian writing in English. Prof. Christina Mirza’s areas of specialization include nineteenth century literature and American literature. Prof. Dr. Suchandana Bhattacharyya’s research interests include American Literature, modern drama and fiction. Rev. Fr. Shaju Joseph specializes in modern American theatre, literature and films.

Prof. Dr. Chandrani Biswas is the President of the English Academy. The English Academy organized it’s annual cultural event ‘Literaria ‘ on 22nd September, 2010. The day-long event included dance presentation by students, an inter college creative writing competition, debate, a dramatic presentation from Twelfth Night by students of the undergraduate programme, a film and guest lecture by Dr. Amitava Roy. The day ended with a musical presentation by students of the college and Prize distribution ceremony. The programme was graded by Fr. Provincial, Fr. Vice Principal, Deans, faculty members of different departments, visiting faculty from other colleges, participants and eminent judges such as Academy award winner Dibyendu Palit, Jagannath Basu and Urmimala Basu together with Prof. Ralla Guha Niyogi. The Department of English organizes student seminars, film screening of texts taught in the syllabus and quiz programmes on a regular basis.

Syllabus

The undergraduate programme in English is specially designed at shaping the analytical and critical skills of students. The syllabus covers a wide range of texts, authors, movements, literary trends, theories and schools of criticism. It covers a history of English Literature survey together with intense analysis of representative works of eminent authors, dramatists and poets such as Shakespeare, Milton, Jane Austen, Dickens, Romantic and Modern poets etc. The final semester offers courses in specialised areas as American Literature. Strategies of teaching include audio-visual techniques, student presentations, term papers and seminars.

Teacher-Student Ratio
In a single lecture period, a teacher addresses a batch of sixty students.

Research Work and Publications

The members of the faculty are involved in serious academic research. Prof. Dr. Chandrani Biswas has several articles published in anthologies of repute such as “Women in Protest Literature” in “Mightier Than Machete” edited by Harish Narang, Wiley Eastern Ltd., New Age International Publishers Ltd. in collaboration with Indian Council for Cultural Relations, New Delhi. Her book “Woman and War” published by Books Plus, New Delhi is part of the African Literature course at the post-graduate and research levels in the Department of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, School of Languages, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her research interests include African women’s writings in English, African-American literature, Romantic poetry, Jane Austen and female writing tradition.

Prof. Bertram Da Silva’s interests include Shakespearean theatre, Modern American literature, poetry and music. He has been a part of post graduate teaching in the University of Calcutta.

The research interests of Prof. Partho Mukherji include Philology, Modern drama, Romantic and Victorian poetry. His publications include ‘Introduction to Jesperson’s Growth and Structure of English Language and Studying Synge’s “Riders to the Sea”. Both the books have been published by Book World, Kolkata, 2006 and 2007 respectively.

Prof. Dr. Argha Bannerjee has made several conference presentations both at home and abroad. His research interests include Romantic and Modern Literature and Indian Writing in English. He was a Commonwealth Research Scholar at the Department of English, University of Sussex, U.K. where he wrote his doctoral thesis on ‘Gender and Poetry of the First World War’. His publications include among other works “Female Voices in Keat’s Poetry” (Atlantic Publishers). Besides this he has also contributed to international journals of repute like Keats and Shelley Review and Working with English (journal of the Department of English, Nottingham University, U.K.). He is also actively associated with the CSRL, the Centre for Studies in Romantic Literature. He is also on the guest faculty of Department of English, Jadavpur University.

Prof. Christina Mirza’s research interests include nineteenth century literature and American Literature. She also imparts French courses to the students of the college.

Prof. Suchandana Bhattacharyya’s research interests include American Literature and Modern drama and Fiction. She has contributed to the Journal of English department, University of Calcutta. Recently she has submitted her doctoral thesis in Afro-American Literature at the University of Calcutta. She has participated and presented papers in several workshops and seminars organized by Women’s Studies Department, Calcutta University and JUJAS, Jadavpur University.

Rev. Fr. Shaju Joseph’s research interests include modern American theatre with special reference to the Theatre adaptations of the plays of Tennessee Williams. At present Fr. Shajau is involved in doctoral research on the theme of representation of evil in modern novels.

Performance and Achievements

The academic performance of the students of the department has been consistently good for the last few years. Nine students have secured first class in the first autonomous batch. A lot of students secure admissions to prestigious post-graduate courses in India such as JNU, DU, CIEFL (Hyderabad) , University of Bombay, Jadavpur University, University of Calcutta, Rabindra Bharati University etc. Quite a few students are pursuing programs in higher research in universities abroad. Students of the college actively participate in various extra-curricular activities organized by the English Academy and Fine Arts Society such as inter-college creative writing competitions, debates, exhibition of paintings and photography etc.

The syllabus of the Department of English has been designed to provide the students of this undergraduate program with a strong foundation in English Literature. The course will equip them for further study and research in the subject. It is also intended to be proactive and to make the study of literature exciting and challenging.  Students will be encouraged to participate in the teaching -learning process to develop their skills for original, independent and analytical thinking and appreciation. 

The three-year undergraduate program in English is divided into six semesters – the syllabus in each semester introduces the students to literary study and focuses on critical techniques, approaches and debates to provide the students with the basic tools for literary analysis and appreciation. The students study set texts, which have been contextualized within specific literary periods allowing them to examine major figures/ works within their cultural, literary and political contexts. In turn they will be introduced to literary forms, terms and theories through the texts they study. 

Continuous Internal Assessment is an integral part of the curriculum. Continuous assessment in each semester is on the basis of tutorials, term papers, seminars and tests. 

The department offers a course in Elective English to students with Honours in Political Science or Sociology. The program in Elective English introduces the student to major English poets, novelists and dramatists. The course is designed to teach the student the basics of literary analysis and appreciation and update him with major trends and works of English Literature. The syllabus also has a language component intended to train the student in reading, comprehension and writing skills. 

The department conducts a course in Compulsory English which has to be taken by all B.A. and B.Sc students. The Alternative English course is generally offered to students who did not have Hindi or Bengali as Second Language in their Board examination. 

Faculty members of the department who are actively engaged in research work regularly attend and make presentations at both national and international level seminars. Some of these presentations have been converted into publications in various literary journals. Some faculty members have been involved in post-graduate teaching.  Faculty members have also been part of syllabus-formation and revision committees, besides fulfilling their regular academic obligations as paper setters, moderators and examiners in various University and Public Service Commission examinations.

The department organizes seminars and workshops, creative writing sessions, literary quizzes, and fine-arts exhibitions through the cultural societies, The English Academy and The Fine Arts Society which are run by department teachers.

The academic reputation of the department is testified by the phenomenal rise in number of applications evinced every year. Listed by India Today as one of the best English undergraduate departments in the country, we offer the student an exciting, challenging and stimulating experience which will not only provide him or her with a strong foundation in the subject but also develop intellectual and analytical skills that the student may take with him or her into other fields of study or professional life.

COURSE STRUCTURE

Download English General Syllabus | Honours Syllabus