Monday, November 23, 2009

Books and websites for UGC-NET, SLET EXAMS




The season of the UGC-NET and SLET exams is approaching and I am often asked what books should be consulted for preparation. So here goes my recommended list. The basic problems before the aspirants are due to irrationality of the test and own lack of interest in the subject. 

Here is my tip for anyone who wants to perform well at the NET or SLET or any exam for the matter:

Scoring well or clearing is what score board is to a game. The question should not be how to make more runs but how to improve batting or bowling.  Clearing an exam is an outcome of performance , not performance itself. Hence if you develop interest or love for the subject ( History of English literature and criticism)  your performance will improve on its own

However, here it goes: 

For the first paper, I think one can use books on Reasoning and Clerical Aptitude published by  Competition Success Review and Manorama Year Books are good for current affairs.

However, for other papers I recommend these books:

1) Abrams, M.H. and G.G. Harpham. A Glossary of Literary Terms. eleventh edition, Cengage India Learning Pvt Ltd, 2014. Lucid ,useful.


2) Abrams, M.H. et all ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature Vol. I and II. New York and London. W.W. Norton and Company. Eighth Edition, 2006 is The Maa and Baap of all examinations of English literature. Massive. If you are serious and committed to clear NET/SLET this is the place. 

3) Asagoff, Lubna et. all ed. Principles and Practices for Teaching English as an International Language . New York. Routledge. 2012

4) Carter, Ronald and John Macrae. The Routledge History of Literature in English, Britain and Ireland. London and New York. Routledge. 1997


5) Chaudhuri, Amit. ed., The Picador Book of Modern Indian Literature, Picador, 2001. One of the most useful anthologies on the subject. Useful especially for paper three. 


6) Cohen, Walter. A History of European Literature: The West and the World from Antiquity to the Present. Oxford University Press. 2017

7) Culler, Jonathan. Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction. OUP, April 2002. Very lucid and exciting introduction, my personal favourite!

8) Devy, GN ed. Indian Literary Criticism: Theory and Interpretation, Hyderabad: Orient Longman Ltd, 2002. A good place to look at ancient and modern Indian literary criticism. 


9) Habib, MAR.  A History of Literary Criticism : From Plato to Present. Blackwell Publishing, 2005. One of the best introductions to the subject. The chapter on 20th century Criticism is one of the most lucid introductions to a very complex field.

10) Kudchedkar, Shirin. ed. Readings in English Language Teaching in India. Hyderabad. Orient Longman Pvt Ltd., 2002

11) Leitch, Vincent B et al. eds. The Norton Anthology of Literary Criticism and Theory. NY and London: WW Norton and Co. 2001. The BAAP of all anthologies of literary criticism and theory. From Plato to hypertext theory, you name it and you have it. 

12) Mehrotra, AK. An Illustrated History of Indian Literature in English, New Delhi: Permanent Black (Ravi Dayal), 2003. A very good starting point for literary history of Indian writing in English.

13) Richards, J and Rogers, T. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching, 2nd Edition. 2001. A very comprehensive Introduction to ELT 

14) Stinger, Jenny ed. The Oxford Companion to Twentieth Century Literature in English. Oxford and New York. Oxford University Press. 1996 Fairly comprehensive, and useful especially for paper three. 

15) Widdowson, Peter. The Palgrave Guide to English Literature and its Contexts : 1500-2000. New York. Palgrave Macmillan, 2004

You can check out following links too:

i) Luminarium.org is a very good site
iii) Bartleby is a very good site
iv) Britannica. com for English literature also has a good entry on prosody 
v) Lang Nagoya is a site with links to other sites
vi) Study.com has an online course on basics of English literature 
vii) Internet Encylopedia of Philosophy provides a discussion and reading list for literary criticism and theory
viii) Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) has a good information about literary theory and criticism 
ix) Here is a link to OTHER USEFUL LINKS ON THE NET is made by yours faithfully. It is a very good page indeed ...
x) MY YOUTUBE PLAYLIST OF USEFUL VIDEOS FOR NET/SET ASPIRANTS