Literary Rides

What happens before we name what we feel? How do bodies respond before language intervenes?

In this episode of Literary Rides, we explore affect theory—a contemporary framework that shifts attention from structured emotion to pre-conscious intensity, embodied relationality, and the circulation of feeling between bodies. Drawing on philosophical influences such as Spinoza and Deleuze, the discussion examines how subjectivity becomes ...

In this episode of Literary Rides, we explore the life, works, and enduring literary contribution of Jane Austen—one of the most influential novelists in English literature. Far from being merely a chronicler of courtship, Austen emerges as a sharp observer of Regency society, property laws, class hierarchy, and the economic pressures shaping women’s lives.

Through novels such as Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, and...

How do children acquire the sound system of language—and when do natural simplifications become a cause for concern?

In this episode of Literary Rides, we explore the science of phonological development, examining how children use patterned simplifications such as fronting, cluster reduction, and final consonant deletion as part of normal speech acquisition. The discussion distinguishes articulation disorders from phonological disor...

What happens when we stop asking what the author meant and begin asking what the text does?

In this episode of Literary Rides, we explore the life, works, and intellectual legacy of Roland Barthes—one of the most influential literary theorists of the twentieth century. Moving from his early structuralist analyses and semiotic explorations of popular culture to his radical declaration of “The Death of the Author,” we trace the evolut...

In this episode of Literary Rides, we examine Nissim Ezekiel—widely regarded as the foundational voice of Indian English modernism. Moving away from romantic nationalism, Ezekiel brought irony, urban realism, and psychological introspection into Indian poetry written in English.

We explore his Jewish-Indian identity, his engagement with post-Independence Bombay, and his role in shaping a new poetic idiom rooted in the city's liv...

What makes English “correct”? Is it grammar, authority, tradition, or power?

In this episode of Literary Rides, we examine how Standard English was historically codified through dictionaries and grammar manuals, often reflecting the speech patterns of social elites. From the prescriptive rules of eighteenth-century grammarians to the modern debates between descriptive linguistics and linguistic gatekeeping, the discussion reveals ho...

What does it mean to be human in an age of artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, and ecological crisis? In this episode of Literary Rides, we explore the philosophical and literary dimensions of posthumanism—a movement that challenges the idea of the human as autonomous, central, and superior.

From cyborg theory and artificial consciousness to ecological interconnectedness and bioengineered futures, contemporary literature i...

Few writers embodied their philosophy as dramatically as Oscar Wilde. In this episode of Literary Rides, we explore the life, works, and enduring legacy of one of Victorian literature’s most brilliant and controversial figures.

From his role in the Aesthetic Movement and his declaration of “art for art’s sake” to the dazzling wit of The Importance of Being Earnest and the dark moral complexities of The Picture of Dorian Gray, Wilde ...

Accent is never just pronunciation. It signals where we come from, how we are perceived, and how we are positioned within systems of power.

In this episode of Literary Rides, we explore how accent functions as a marker of social identity and how linguistic profiling shapes opportunities in hiring, housing, and education. Moving from sociolinguistic theory to empirical research, the discussion examines standard language ideology, cov...

What does it mean to understand a text? Is interpretation a method, a dialogue, or a fundamental condition of human existence?

In this episode of Literary Rides, we trace the intellectual evolution of hermeneutics—from its roots in Biblical exegesis to its transformation into one of the most influential philosophical movements of the twentieth century. Beginning with Schleiermacher and Dilthey’s efforts to ground the human sciences ...

In this episode of Literary Rides, we explore the life and legacy of Derek Walcott — poet, playwright, Nobel Laureate, and one of the most influential voices of the Caribbean. Moving beyond a single text, this masterclass traces Walcott’s artistic evolution from early lyric poetry to his monumental epic Omeros, while also examining his powerful contributions to Caribbean theatre.

We examine how Walcott negotiates colonial inheritanc...

In this episode of Literary Rides, we explore one of the most fascinating intersections in sociolinguistics: the relationship between language and gender. Do men and women really speak differently? Are these differences biological, cultural, or socially constructed? Or is gender something we actively perform through language?

Beginning with early theoretical models such as the Deficit, Difference, and Dominance approaches, this epis...

This episode provides a clear and conceptually grounded comparison of Structuralism and Poststructuralism, two influential theoretical movements that reshaped literary studies and the humanities in the twentieth century. Beginning with Structuralism’s search for underlying systems and universal patterns, the discussion explains how meaning was understood as stable, relational, and governed by structures such as language, binary opp...

This episode offers a nuanced and academically grounded exploration of Sylvia Plath as a central figure in confessional poetry, examining how personal experience is transformed into disciplined, powerful literary art. Moving beyond biographical reductionism, the discussion situates Plath within the broader context of the confessional movement, alongside contemporaries such as Robert Lowell and Anne Sexton, while emphasising her dis...

This episode offers a comprehensive and accessible introduction to Corpus Linguistics, the data-driven approach to studying language through extensive, computerised collections of real-world texts. Moving beyond intuition and prescriptive rules, the discussion explains how corpus linguistics enables scholars to observe how language is actually used across contexts, registers, and time.

Beginning with a clear definition of corpus lin...

This episode offers a definitive introduction to Formalism, the literary theory that insists on reading literature as a self-contained verbal artefact. Moving away from authorial biography, historical background, and moral judgement, Formalist critics redirected attention to the internal structure of the text—its language, form, and technical devices—laying the foundations of modern literary criticism.

The episode explores both sign...

This episode presents a comprehensive, critically engaged study of Vijay Tendulkar, one of the most powerful voices in modern Indian drama, through a close reading of his landmark play, Silence! The Court Is in Session. Situating the play within Tendulkar’s life, intellectual formation, and commitment to social realism, the discussion reveals how theatre becomes a site for exposing moral hypocrisy, gendered violence, and the cruelt...

This episode offers a comprehensive introduction to Forensic Linguistics, the interdisciplinary field that examines how language operates within legal and judicial contexts. Focusing on language as evidence, the discussion reveals how words, voices, texts, and interactions can influence investigations, trials, and legal outcomes—often in ways that are invisible to non-specialists.

Beginning with a clear definition of the discipline,...

This episode offers a definitive and conceptually grounded introduction to Phenomenology in Literature, exploring how literary meaning emerges through lived experience, perception, and consciousness rather than through fixed textual structures alone. Rooted in twentieth-century philosophy, phenomenology shifts critical attention from the text as an object to the act of reading as an event that unfolds in time within the reader’s aw...