1. Alex, Rayson K. “Essays in Ecocriticism.” Google Books, Google, https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=z-tEW8gU-wsC&oi=fnd&pg=PA156&dq=the%2Bhungry%2Btide%2Bfolklore&ots=EopSN18pUZ&sig=aJ1ZRbrSi3RRfcth7fCYCJ-kxGM#v=onepage&q=folklore&f=false. 

This piece discusses how the narrative of the novel is told with myths and folklore. The writing also points out the symbolic connection between man and nature because of these stories. Alex mentions many of the connections with folklore, for example when the dolphin king who takes the form of a tiger devours people in their territory this represents the ecological balance that has to be maintained for both animals and people to live in peace. 

2. Anand, Divya. “Words on Water: Nature and Agency in Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide.” Words on Water: Nature and Agency in Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide, Mar. 2008, http://www.concentric-literature.url.tw/issues/Water/2.pdf. 

This writing talks about Fokir’s connection to folklore and its advantages. Unlike Piya and Kanai, Fokir worships Bon Bi Bi and has an upper hand because of his familiarity with the tide and creatures. Anand mentions how despite Piya’s and Kanai’s GPS and educational background they are still dependent on Folkir to guide them In the water.  

3.DasGupta, Amrita, and Tathagata Dutta. “Amitav Ghosh and the ‘Pizza-Effect’: Re-discovering Shared Littoral Literature and Heritage” HyperCultura, vol. 9, 2020, http://litere.hyperion.ro/hypercultura/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/DasGupta-Amrita-_Tathagata-Dutta.pdf.

This paper mentions the connection between the legend of Bon Bi Bi and the consciousness and fear attached to the stories. The authors also go in-depth about the “Pizza-Effect” and how the stories dig and rediscover the audience’s and Kanai’s roots. 

4. Kaur, Gurpreet. “Literary Endeavour (ISSN: 0976-299X).” “Amitav Ghosh’s Entwining of Threads from History, Facts and Myths in The Hungry Tide.”, PublisherSau. Bhagyashri Ramesh Chougule/ Editor-Dr.R.B.Chougule, July 2018, http://jtrel.in/archive/JTREL090305.pdf. 

Kaur talks about the lasting impact of Folklore on Fokir and how it was passed down to Tutul. Cultural narratives are transmitted from one generation to the next. This piece also emphasizes the strong connection Fokir has with Bon Bi Bi when he became the messenger and saved Piya twice. The significance of the folklore to the people of Sundarbans allows them to be one with nature. Kaur also discusses how Piya believes Fokir embodies the dominant spirit of Lusibari. 

5.Mohamed, Niveen Samir. “A Spatial Study in Arundhati Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide.” A Spatial Study in Arundhati Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide, Apr. 2022, https://ssl.journals.ekb.eg/article_235101_e837730347d1569f8779272d2c727584.pdf. 

Mohamed discusses the myths told and spread around reflecting the influences of Sundarbans. Mohamed also points out how Nirmal is dismissive of the folklore in the beginning and felt like an outsider. Just like Piya and Kanai, Nirmal needs aid and guidance from Fokir to get around the tide. He no longer felt superior when he had to rely on another person. Understanding folklore and how it connects people to nature differs the locals from the visitors. Later on, Nirmal makes the connection with how important the history of the Bon Bibi myth is.

Simple bibliography: 

1. Anand, Divya. “Words on Water: Nature and Agency in Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide.” Words on Water: Nature and Agency in Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide , Mar. 2008, http://www.concentric-literature.url.tw/issues/Water/2.pdf. 
2. DasGupta, Amrita, and Tathagata Dutta. “Directory of Open Access Journals.” HyperCultura, Hyperion University, 1 Aug. 2021, https://doaj.org/article/8c4b5b5c2bc84876979870ca088e9dcf. 
3. Kaur, Gurpreet. “Literary Endeavour (ISSN: 0976-299X).” Amitav Ghosh’s Entwining of Threads from History, Facts and Myths in The Hungry Tide, PublisherSau. Bhagyashri Ramesh Chougule/ Editor-Dr.R.B.Chougule, July 2018, http://jtrel.in/archive/JTREL090305.pdf. 
4. Mohamed, Niveen Samir. “A Spatial Study in Arundhati Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide.” A Spatial Study in Arundhati Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide, Apr. 2022, https://ssl.journals.ekb.eg/article_235101_e837730347d1569f8779272d2c727584.pdf. 
5. Umadevi, V. “Www.literaryendeavour.org Literary Endeavour – Researchgate.” INTRICACIES OF MYTH AND CULTURE IN THE HUNGRY TIDE: A STUDY ON ISLAND LITERATURE, July 2018, https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Shahila_Zafar2/publication/338225016_Manipulation_of_Mechanisms_of_Surveillance_and_Control_A_Critical_Analysis_of_Veronica_Ruth’s_Divergent_Trilogy/links/5e08fb01a6fdcc28374855ac/Manipulation-of-Mechanisms-of-Surveillance-and-Control-A-Critical-Analysis-of-Veronica-Ruths-Divergent-Trilogy.pdf. 

I started my simple bibliography with using Onesearch and filter the page to be only peer reviewed work. I used the phrases “The Hungry Tide”, “The Hungry Tide Folklore”, “The Hungry Tide Myths”. The results were very limited, I got about 2-4 search result and many of which did not connect to my research question. I skim through some briefly that may work and added them. After that I search the same phrases up on Google Scholar and found many on JSTOR but many others have pay walls. I started to change my terminology and try to see if that helped however, it wasn’t improving the results. In the end I decided to go on Google to see what others have written about the folklore in The Hungry Tide to see how I can find the best sources related to my question.

While reading 10:04 many themes recur throughout the chapters. One of them is time, the description of time is tossed around constantly. Lerner repeatedly talks about the present but also time travel as well. He describes his thought in the future tense and we can see this in the novel. For example, in chapter III the narrator imagines a dialogue between him and his future child with Alex. “Wasn’t the tube cold? I heard in Alex’s cousin’s voice. You’d have to ask her. Why didn’t you two just make love? Because that would have been bizarre.” (92) Lerner does this to allow readers to examine events from the future tense and catches our attention. The concept of time traveling is appealing because in reality it can not be changed however, in writing this idea is possible. The narrator’s favorite film Back to the Future which involves time travel is also mentioned multiple times and is also connected to the title of the novel. The method of storytelling that Lerner uses involves the past, present, and future. In the third chapter, a woman who helps out at the Park Slope Food Coop tells a story about how she learned that she is not half-Lebanese. These tales connect to the concept of time because the world is being altered and even with something so small it could change everything or barely anything. “I still believe all the things that I believed; it hasn’t changed my sense of any of the causes. But my right to care about the cases, my right to have this name and speak the language and cook the food and sing the songs and be part of the struggles or whatever—all of that has changed..”(105). Noor feels that she no longer has the right to be associated with Lebanese culture, her name, the language, and her nonbiological father’s family. And the quote in the story “Everything will be as it is now, just a little different.” really captures Noor’s story. 

The theme of time is also intertwined with reality. The author knows that multiple timelines are overlapping and how they come to play. “…discovering you are not identical with yourself even in the most disturbing and painful way still contains the glimmer, however, refracted, of the world to come, where everything is the same but a little different because the past will be citable in all of its moments, including those that from our present happened but never occurred.” The narrator believes that the future is altered because of the multiple possibilities that could’ve occurred but never did. This connects to the movie mentioned in the novel Back to the Future when the character alters their past and it erased his future when his hand started to disappear. Realizing the truth about your past like Noor or trying to change the past like Marty makes something feel slightly different but also the same. 

This concept of time travel is also often seen on television. For example in Family Guy, this is concept is explored. In one episode Brian wanted to find a tennis ball that he buried years ago so Stewie decided to tag along and time-travel back to that moment to find it. However, the timeline is messed up when Brian told his past self about 9/11. The domino reaction could happen when one little change alters everything else. In this case, when they return to the present the U.S is in a post-apocalyptic state. Nothing worked to change the timeline back to the original state until Stewie went back to prevent them from time-traveling in the first place. It seems that altering the future always changes the outcome of the present. 

What is the significance of Sundarban folklore in Ghosh’s novel The Hungry Tide?

In the novel, 10:04 by Ben Lerner the perspective we are presented with is from multiple points of view. The narrator tells the story in first person where he explores different narratives. It showcases the perspective of the narrator of “The Golden Vanity” and Ben Lerner himself. The reason Lerner does this is to cumulate the worlds of reality and fiction. He explores this idea by adding components of his life into his writing. The author also includes short stories within the narrator’s story. The separation between reality and fiction is difficult, especially in the case where the author speaks to the reader and addresses us. The audience questions the reality and fiction being presented in this piece because of the many turns we face and makes us cogitate on the path we should take. Instead of hearing about the experiences of donating sperm to their best friend. Lerner puts us in the shoes of the narrator who questions what being a father is like. 

Although the novel is metafictional it also explores different avenues and discusses the real-life world and choices. Many novels include possible life experiences but in 10:04 the structure and narration make readers ruminate whether they are reading fiction or an autobiography at times. Lerner uses his name in the novel and even his real age. In addition, based on research, the second paragraph in the novel refers to the book he is writing which is the short story “The Golden Vanity” that Lerner wrote in 2012. “I could get a ‘strong six-figure’ advance based on a story of mine that had appeared in The New Yorker; all I had to do was promise to turn it into a novel.” The process of writing this book itself,10:04, is also presented in the novel. This made me question if the book was an autobiography. Lerner also goes on in the novel to explicate his methods of writing that disconnect autobiography from his piece but also blur the line between fiction and reality so the reader would have trouble disuniting the worlds. In the first chapter he describes the process of “The Golden Vanity ”, “The story would involve a series of transpositions: I would shift my medical problem to another part of the body; replace astereognosis with another disorder, displace Alex’s oral surgery. I would change names: Alex would become Liza, which she’d told me once had been her mother’s second choice; Alena would become Hannah; Sharon I’d change to Mary, Jon to Josh; Dr. Andrews to Dr. Roberts, etc.” Lerner uses real experiences and adjusts them a little to make his writing closer to reality. This is his method of writing autobiographically.

Apologies for being tardy my computer was having issues and did not let me upload my work.