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“Entering the School of Life”: A Deleuzean Reading of Iris Murdoch?s The Flight from the Enchanter

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Mohammad Ghaffary & Alireza Anushiravani

Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

Volume 8, Number 1, 2016 I Full Text PDF

Abstract

Iris Murdoch is a philosophical novelist whose works provide a suitable case for the study of “philosophy in literature” and “literature as philosophy.” However, so far, chiefly the philosophical positions of Murdoch herself have been applied to her fictional works. Employing Gilles Deleuze?s ethical theory, the present essay offers a resistant reading and sheds new light on Murdoch’s second novel The Flight from the Enchanter (1956). Focusing on the character of Annette Cockeyne, this essay shows how one?s life consists of a set of encounters with other bodies, all striving for gaining more power. Annette?s struggle with nihilism and ressentiment and her attempt to discover the immanent logic of life are discussed with sufficient textual evidence and, finally, considering the criteria provided by Deleuzean ethics, it is argued whether she is an active / strong or a reactive / weak force in this fictional universe. Thus, by critiquing traditional, transcendent readings of Murdoch?s fiction, the present essay actualizes some of the virtual aspects of her fiction so far overlooked and, by adopting a novel strategy within Deleuzean criticism, this study also forges a new path for this approach to narrative fiction.

Keywords: life, Deleuzean ethics, happiness, power struggle, active force, reactive force, nihilism, The Flight from the Enchanter Keep Reading

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What is Performance Studies?

Richard Schechner Tisch School of the Arts, New York University  Download PDF Version Because performance studies is so broad-ranging and

The Human intrusion towards the balance of Nature in Rachel Carson’s The Silent Spring: A Review

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Shreeja Ghanta & X. John Paul

VIT University, Vellore, Tamilnadu, India

Volume 8, Number 1, 2016 I Full Text PDF

 Abstract:

This paper revisits Rachel Carson’s Silent Sprint in order to show how seminal the work has been in the wake of the global concerns over the climate changes and environemental disaster in our times. Carson’s focus was on the balance of nature and the web of life and she presented the horrible effects of the tremendous use of chemicals since World War II. She highlighted the impact and effects of DDT and chlorinated hydrocarbons to the world. Carson rightly marked that the chemicals are homicides rather than pesticides. Her work is celebrated worldwide because of her ability to foresee the future.

Keywords: Pesticides, nature, interdependence, balance, Environmentalism Keep Reading

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The Sinner-Saint Syndrome in Graham Greene’s Novels

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Smita Jha

IIT, Roorkee

Volume 8, Number 1, 2016 I Full Text PDF

Graham Greene (1904-1991) emerged on the literary scene of England in the thirties with the publication of his first novel entitled The Man Within (1929), a historical romance, written perhaps under the influence of R.L.Stevenson, John Buchan and Marjorie Bowen, the little-known writer of The Viper Milan. He kept on writing for six decades thereafter, and in the process authored a large number of novels and ‘entertainment’, short stories, plays, travelogues, memories and general as well as critical essays. Greene was indeed a prolific writer, and perhaps he still continues to be Britain’s ‘main literary export’ to the rest of the English-speaking world. It is really amazing that at a time when a considerable number of writers and other intellectuals of the West were learning towards Marxism on account of the Russian revolution of 1917, Greece embraced Roman Catholicism in 1926 at the age of twenty two. Nevertheless, he is a rebel Christian, and in this connection says: ‘I am a Catholic with an intellectual, if not an emotional belief in Catholic dogma’. He speaks a good deal about sin and salvation, damnation and redemption in his fictional works; he does not paint his characters in mere black or white, for he is of the view that a saint may be an ex-sinner or that a sinner may be a saint in making. Keep Reading

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The Dysfunctional Family in Post-war American Fictions

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Rima Bhattacharya

Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Kanpur, India

Volume 8, Number 1, 2016 I Full Text PDF

Abstract

With the advent of the modern and postmodern era, the notion of family has undergone radical transformation. Moving far apart from their ‘nuclear’ status both families and communities are now a days heterogeneous constructions, driven primarily by materialism and self-interest. A widespread dissemination of statistical evidence in the mass media suggests the predominance of the so-called dysfunctional family in the American life due to a list of causes like: co-habitation, same-sex union, economic sustainability of women, lack of responsibility of men, increased rate of illegitimacy. For a long period of time the post-war American novels too have been focusing on the issue of family decline or the dysfunctional family and its effect on an individual identity. The reasons behind family decline in these fictions are not very different from real life. Several scholars have recently written books and articles claiming that the modern American family is not declining as much as it is changing its nature. The paper takes up an array of Post-war American fictions in order to portray that no matter what kind of perilous journey these fictionalized characters undertake, the root cause of their distress is a dysfunctional family, increasingly marked by a sense of mutability.

Keywords: Family, Post-war, Herzog, Corrections, American Pastoral, Couples

“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way” (Tolstoy, 1984, 1)

The above quote from Anna Karenina reminds us of the fact that novel as a genre is heavily steeped into the gamut of family relations. It further highlights the fact that an unhappy family is worthy of much exploration and attention compared to a happy family. In fact the popularity of the novel as a genre is directly related to the rise of the middle class who believed in the healthy co-existence of the ‘nuclear family’ and the other governmental organizations protecting it. The post-war American fictions contradictorily subscribe to as well as criticize the notion of family being the seat of individual development. Yet the novelistic tradition continued to engage vigorously with the idea of family and its relationship with other regimes like class, community and nation.

With the advent of the modern and postmodern era, the notions of family, class, community and nation were radically transformed. The family was no longer ‘nuclear’; the communities were heterogeneous, mobile assemblages, driven by materialism and the concept of ‘nation’ was being modified by the introduction of globalization. For a long period of time the post-war American novels have been focusing on the issue of family decline or the dysfunctional family and its effect on an individual identity. Family decline in America continues to be a debatable issue, especially in academia. Several scholars have recently written books and articles reinforcing the thought that family decline is a ‘myth’ and that “the family is not declining, it is just changing” (qtd. in Popenoe, 1993, 527).

In the recent times, the term ‘family’ which is used in many ambiguous ways has become controversial. For some people the term refers to the traditional family, while for others it can also stand for a homosexual couple living together. Although for official purpose the term must be defined yet in general it is an all-encompassing concept with multiple possible meanings that can include two friends who live together, the staffs of an office, a local gang, and the family of a man. However the most common definition of a family constitutes of a domestic group in which people typically live together in a household and function as a cooperative unit, particularly through the sharing of economic resources, in the pursuit of happiness through domestic activities (Popenoe, 1993). In this paper, I will consider an array of post-war American novels which are directly or indirectly based on the seedbed of a dysfunctional family. The objective of my paper is to portray that one of the main problems that affect the fictionalized characters of these novels, is a dysfunctional family, increasingly marked by a sense of mutability…Full Text PDF

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Between Tales and Tellers: Literary Renderings of Gender Fluidity in Comparative Study

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Oindri Roy

English and Foreign Language University, Hyderabad

Volume 8, Number 1, 2016 I Full Text PDF

 Abstract

The study pertains to the literary explorations of non-normative sexualities to look into the hypothesis that narratives of transsexuality and intersexuality embody the processuality of the interaction between literariness, the nature of the texts and experiences of non-normative sexualities, as the content of the texts. The scope of the paper comprises three texts – The Danish Girl (2002), The Pregnant King and The Truth About Me: A Hijra Life Story (2010). A comparative study is attempted to locate into the divergences and convergences in the texts based on: firstly, firstly, the functionality of literariness in the textual articulations of gender fluidity or the possibility of locating a similar (not same) literary value in the textual articulations of gender fluidity; secondly, whether (and how) the writing of gender fluidity influences literary forms/practices, the modifications and the re-creations, thus, entailed. The insights derived from the above comparative study about the literary aspects of narrating non-normative sexualities, may be used to enhance theoretical insights into the same i.e. experiences of non-normative sexualities or gender fluidities.

Keywords: Sexuality, transsexuality, The Danish Girl, The Pregnant King, The Truth About Me: A Hijra Life Story, gender Keep Reading

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“Words Are Signals”: Language, Translation, and Colonization in Brian Friel’s Translations

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Adineh Khojastehpour & Behnam Mirzababazadeh Fomeshi

Independent Researchers

Volume 8, Number 1, 2016 I Full Text PDF

Abstract

The Irish playwright, Friel is among the most prominent contemporary writers. In his works he deals mainly with socio-cultural issues in Ireland. His 1980 play, Translations focuses on the problem of language and cultural colonization in Ireland. Hailed as a postcolonial work, the play is not limited to the depiction of the problem; it presents some suggestions and probable solutions to the problem, especially with a different look at the role and significance of “translation”. While showing a tangible picture of colonial struggles, it tries not to depict a one-sided picture of the problem. The present paper focuses on Friel’s different view toward Irish colonization and Irish cultural nationalism. The objective of the paper is to show how Friel looks differently at the function of language and the crucial role of “translation” in colonial struggles.

Keywords: Colonization; Language; Translation; Brian Friel; Cultural Identity Keep Reading

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What is Performance Studies?

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Precedent Phenomena in M. Bulgakov’s Works as Reflected in Their English and German Translations

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Alexandra Milostivaya

North-Caucasus Federal University, Russia

Volume 8, Number 1, 2016 I Full Text PDF

 Abstract

The aim of this article is to study precedent phenomena to be found in the works by M. Bulgakov, as taken in their translation into the English and the German languages. During that, the author focuses on the specifics of depicting the semiotic culture codes in the target text, which allow evaluating the adequacy related to communicating the meaning of the source text in its translated versions. It has been shown that many of the losses in the connotative information describing the precedent phenomena in M. Bulgakov’s works are of objective nature and are due to the asymmetry in the culture-bound realities both in the source and in the target languages. However, a particular translation solution is more than in the least determined by subjective factors, i.e. the translator’s ability to properly decode the pragmatics conveyed through precedent phenomena, which does not run contrary to the author’s intention.

 Keywords: precedent phenomena; semiotic culture code; English and German translations of works by M. Bulgakov Keep Reading

Linguopragmatic and Translatological Potential of Expressive Means in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things

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Tatiana Marchenko

North-Caucasus Federal University, the Russian Federation

Volume 8, Number 1, 2016 I Full Text PDF

Abstract

The article deals with the study of expressiveness phenomenon in literary translation. The aim of the study is to specify expressive means presented in the novel The God of Small Things after A. Roy and their translatological peculiarities as far as it concerns English-Russian translation. The study has revealed that in most contexts expressive means conveying axiological, emotional and cultural connotations reflect images which seem universal both for Indian and Russian cultures. In such case a translator manages to convey the expressive means in the TT and achieve the intended pragmatic effect. At the same time cultural and axiological components can undergo reduction as certain linguistic signs possess specific cultural connotations and are implied to provoke particular emotions and associations in representatives of the source lingouculture. Seme reduction can be preconditioned by formal differences in the systems of the source language and the target language. The main research methods employed in the study are content and comparative analyses of the source and the target texts.

Keywords: literary translation, linguopragmatics, expressive means. Keep Reading

Ideological Conversions: Three Women Activists in the 1930s

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Maureen Mulligan

Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain

Volume 8, Number 1, 2016 I Full Text PDF

Abstract

What would lead three upper middle class women to question the ideology of their peers and challenge the accepted world view to the extent that they cross the line between acceptance of the status quo and political activism? This paper looks at the life and work of three women – two British and one American – who, in the 1930s, experienced a dramatic change in the way they interpreted the world, which led them to a conversion to a different political viewpoint that had an almost evangelical quality to the way it would affect their subsequent life. Margot Heinemann, Rebecca West and Martha Gellhorn: three impressive writers and activists whom we remember now for their fervent defence of political causes – the struggle of the working class for autonomy, the alternative philosophy and quality of life that existed in the divided Balkans, and La Causa, the doomed Republican fight for democracy, respectively. Apart from their intrinsically interesting individual conversions to the faith of a new cause which we can trace in each of these women, their experiences reflect a wider movement in the twentieth century. Heinemann and Gellhorn represent a tendency which has dominated the century – the struggle between the rich and the poor, the powerful and the oppressed; fascism and dictatorship versus socialism and democracy. West represents a new respect for a culture that is not a dominant, first world power; she is one of a few writers of her time who looked around the world and discovered values that were not merely material in another way of life. This is a global shift in the appreciation of another culture which has led in the direction of recent political movements based around “thinking globally and acting locally”. Finally, all three writers implicitly echo what has been possibly the biggest social “crossing” of the twentieth century: the struggle for women to find their voice and exercise power: to cross over from second class citizen to equal member of society.

Keywords: Women, politics, 1930s, activism, class, Spain, Balkans, feminism. Keep Reading

Objectification of Women and Violence in What the Body Remembers

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Lucia-Mihaela Grosu-R?dulescu

Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania

Volume 8, Number 1, 2016 I Full Text PDF

Abstract

This article discusses the ample illustrations of violence depicted in Shauna Singh Baldwin’s novel What the Body Remembers. Violence and patriarchal control come to permanently affect the lives of the main female characters, who are first analysed at the small scale of their polygamous marriage, and secondly in the context of the horrifying events of the 1947 Partition. I posit that in the novel we notice an extreme commodification of women, whose bodies become sites for men’s competition for respect and territory. Singh Baldwin provides accounts of how male violence is enacted through rape, murder and abductions of women. The literary analysis of the interactions between patriarchy, domestic violence and colonization in the novel concludes that we can establish a clear connection between the idea of intimate colonization and male violent behaviour, whether it is directed at women by their own families or at women’s bodies seen as other men’s property.

Keywords: violence, patriarchy, women’s bodies, discrimination, Shauna Singh Baldwin. Keep Reading

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