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A Palimpsestic Reading of Female Identity in Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus
Issue:
Volume 5, Issue 2, June 2020
Pages:
53-59
Received:
1 March 2020
Accepted:
17 March 2020
Published:
7 April 2020
Abstract: This study examines female identity in the novel of Chimamanda N. Adichie using an eclectic model that combines African feminist theory and palimpsestic analogy. A critical reading of the text reveals that African women writers have a strong commitment towards the redefinition of female identity in literary texts. In terms of the major preoccupation of female writers in their works, it has been observed that Adichie is passionate about her projection of strong female characters alongside weak female characters that function under the traditional atmosphere. Adichie creates female characters that on the surface appear docile, timid, robot–like and passive, however through her dexterous master – craft she proceeds to deconstruct, such portraiture to allow the creation of another identity on the erased surface. This style, gives the female characters a multi-layered pattern similar to that of an erased writing on a piece of parchment-palimpsest. I argue that through this palimpsestic portraiture, Adichie advocates for other means of female assertion- education is a strong weapon for her female characters’ self-assertion and empowerment. The study, therefore, suggests that for objective reading and interpretation of Purple Hibiscus particularly as it relates to female characters critics should negotiate the ability to look at women’s work with fresher eye.
Abstract: This study examines female identity in the novel of Chimamanda N. Adichie using an eclectic model that combines African feminist theory and palimpsestic analogy. A critical reading of the text reveals that African women writers have a strong commitment towards the redefinition of female identity in literary texts. In terms of the major preoccupatio...
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The Self without the Other in Derrida’s Khora and Samuel Beckett’s The Unnamable
Issue:
Volume 5, Issue 2, June 2020
Pages:
60-68
Received:
10 April 2020
Accepted:
5 May 2020
Published:
18 May 2020
Abstract: The present research investigates the parallelism between Derrida’s reading of Plato’s Khora and Samuel Beckett’s The Unnamable. Out of the rationality of logos, both resist being named and defined. Indeed, the complexity in their comprehension is due to their rejecting the rules and principles of language. As language constructs mentality, whatever is out of its boundaries, remains unnamable. In deconstructing Khora and The Unnamable, based on logos/mythos binary opposition, their mise en abyme structures resemble mythos to some extent, while the criteria are not met thoroughly. All the philosophical efforts in defining their essence fail and both remain inexplicable at the end. While deconstructing them based on different binary oppositions, we reach this point that they can be both and, at the same time, neither this nor that. The fact is that The Unnamable and Khora are situated somewhere between participation and exclusion. Oscillating at the threshold of presence/absence binary opposition, both can be comparable to subjectile, where the act of becoming is possible and the appropriate context for artistic representation happens to be. Khora acts as a vessel of creation of beings and forms, and The Unnamable creates a space for forming a narration out of the words. In the end, due to the lack of essence, none of them retains anything and both remains intact and neutral. In the end, all the efforts in attributing right characteristics to pin them down would lead into a pile of interpretations and metaphors, which are not referable and reliable and cannot be accounted more than a couple of subjective projections. Their existence and any determination toward their reality remain questionable.
Abstract: The present research investigates the parallelism between Derrida’s reading of Plato’s Khora and Samuel Beckett’s The Unnamable. Out of the rationality of logos, both resist being named and defined. Indeed, the complexity in their comprehension is due to their rejecting the rules and principles of language. As language constructs mentality, whateve...
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Deceptive Style of Writing in Ian McEwan’s Atonement
Issue:
Volume 5, Issue 2, June 2020
Pages:
69-73
Received:
8 May 2020
Accepted:
22 May 2020
Published:
9 June 2020
Abstract: Ian McEwan, together with Martin Amis is regarded as the best-known and controversial contemporary British novelist. He has been regarded as a serious, objective writer who is interested in writing about obsessive behavior, sex and moral corruption. When Atonement appeared in 2001, it received widespread praise from the reviewers, especially in respect of its style and narrative structure. This paper is concerned with the deceptive style of McEwan’s Atonement, with the exposure of the narrative as an artifact. The identity of Briony is discussed from two aspects: on the one hand, she is a character who is as real as others. On the other hand, she finally becomes the real author of the novel, revealing the process of the construction of this story. Thus, by giving Briony two identities, the writer deceives the reader into his beautiful lie and awakens them with the same metafictional device, laying bare its nature of artifice. Through the study and analysis, it is safe to conclude that Atonement possesses the main features of metafiction. The application of deceptive writing renders the novel more aesthetic significance and meaning.
Abstract: Ian McEwan, together with Martin Amis is regarded as the best-known and controversial contemporary British novelist. He has been regarded as a serious, objective writer who is interested in writing about obsessive behavior, sex and moral corruption. When Atonement appeared in 2001, it received widespread praise from the reviewers, especially in res...
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Study on Translated English Titles of The Tale of Shangri-La
Issue:
Volume 5, Issue 2, June 2020
Pages:
74-78
Received:
24 May 2020
Accepted:
16 June 2020
Published:
28 June 2020
Abstract: A classical work of traditional Chinese literature, The Tale of Shangri-La, has received extensive attention among Chinese and Western translators, which is written by Tao Yuanming, an influential writer during the Eastern Jin Dynasty. In this work, Tao Yuanming depicted an ideal society where people’s life is simple, quiet and harmonious, far away from hustle and bustle. A. R. Davis, Herbert A. Giles, James Robert Hightower, Rick Davis and David Steelman, Lin Yutang, Luo Jingguo, Roland C. Fang, Sun Dayu, Xie Baikui, Yang Xianyi, and other translators all show great interest in this work and are eager to push it into the English world, due to which, The Tale of Shangri-La, has entered the study of foreign researchers and writers. In order to discuss how to successfully translate the titles of Chinese classics into English, this paper selects ten translated English titles of The Tale of Shangri-La, and analyzes different strategies and methods used in them. It is concluded that translators should take cultural factors into consideration, and adopt the strategy of foreignization as much as possible in order to better carry forward Chinese traditional culture and promote cross-cultural communication in the process of translating the titles of Chinese classics into English.
Abstract: A classical work of traditional Chinese literature, The Tale of Shangri-La, has received extensive attention among Chinese and Western translators, which is written by Tao Yuanming, an influential writer during the Eastern Jin Dynasty. In this work, Tao Yuanming depicted an ideal society where people’s life is simple, quiet and harmonious, far away...
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