Original Article
Bahareh Nilforoshan; Bakhtiar Sadjadi; Fariba Parvizi; Farid Parvaneh
Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 06 November 2022
Abstract
Introduction: Reading contemporary fiction through diverse disciplines appears to be a substantial part of narrative studies in particular and literature in general providing a tenable framework of interdisciplinary discourses of knowledge to study and explore fiction. Caryl Phillips’s The Nature ...
Read More
Introduction: Reading contemporary fiction through diverse disciplines appears to be a substantial part of narrative studies in particular and literature in general providing a tenable framework of interdisciplinary discourses of knowledge to study and explore fiction. Caryl Phillips’s The Nature of Blood embraces a labyrinth of narratives, the Holocaust as its ultimate point of recollection. Phillips, by narrating the horrific memories of a camp survivor, delves into the dark memories of racism and brings it to its old days, as far as Othello’s in Venice. The present study explores this dark legacy through a relatively new approach to literature using socio-cultural anthropological concepts. In doing so, the present paper scrutinized The Nature of Blood through the concepts of territorial stigma, ghetto, and punitive containment in order to delineate the true and indisputable role of fiction in other social sciences, emphasizing the interdisciplinary nature of literature and novel, in particular. Focusing on the conception of ghetto as a stigmatized territory narrated by Eva and Othello, the two major narrators in the novel, the article finds it as an available and costless strategy of punitive containment practiced through the course of history and represented in The Nature of Blood.Background of Study: Wacquant elucidates his ideas on the nexus of marginality, ethnicity, and penalty. However, tenets of territorial stigmatization and ghettoization would cover more nationalities and disciplinary boundaries. He builds his notions of ghetto on a comparison of some canonical cases and concludes that ghetto is an institutional form that would lead to territorial and social stigmatization: “the ghetto is an institutional form, a social-organizational device that employs space to fulfill two conflictive functions: economic extraction and social ostracization” (Urban Outcasts, 3). He develops the concept of territorial stigmatization according to this comparative approach to social theory and applies his findings about neighborhood taint on both sides of the Atlantic. Moreover, he has contributed to urban studies by his notion of advanced marginality.Methodology: This article is a library-based research and uses various sources both in interdisciplinary discourses and contemporary fiction. Ghetto is pictured as punitive containment strategy to push the members of periphery to territories of stigma and deprive them of their collective identity and sense of belonging.Conclusion: The present paper explores The Nature of Blood as an instance of the author’s multi-layered narration in a versatile scope of time, place and history that makes it an appropriate microcosm to apply Wacquant’s conception of territorial stigma, ghetto, and punitive containment. It is concluded that territorial stigma, along with other labels relegating the repressed to the margins of a society, is a recurrent and dynamic threat to the integrity of the underclass and the precariat making it difficult to grasp to any kind of collective action and thus, reflecting the future lives and struggles of the migrants with diverse ethno-racial and religious backgrounds, especially from the Middle East, who were trying to find refuge in Europe after the wake of ISIS. Moreover, ghetto, scrutinized by Wacquant in its modern sense, finds its roots in Renaissance Europe in Phillips’ fiction, proving the bitter fact that the ghetto is the other side of the prison aiming at the exclusionary closure of the outcasts of the society and continued almost unchanged to the modern urban metropolis. The punitive containment during the course of history proved to be a practical and priceless strategy to keep the underclass precariat and the social outcasts at bay behind the bars of the prison, sometimes embodied in the form of the ghetto and has always been reflected in literature due to its potential socio-cultural and anthropological overtones.
Original Article
Hanieh Zaltash; Farid Parvaneh; Narges Montakhabi Bakhtvar
Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 13 November 2022
Abstract
IntroductionThe inauguration of electronic literature is highly entwined with the evolution of digital media, in a sense that it is called “digital born,” which refers to the works of art that are created on a computer and meant to be read on a computer. Multimodal web-fictions, also known ...
Read More
IntroductionThe inauguration of electronic literature is highly entwined with the evolution of digital media, in a sense that it is called “digital born,” which refers to the works of art that are created on a computer and meant to be read on a computer. Multimodal web-fictions, also known as the second generation of electronic literature, utilize several modes, including image, sound/music, video, and text. Multimodal web-fictions provide us with the flow of various modes on the screen. Moreover, there is no clue that indicate how we could navigate the digital project. Although reading digital fictions seems problematic, we could unearth instances of particular patterns among various modes/media which are randomly scattered in Illya Szilak’s Queerskins (2012) and Hazel Smith’s Motions (2014), through following Kathrine Hayles’ and Patrik Colm Hogan’ theories.Background of StudyIn Electronic Literature (2019), Scott Rettberg provides a thorough introduction to contemporary genres of digital writing. The book is divided into seven chapters which focus on various genres of electronic literature. The Bloomsbury Handbook of Electronic Literature (2018), edited by Joseph Tabbi, could be considered as the first authoritative reference handbook to the field of Electronic Literature. It consists of four parts This book collects various scholars’ theories, concerning the significant concepts within electronic literature. Daniel Punday, in “Narrativity,” investigates narrativity within electronic literature. He commences by elucidating the evolution of narrativity and how electronic works can create and use narrativity. In “Rebooting Cognition in Electronic Literature,” David Ciccoricco highlights the significance of cognition in electronic literature. Refiguring Minds in Narrative Media (2005) by David Ciccoricco pivots on cognitive issues, including memory, perception, attention, and emotion. He explores aesthetic treatments of cognition in three kinds of narrative media: print novels, digital fiction, and story-driven video games.MethodologyThis research, on the one hand, aims to divulge the patterns that are hidden in random modes/ media of Queerskins (2012) and Motions (2014) through following Katherine Hayles theories, concerning apophenia. On the other hand, the present study utilizes Patrick Colm Hogan’s theories, regarding emotions and narrative goals, in order to delineate the narrative patterns in the aforementioned works. Redefining narrative as the pursuit of a goal, Hogan, according to Sanskrit theories, claims that every story is formed around at least one of the chief goals because these are the goals around which all human life is ordered. The Indic tradition depicts that the goals of life, also known as the purusārthas, are kāma, artha, moksa, and dharma. These goals trigger particular emotions. Therefore, in Illya Szilak’s Queerskins (2012), Sebastian’s romantic relationships and his self-blame emotions are respectively based on Kama and Moksa, and in Hazel Smith’s Motions (2014), characters’ quest to again social prosperity reveals that their lives are based on artha.ConclusionFollowing Katherine Hayles’ theories, concerning apophenia, it could be argued that narrative patterns could be traced in electronic literature. In other words, various modes/media, which randomly emerge in Illya Szilak’s Queerskins (2012) and Hazel Smith’s Motions (2014), could portray narrative patterns. Although the novels seem fragmented, reading them through Patrick Colm Hogan’s theories, regarding emotions and narrative goals indicates that the underlying pattern is a picture of working memory process when emotions are triggered by life or narrative goals. In Queerskins (2012), narratives are based on Kama and Moksa, and in Motions (2014), narratives are centered on artha. Therefore, the pursuit of the aforementioned goals in Queerskins and Motions creates narrative patterns which challenge randomness of the various modes.
Original Article
Saeid Behnoud; Negar Sharif; Zahra Bordbari
Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 17 February 2023
Abstract
Introduction: As the investigation of the Wessex’s paratextual material reveals, Hardy’s insightful conviction on the primacy of emotional reasoning over logical cognition in the mind’s nexus informs his predetermined intentionality in assigning the impressionistic elicitation of affective ...
Read More
Introduction: As the investigation of the Wessex’s paratextual material reveals, Hardy’s insightful conviction on the primacy of emotional reasoning over logical cognition in the mind’s nexus informs his predetermined intentionality in assigning the impressionistic elicitation of affective responsiveness as the ultimate mission of his literary compositions. Accordingly, the Wessex novelist develops a sophisticated fabric of interconnected narrative strategies to effectively evoke and enlist the subject readers’ empathetic identification with the desolately suffering protagonists. Since humankind is condemned to the inflictions of a sinisterly indifferent universe in Hardy’s fixated philosophy, the affective investments of his impressionistic narratives purportedly aim at the altruistic propagation of empathetic compassion to rectify moral degeneration. However, it is critical to reconsider the functional basis of the Wessex’s methodical dominion on emotional susceptibilities in the scope of contemporary research in affective narratology since the instrumental capitalization on affective realism harbors grave capacity for engraving the intended versions of perceived reality.Background of the Study: The recent investigations carried out in the multidisciplinary scope of neuroscience attest to the pre-eminence of emotional susceptibilities over reasoning faculty in the mind network revolutionizing the conventional theories on the cognitive function in the reality perception process. The revitalized focus on the overarching emotional orientation of the mind’s cognitive performance extends to literature in the sub-domain of affective narratology and informs the analytical research on its function and impact in narratives by such renowned scholars as Suzanna Keen. In Empathy and the Novel, Keen discusses the stylistic features and strategic techniques that elicit empathetic responsiveness in the narrative discourses leading to the subject readers’ affective identification with the represented fictional characters or situations. “Narrative Empathy Theory” and “Introduction: Narratives and Emotions” incorporate Keen’s evaluation of the role of discursive elements such as characterization style and narrator’s function in the empathetic enlistment process and provide innovative concepts in the categorization of the various strategies of empathetic evocation in the narrative discourses that perform as “ideoartistic battlefields”.Methodology: The theoretical framework and the discourse analysis procedures in affective narratology are informed by the current research in the interconnected branches of knowledge. The remarkable investigations of such prominent scholars as Suzanna Keen in affective narratology challenge the long-established emotion-reason binary by emphasizing the determining primacy of emotional susceptibility in the reciprocal interaction of the mind nexus’s cognitive and affective faculties in forming the interpretation gestalts of literary narrative discourses. Investigating the process of the Wessex’s affective impressionism through the analytical discursive reassessments in light of the latest neuro-scientific theories is crucial in uncovering the functional bases of Hardy’s methodical efficiency in the strategic capitalization on the audience’s empathetic identification.Conclusion: The saturated impressionism of the Wessex narratives is significantly enforced by the remarkable correspondence of the interconnected discursive strategies with the latest findings on the primary role of the mind’s affective faculty in shaping perceptions of reality. The stylistic assessment of Hardy’s narrative techniques to capitalize on empathetic identification indicates the substantial correspondence of his realistic representations with the principles of affective realism in present-day theories. The compelling urge on the subject readers’ affective susceptibilities is emphatically enforced through the discursive applications of the parallelism between the mind’s inner emotional valences with the projections of the outer world, their reciprocal interdependency in the forming the gestalt of a perceived cognitive reality and the consequent conception of the intentionality of an outer sentiency. However, the Wessex’s overwhelming investment in affective impressionism alarmingly facilitates the channeling of the dark ideological propositions of a sinister philosophy through the self-prophesizing transfigurations of reality that can act as deterministic forces in fashioning the individuals’ reciprocal interactions with the socio-cultural context.
Original Article
Bahare Aarabi; Negar Sharif
Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 18 February 2023
Abstract
Introduction: The industrial development and rapid economic growth of the United States in the mid-twentieth century pushed the concept of nature to the margins. It is presumed that the literary pieces made during this period ignored nature to the advantage of the multilateral development of the country. ...
Read More
Introduction: The industrial development and rapid economic growth of the United States in the mid-twentieth century pushed the concept of nature to the margins. It is presumed that the literary pieces made during this period ignored nature to the advantage of the multilateral development of the country. However, some writers consciously or unconsciously opposed this mainstream and encouraged ecological awareness. This paper seeks to study Denise Levertov’s “A Tree Telling of Orpheus”—published in 1968—in the light of eco-phenomenology to disclose Levertov’s eco-consciousness embedded in her holistic and non-hierarchical attitude toward life, against her days' backdrop of the separation paradigm. Levertov’s early works mainly celebrate nature, but her later works are primarily distinguished as social and political. This research focuses on Merleau-Ponty’s concept of ‘chiasm’ to reveal the reciprocally embodied participation between Orpheus and his natural surroundings, hidden in a shadow cast by political and spiritual analyses of this text.Background of Study: Levertov’s poetry has been studied within the framework of various literary theories, mainly Marxism and feminism. The present study gains significance as it brings the interdisciplinary approach of eco-phenomenology to practical analysis of the human-nature relationship in “A Tree Telling of Orpheus.” In the late 1960s, the Vietnam War became the US government's top priority; most literary figures of this era addressed this issue in their works. Moreover, most of the critical studies have also focused on the political aspects of these pieces, ignoring their other elements. This poem, written in 1968—while the Vietnam War was still raging—has been no exception. In her paper “A Poetic Re-Telling of the Orphic Myth: A Political Study of Denise Levertov’s ‘A Tree Telling of Orpheus’,” Rana Jabir Obed holds that like Orphic music, the Vietnam War brought “appreciation and political awareness” to the youth (Obed 4). Other aspects of this work have also been noticed by critics. In “The Hasidic Context of Nature and Music in Denise Levertov’s Relearning the Alphabet,” Estra Gancarz-Jurek stated that Levertov’s concerns for the environment and music were derived from her Hasidic religion. What the present research intends to add to the existing corpus is to study the ecological aspect of this poetry from a different angle, ‘eco-phenomenology’, to disclose an awareness of a broader phenomenological world.Methodology: The present research, as a qualitative and a descriptive one, embarks on library work and context analysis. The Main theoretical premise of this study is the eco-phenomenological concept of ‘chiasm’ put forth by Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908–1961). 'Eco-phenomenology,' as the point where philosophy and ecology meet, deals with environmental issues from a phenomenological viewpoint. Chiasm, “the reciprocal participation—between one’s own flesh and the encompassing flesh of the world” (Abram 81), dismantles the Cartesian mind/body dualism and its subsequent nature/culture distinction to open the body to the world. Emphasizing the notion of ‘embodiment,’ this study discloses the chiasmatic moments when nature and culture are intertwined. Here, the emphasis is placed on the music’s role in creating these holistic experiences.Conclusion: This research rejected the transcendental subject in favor of the ‘body-subject’ by emphasizing the superiority of the body in the process of perception to reveal the mutually embodied participation between Orpheus and nature. Using literary devices like ‘anthropomorphism,’ ‘chremamorphism,’ ‘synesthesia,’ and ‘onomatopoeia,’ the boundary between humans and nature was blurred. Thus, a Cartesian, culture-nature outlook faded into a holistic one, and a corporeally blurred amalgam of Orpheus and the surrounding nature rose to the surface. Here, the emphasis was placed on music’s role in bringing these holistic experiences. It should be mentioned that the eco-phenomenological study of literary works can encourage a holistic attitude, preventing the destruction of the environment.
Original Article
Mahnush Eskandari; Ali Saeidi,
Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 04 April 2023
Abstract
One of the controversial issues in translating important Persian literary works into other languages is to examine the level of literariness of the translated text compared to the original text. In statistical stylistics, by examining the form and content of the works, it is possible to achieve ...
Read More
One of the controversial issues in translating important Persian literary works into other languages is to examine the level of literariness of the translated text compared to the original text. In statistical stylistics, by examining the form and content of the works, it is possible to achieve the literary level of the texts. In this regard, Busemann, a German linguist, has introduced an equation to check the level of literariness of texts. In this equation, the value of VAR or verb-to-adjective ratio is calculated, and the larger the quotient is, the more literary the text is, and vice versa, if the quotient of dividing the number of verbs into adjectives is a small number, the text is closer to scientific style. In the present research, we first adapted Busemann's equation for use in Russian texts and studied the conditions of determining the verb and adjective in the Russian language, and then studied the stories of the sixth chapter of Saadi's Golestan and their translation into Russian by Starostin from the point of view of level of literariness. Our research showed that the level of literariness of the sixth chapter of Saadi's Golestan is more than its translation, but Starostin's translation is due to using the poetic translation, the translator's youth, and the use of rhyming words and verbal and semantic puns in the Russian language in translating rhyming prose of Golestan, is an acceptable translation and it can be said that the translator has succeeded in translating and transferring the literariness of Golestan into Russian.Introduction: One of the most accurate schools in the literary criticism is statistical stylistics. In statistical stylistics, quantitative and statistical analysis is used to find the style of the studied work. One of the methods of statistical stylistics that has recently been welcomed by researchers is the Busemann equation. Busemann, a German linguist, proposed it for the first time, and in 1925, after it was used in German texts, it was proposed and used in statistical stylistics studies of various texts. In the Busemann equation, the number of verbs and adjectives in the examined text is calculated, and the division of the number of verbs by the adjective indicates the literary style of the examined text. The greater number of verbs compared to adjectives makes the text more literary, and the excess of adjectives compared to verbs in the text reduces the literariness of the text and makes the style of the text closer to the scientific style. Background Studies: Most of the researches that have been written on the basis of Busemann's equation have used this equation in Arabic texts, which is because Saad Maslouh (1992), an Egyptian linguist, localized Busemann's equation in the Arabic language to be used in the analysis of Arabic texts, thus the way has been paved for researchers to study Arabic texts. This equation has not been used in the analysis of Russian works or translations from Persian to Russian. Below are some of the researches done on this subject:Omidvar et al. (2019) have investigated the literariness of the Hashemiat of Komit Asadi and Hijaziat of Sharif Razi based on Busemann's equation. Sedghi and Rustayi (2013) have examined examples of classical poetry, free and blank verses according to this equation. In a research based on Busemann's equation, Naimi and Torabi Hour (2018) have investigated the literariness of style of the poetry collection "Qalat li al-Samra" by Nizar Qabbani and "Rastakhiz" by Simin Behbahani. Shamsabadi et al. (2021) also rely on this equation analyzed the poetics of women's writing in a story by Haifa Bitar. In an article, Sedghi and Zare Bormi (2014) analyzed the style of Maqamat of Hamadani and Hariri, and Amiri and Parvin (2015) used Busemann's equation to analyze the style of Nahj al-Balagha sermons.Methodology and Argument: In this research, the level of literariness of the sixth chapter of Saadi's Golestan and the translation of this chapter by Aliev and Starostin have been investigated. The questions that we are trying to find answers to in this article, which was written with a descriptive-analytical method, are: According to the criteria of the Busemann's equation, is the text of Golestan more literary or the text of its translation? What factors have influenced the literariness of both works? The hypothesis of the research is that because the poems of Golestan Saadi were translated by Aliev and Starostin into Russian poetry and because of this fact that these two translators were younger than Saadi, and Aliev and Starostin resorted to the solution of compensating for the loss of meaning in translating of the verbal and semantic puns of Golestan, the literariness of the translation of the sixth chapter of Golestan is lower than the original text, but it is acceptable. Conclusion: In this research, the level of literariness of the sixth chapter of Saadi's Golestan and its translation by Aliev and Starostin was investigated based on the criteria of the Busemann's equation and the calculation of the verb-to-adjective ratio, and it was shown that although the literariness of the original text is higher than its translation, but some factors, like that translators are younger than Saadi Shirazi, and benefiting from the poetic translation and the use of rhyming words and verbal and semantic puns in the Russian language when translated rhyming prose of Golestan have made the translation acceptable and it can be said that The translators have succeeded in translating and transferring the literariness of Golestan into Russian language.
Original Article
Narges Raoufzadeh; Razieh Eslamieh; Morteza Lak
Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 09 April 2023
Abstract
Introduction: Issues and topics related to nature and the environment has attracted the attention of a large number of theorists and critics. What has made the human mind focus for a long time is the importance of preserving nature, plant and animal species, which play a very essential role in maintaining ...
Read More
Introduction: Issues and topics related to nature and the environment has attracted the attention of a large number of theorists and critics. What has made the human mind focus for a long time is the importance of preserving nature, plant and animal species, which play a very essential role in maintaining the health of the human soul. Since the conflation of humanities and natural sciences results in the investigation of the relationship between man, nature and their intimacy, the research aims to reveal the deep and unbreakable bond by focusing on the novel of Animal Dreams. The present article, by adopting the ecopsychological approach, examines the novel and attempts to elaborate on the positive effects that intimacy with the environment has on the human psyche. The study aims to identify and heal the damage caused by the separation of man from nature and its serious mental and psychological consequences by using concepts such as biophilia, ecological unconscious and ecopsychology, which were first proposed by Theodore Roszak, and Edward, O. Wilson in the field of ecopsychology. Background of the Study: Considerable investigation has been done on Animal Dreams (1990), Barbara Kingsolver’s outstanding work. Despite the abundance of existing findings from the perspective of ecocriticism and ecofeminism, no research has so far attempted to analyze this novel with an ecopsychological approach. In this section, we will limit ourselves to mentioning several cases. Marwa Hussein Ahmed Abdelfattah, in his dissertation titled “An Ecocritical Reading of Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal Dreams and Prodigal Summer”, using Bakhtinian dialogics and Timothy Morton’s ecological theory examines these two novels. Theda Wrede, in her article titled, “Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal Dreams: Ecofeminist Subversion of Western Myth” (2012), which printed in Feminist Ecocriticism: Environment, Women, and Literature, reviews the myth of the West in Animal Dreams and studies its impact on the formation of the land, women, and cultural minorities. In The Ecofeminist Power of Metamorphosis: Mythic Bonds between the Feminine and the Natural in Barbara Kingsolver’s Fiction, Hayley Knowlton, illustrates how women strives to restore and improve the environment of their hometown, rather than try to pursue a utopia. Priscillia Leder in her prominent book entitled Seeds of Change (2010), provides a complete summary of Barbara Kingsolver’s life. Referring to different periods of her life, the author reviews her literary works, including her novels, articles and poems. Many critics blame Kingsolver for her hopeful outlook which is accompanied by bitter realities. Catherine Himmelwright in her article “Gardens of Auto Parts American Western Myth and narrative American Myth in The Bean Trees”, expands her argument on how Kingsolver re-imagines and retells patriarchal myths. Himmelwright illustrates how Kingsolver in The Bean Trees uses Native American myths to neutralize the traditional contradiction between a liberal and adventurous western man and a passive, static, domestic woman. Pamela H. Demory in her article entitled “Into the Heart of Light: Barbara Rereads Heart of Darkness” (2002), introduces Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible as a reflection of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. She believes that in both novels, the white agents of foreign powers are often soulless and corrupt. Both novels present an Africa which is both seductive and dangerous; a completely alien land for Western and deadly for those who cannot adapt to it (181). Nanthinii M. and Dr. V. Bhuvaneswar in their conspicuous article “Rethinking Climate Change: Cli-fi Dynamic in Barbara Kingsolver’s Flight Behaviour” (2015), seek to investigate Kingsolver’s prominent climate fiction. They combine the story with real climate change in the world and express beliefs and disbeliefs to explain the global catastrophe. Such perceptions help to revise existing beliefs about climate change as well as symbolically induce an urgent need to solve environmental problems.Methodology: In recent decades, a field called ecopsychology has emerged for studying the relationship between our psyche and both nature and environmental crisis. The historian, Theodore Roszak (1933-2011), is credited for coining the term ecopsychology. Roszak argues that “its goal is to bridge our culture’s long-standing, historical gulf between the psychological and the ecological, to see the needs of the planet and the person as a continuum” (qtd. in Worthy 115). Ecopsychology deals with how emotional connections to nature are developed and gives feeling, harmony, eternity and stability. This approach examines ancient and modern cultures that have a history of being embraced by nature such as Buddhism and Hinduism. According to Darlyne G. Nemeth “Ecopsychology: The interaction between psychology and environmental protection is an inspiring concept” (2015 x). Ecopsychologists believe that the widespread destruction of the environment causes great sorrow and aggravation in people and intensifies their frustrationConclusion: The findings of this article propose a new perspective from which Animal Dreams (1990) can be read and analyzed. In this work, Kingsolver has depicted relationships between the characters and their varied views towards nature from a new perspective. While proving the effects of closeness, friendship and living in nature on human psyche, the study for the first time introduces new concepts such as ecopsychotherapy and ecotherapy in the field of literary criticism. The researcher believes that by combining other theories from the field of psychology with ecological approach, a new theoretical model can be invented for studying literary works from an environmental perspective. Relying on the two key concepts, proposed by Theodore Roszak and Edward O. Wilson, which are ecological unconscious and biophilia, the researcher admits that the surrounding environment, living conditions, cultural level and social status of people are very important in the formation and development of these two inherent phenomena. The researcher believes that, since the ecological unconscious is present in all humans from birth, man’s condition and lifestyle overshadows the active or passive nature of this phenomenon. Dr. Homer and his daughters are somehow connected with nature in one way or another, and this deep connection always has a healing effect for their souls. The bond of the doctor’s family with nature is unbreakable and very colorful. Nature is the consolation of their pains and suffering; moreover, playing the role of ecopsychotherapy. Dr. Homer tries to minimize the great sadness of losing his wife by taking photographs and being in nature. Cody fights environmental destruction in Greece, and Holy the youngest daughter moves to Nicaragua to train farmers and restore nature which is a kind of ecotherapy. The presence of ecological unconscious and biophilia is quite evident in Dr. Homer’s family, while in Emiliana’s family, the situation is just the reverse. The researcher considers the lifestyle of Emiliana’s family as the reason for their passive interest in nature. In order to earn money, they cut the heads of peacocks and prepare their feathers for sale. The indiscriminate hunting of peacocks has put them at risk of extinction, while this issue is not the least important for Emiliana’s family. Kellen, Kirti and Meysen mercilessly cut peacocks’ heads off in an attempt of non-inert brutality. Animal Dreams, is the pioneer of the ecological awakening of novelists such as Barbara Kingsolver, in which the relationship between man and nature is reflected very deeply and seriously, introducing a value system based on nature.
Original Article
Pariya Azad
Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 10 April 2023
Abstract
Introduction Language is the most important means of communication in human societies. Language uses for different needs. Sometimes it has a positive and negative meaning. Therefore, in linguistics, language is considered a double-edged sword that needs using with awareness. Translating taboo phrases ...
Read More
Introduction Language is the most important means of communication in human societies. Language uses for different needs. Sometimes it has a positive and negative meaning. Therefore, in linguistics, language is considered a double-edged sword that needs using with awareness. Translating taboo phrases and words is one of the most difficult types of translations. In translating taboo words, the translator require paying attention to ideology, culture, norms and religion considerations. In the field of taboo translation, there are different views among researchers, linguists and theorist. One group believes that taboo words or expressions are untranslatable, the other has proposed solutions. Iranian women and girls have always respected moral and cultural principles of society. The change of lifestyle, the development of technology, global communication and their education and awareness have had a significant impact on their life over the past years until today. Since these changes and transformations may also affect the style and context of writing and translation, this research has investigated two groups of female Sunni translators between the years (1351-1361) and (1371-1381) to Evaluate and compare the methods used when facing taboo words or phrases.
Background of the study The dynamics of language and culture play a significant role in the life of societies. The beauty of literary texts is based on the use of cultural elements that show the values, beliefs, and convictions of any culture. In translation studies, culture plays a key role, since language originates from it. Culture and cultural elements are among the untranslatable features of the source language. They make a translator in trouble. To understand these cultural elements, the translator must be aware of the meta-linguistic knowledge of the target language. Moreover, the cultural gap between the two languages is major problem. During the process of socialization, a person gets to know the norms. According to Toury, "norms are not absolute social and cultural phenomena, they might be abandoned at some point, so other phenomena will replace them. The act of translation is also a social and cultural behavior that is based on norms" (Khazaei and Ghazizadeh, 2014, p 94). Methodology The statistical population of this research consists of two groups of female translators. The first group consists of 12 female translators between the years (1351-1361) who have graduated from the English language translation course during the past years. The second group includes 12 female translators between the years (1371-1381) who have graduated or are still studying in this course. In this research, Khosh saliqeh, Ameri & Mehdizadkhani (2018) classification of taboo translation strategies used as a theoretical framework. All the participants gave a week to translate the sentences given to them carefully. Those participants who did not live in Sari received the selected sentences in WhatsApp, and the participants who lived in Sari received sentences in printed format at the Islamic Azad University of Sari, and translation institutesConclusion According to the findings of this study, both groups of translators have been influenced by the culture and norms of Iranian society. The results of this research show that female translators born between the years (1371-1381) were more familiar with the translation solutions of taboo words than female translators between the years (1351-1361). According to the findings of this study, female translators between the years (1371-1381) used the maintenance and substitution method more and female translators between the years (1351-1361) used deletion method more.
Original Article
Mehdi Khoshkalam Pour; Bakhtiar Sadjadi; Fariba Parvizi
Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 15 April 2023
Abstract
Introduction: The present paper proposes that Lisa Unger’s Fragile (2010) is involved in a late capitalist social phenomenon that announces both the extinction of the authoritative Oedipal Father and the liberation of mOther and son from his reign. The Hollowers in the novel are incapable of experiencing ...
Read More
Introduction: The present paper proposes that Lisa Unger’s Fragile (2010) is involved in a late capitalist social phenomenon that announces both the extinction of the authoritative Oedipal Father and the liberation of mOther and son from his reign. The Hollowers in the novel are incapable of experiencing any real sexual relationship the lack of which heavily influences their personal and social life. The present paper reveals that even the Hollowers’ commitment of rape, incest, and even murder cannot compensate for the enjoyment of the proper sexual relationship they are innately deprived of. In Fragile, both man and woman infer an ancient rivalry over jouissance from their sexual relationship. Accordingly, Unger’s characters orchestrate various psychological schemes for optimum pleasure from their sexual relationship, while they become involved with some irreparable psychological disorders that neither supply them with their desired pleasure from sex, nor release them from the sexual traumas that permanently remain with them.Background of Study: Between Žižek and Badiou, there is no contention that the contemporary man cannot live up to the name and authority associated with the Oedipal Father, and epitomize the Big Phallus of the Symbolic Order. However, while Žižek reduces woman to an object of exchange between father and son (Žižek, Enjoy Symptoms! 75), Badiou does not consider her as a passive object-cause-of-desire; quite contrary, to Badiou, woman can freely serve and express her social and sexual identity and challenge man’s long-held symbolic superiority (Badiou, True Life 82). The sexuation theory extensively covers the sexual relationship between man and woman and discusses that proper and meaningful sexual relationship is impossible due to the fact both man and woman view it as a place to demand their jouissance.Methodology: Sexual relationship in proper sense, as the sexuation theory implies, is impossible, for man uses it to dominate woman whereas he is basically under delusions of authority (Žižek, Enjoy Symptoms! 156). The sexuation theory publicizes the decline of the Oedipal Father and the late-capitalist phenomenon of orphan bodies that the anal father of jouissance adopts in order to promote frenzied consumerism and monopolized jouissance (Felicia Cosey 6). However, the Oedipal Father’s collapse is followed by the subject’s metamorphosis into the ‘sacrificed body’ that is perplexed with inexplicable che vuoi questions regarding his symbolic value. The Oedipal Father now morbidly envies his son’s firm ties with his wife through what Badiou coins as ‘infantilization’ (Tutt 10). Žižek’s underrating insight to woman as merely “one of the Names of the Father” (Žižek, Enjoy Symptoms 169) is weighed against Badiou’s view of woman as a free agent of herself. This paper finds pertinent the sexuation theory with the psychological disorders of ‘neurosis’, ‘psychosis’, and ‘perversion’, and illustrates the subject’s crushing oscillation between the pleasure of sexual intimacy and the preservation of consciousness and symbolic integrity.Conclusion: The sexual relationship in Lisa Unger’s Fragile is a devastating experience rather than a pleasurable one; indeed, the more they try to enjoy their sexual relationship, the more dismayed they become. Fragile, in line with Žižek’s psychoanalytic hypotheses, demonstrated that authentic sexual relationship is profoundly influenced by the subject’s process of phallic castration that permanently takes him away from the Imaginary Order and the Real encompassed in; therefore, both man and woman presume the sexual relationship as a way to retrieve the lost Real. This article illustrated that in the post-capitalism era, the restrictive Freudian Oedipal Father cannot survive and exert his influence on his household; instead, as the novel of Fragile indicates, the contemporary father is eclipsed by his wife and son’s strong emotional ties that have shaped after he lost his symbolic authority.
afsoun abdirad; Arsalan Golfam
Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 18 April 2023
Abstract
One of the most important features of postmodern storytelling and surreal literature is cognitive uncertainty or integration of reality and fantasy; Because unlike modern story which emphasizes theme of cognition, postmodern story deepens theme of ontology and that requires confusion of ontological levels ...
Read More
One of the most important features of postmodern storytelling and surreal literature is cognitive uncertainty or integration of reality and fantasy; Because unlike modern story which emphasizes theme of cognition, postmodern story deepens theme of ontology and that requires confusion of ontological levels and the blurring of boundaries. Haruki Murakami is a contemporary Japanese writer who is interested in expressing various issues of the contemporary world in various novels, and in this regard, he expresses surrealist content and mysteries from the wonders; To the extent that the trajectory of his works, especially the story of 1Q84, can be considered as a kind of inner revelation with parallel worlds.In this research, the story of 1Q84 has been analyzed based on Greimas actional pattern through descriptive-analytical method and we have analyzed the status of narration in the novel according to the pattern of mutual contrastive and narrative chain. The confrontation between the real world and the parallel world puts the main activist in the story of "Aomame" in different confrontational situations. Based on the results of this study, it can be said that in the story of 1Q84, based on Greimas pattern of active, the main activist turned to violence (murder) in order to eliminate the role of the deterrent activist. The main factor in the chain of the story of Aomame's commitment to fight violence and Tango as the author of the second story in the parallel world, to complete the novel of Air pupa is the main factor of the narrationOther events and sub-actions that have a direct impact on the course of the story, especially during the parallel story of "Tango". For example, the current that Aomame and Tango with great faith each seek to change the world around them and believe that "what can be done can not be done" (Murakami, 1396: 84). And also the enemy of Tango and Aomame love, who is shown as a demonic being in the form of a despised person an ugly demon. One of the main features of postmodern narratives in parallel worlds is this ontological uncertainty, that the reader does not know whether the demonic shoes of these "little men" in Murakami's story are born of the narrow mind in the novel "Air Pupa" or exist in the real world, because unlike the story Modernism, which provides the main basis and theme of epistemology, such stories are the border of chaos, and the border of truth and fantasy in their main plot is followed by fuzzy narrative actions. . In Mag Hill's theory, one of the important functions of postmodern fiction is to transform the concept of existence from a simple to a multifaceted and profound concept. The boundary between reality and fantasy, which in the past was inviolable, is broken so that the audience can think about what it is and what it is. The short connection connects these two areas of imagination and reality in such a way that it becomes difficult to distinguish between the two ”(Bamshki, 2016: 34). In Murakami's story, the main and secondary actions of the story are so intertwined that the imaginary world is not opposed to the real world, but this world is real enough. "In a separate chain, attention is paid to the journeys departures and returns, and in general to the course of the story. According to Garmas, most of the stories move from a negative situation to a positive situation. Moving or from a positive situation leads to breaking the covenant ”(Dezfulian, 1398: 27). In the story of 1Q84, according to the Garmas pattern, the detached chain can be considered as follows:A) "Aomame" takes a taxi and encounters heavy traffic on the highway. He accidentally crosses the emergency stairs of an adjacent street and suddenly enters 1984 or 1Q84. There he meets his teenage friend and a widow who help her kill the wicked men of society. Aomame has an emotional and romantic relationship with her childhood friend Tango.B) When the story of the air pupa succeeds by Tango, the narrative journey becomes a positive and pleasant one:Basic progressions: These are the same progressions that are mentioned in parallel at the beginning of the story. These developments are narrated by a third-person narrator and narrate the events that take place along the path of Aomame and Tango.Overlapping progressions (alternative): These progressions are part of the deconstructive elements of the narrative and are in the lower layers due to the surreal and surreal nature of the story, such as extraordinary events that happen to short people and pupa in the story written in Tango or actions and events related to politico-ritual structure. And the Sakigake sect, which has suffocatingly overshadowed space. Sects consider themselves a religious group, but in the words of the author, "it is completely empty of the essence of religion, it is like a theory, a kind of spiritual power of the new age" (Murakami, 1396: 399). These overlapping developments are located in the lower layers of the story and are in fact incorporated in some way through the narrator's interventions in different episodes of the story. In all these developments, "Aomame" and "Tango" act as active activitists.In these progressions, the character of "Aomame" enters a different year called 1Q84 by leaving the real world and going to the parallel world in the heart of stories and adventures outside the real world. This metanarrative layer, which prevents the horizontal course of the story and brings other people into a parallel world, influences the progression of other progressions Haruki Murakami's novel 1Q84 is composed of several actions according to the principle and theory of Greimas action, which are divided into main categories and considering the subject of double interactions. The middle (entering the parallel world) and other sub-actions and the complete unbalanced state (surreal and surreal aspects of the stories in the air pupae and religious groups, etc.) reach a final equilibrium state. Greimas' pattern of action, which consists of six actors, fits well into the story. And are value objects. Actors (editor) and (widow) who help Aomame in killing men are also among the other actors in the story. In most actions, there is no deterrent or opposition force, and there is no dissenting actor to achieve a value object in the story, although a religious and notorious group and sect whose shadow in the parallel world weighs heavily on the actors can be considered somewhat deterrent and dissenting. The formation of narrative in the narrative chains of the story is also more present in the aspect of covenant and covenant, because in this chain, the actors have made a pact within themselves to achieve their goal.
Original Article
Sima Moghtader; Seyed Saied Firuzabadi; Afsoun Goudarzpour Aragh
Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 23 April 2023
Abstract
IntroductionMaking errors in the process of learning German, generally also has positive aspects, because it indicates the level of linguistic knowledge and specifies ambiguous points in the learning process of the learner. Many of the mistakes of language learners are hidden because such errors ...
Read More
IntroductionMaking errors in the process of learning German, generally also has positive aspects, because it indicates the level of linguistic knowledge and specifies ambiguous points in the learning process of the learner. Many of the mistakes of language learners are hidden because such errors are only identified by the practical use of language, orally or in writing or after clarification by the speaker. Basically, hidden errors can be seen in sentences despite a grammatically accepted structure, or after the additional explanations of the language learner or after a complete study of the text. The present article follows the hypothesis that one of the causes of hidden or latent errors is the lack of knowledge of language learners (especially Iranian learners) in pragmatics or semantics, which are linguistic fields that discuss the impact of context on meaning. They include the speaker's attitudes and beliefs and his level of understanding, including his knowledge of how to use language. The existence of cultural and social differences between the origin of the two languages (Iran and Germany) fhas a major effect on the occurrence of errors. This requires additional explanations.While investigating the factors causing errors in the field of pragmatics and the possibility of reducing and eliminating such errors, the present article examines the question of whether paying attention to pragmatics along with learning the different meanings of words in the structure of a text and paying attention to the intended meaning is effective in reducing errors and using the correct words.
Background researchMost of the articles and theses in the field of German language education have dealt with the topics of teaching grammar, practicing vocabulary and other educational topics and literary approaches. However, so far, there has been no mention of pragmatics in the process of teaching and learning German.
MethodologyIn order to investigate the presence of pragmatic errors in learners and to obtain a reliable result, 66 written answer sheets of Iranian language learners engaged in learning German have been investigated by field method. Language learners were required to write a text related to a given subject. Students were present and were not allowed to use dictionaries or mobile phones.
ConclusionThe detailed examination of the written sentences of the experimental group clearly shows the weakness and lack of knowledge of the majority of Iranian language learners about pragmatics or semantics, which is the cause of errors, namely those that can only be recognized by considering the text and the topic.The presence of the mentioned errors will lead to the non-compliance of the language knowledge of Iranian language learners according to the approved standards of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). Therefore, teachers should pay close attention to pragmatics and semantics in order to teach the language learners the ability to present correct and appropriate sentences. This is considered one of the most important duties of the teacher in the educational course.Considering the fact that most language learners due to various personal reasons rarely participate in practical activities of the German language their teachers will be their main motivators to practically apply the learned language.It is mainly the continuous use of the language that reduces the number of errors, especially those in pragmatics and semantics. Therefore, teachers are required to pay attention to the existence of linguistic and cultural differences between the language of origin and the destination language in order to reduce errors in the mentioned category.
Original Article
Mehri Jalali; Mohammad Mehdi Soroush; Ali Akabar Khomeijani Farahani
Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 30 April 2023
Abstract
IntroductionIdentity is an ongoing concept that is generally described in terms of a set of one’s personal features in comparison to other persons (Pennington, 2015). It is stated that identity is associated with our concept of who think we are, and what others think of us (Gee, 2000). The line ...
Read More
IntroductionIdentity is an ongoing concept that is generally described in terms of a set of one’s personal features in comparison to other persons (Pennington, 2015). It is stated that identity is associated with our concept of who think we are, and what others think of us (Gee, 2000). The line of studies on teachers’ identity was started by Norton’s (1995) seminal work and within the last two decades has changed into an established paradigm of research that tries to understand its connection with different aspects of teaching practices like power relations and cultural and sociopolitical discourses (Varghese et al., 2016; Yazan, 2018). In this regard, the notion of language teachers’ professional identity has also witnessed an increasing interest (Mahmoodarabi et al., 2021). Teachers’ professional identity is revealed in their lesson plans, teaching styles, classroom practices, and reactions to the demands and regulations posed by schools and higher-level educational institutions (Naidoo, 2012).Background of the StudyIn the available literature, researchers mostly have attempted to explore the components of this construct (Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009), or its contribution to some factors like teaching quality (Labbaf et al, 2019) and the amount of success in dealing with work tensions (Wang, 2021). Teacher identity construction has also attracted some researchers’ attention (e.g., Cheng, et al., 2021,). However, few empirical studies have explored factors related to EFL teachers’ professional identity and teacher education in the context of Iran. For example, Riahipour et al, (2020) attempted to explore the impact of curriculum reform on Iranian EFL teachers’ professional identity. Results did not show any change in the professional identity of teachers in terms of task perception and self-esteem but a slight effect on their job motivation and self-image. Therefore, the shortage of research on how EFL student-teachers construct their identity within the context of teacher education and whether this context can change this identity is sensed. In this respect, the present study has attempted to shed light upon this area by considering freshman and senior student teachers for comparative purposes.MethodologyThe participants of this study were 124 male and female Iranian EFL student-teachers who were selected from two branches of Farhangian University through convenience sampling. The sample consisted of 67 first-year and 57 last-year student-teachers. For the quantitative phase of the study, all of the participants filled out the English Language Teacher Professional Identity Scale (ELTPIS) developed by Mahmoodarabi et al. (2021) and for the qualitative phase 8 senior student teachers who expressed their willingness to answer the interview questions were selected.ConclusionBased on the obtained data, it can be concluded that the first-year student teachers had positive view in terms of all the domains that made their identity including researching and developing one’s practice, language awareness, institutional and collective practice, engaging learners as whole persons, appraising one’s teacher self, and sociocultural and critical practice. However, the senior students’ idea about the impressive role of doing research and considering socio-cultural factors in developing their practice was changed slightly near to graduation. Therefore, this research might contribute to a critical assessment of the student-teachers’ role in education and in deconstructing such discourses by making student-teachers aware of how discourses shape their identity development and how they might face resistance. Moreover, since only the first and last-year students were selected due to time limitations, conducting longitudinal studies in which identity construction among student teachers is qualitatively explored from the beginning of their study in teacher education universities is recommended.
Original Article
Narges Bagheri; Mohammad Nabi Tavallaei
Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 05 May 2023
Abstract
IntroductionAll humans may attempt to evade their mistakes and justify their deeds with different tricks. One of these ways that have a philosophical and ontological root is “bad faith”. In the twentieth century, the French philosopher Joan-Paul Sartre introduced this philosophical concept ...
Read More
IntroductionAll humans may attempt to evade their mistakes and justify their deeds with different tricks. One of these ways that have a philosophical and ontological root is “bad faith”. In the twentieth century, the French philosopher Joan-Paul Sartre introduced this philosophical concept in his book Being and Nothingness. This concept is one of the fundamental bases of existentialism school but we can discover it in a literary work of hundred years ago, The White Devil, a famous play by John Webster in England too.Background of the studyThe main theme of the White Devil and other plays by John Webster are women in society besides family problems. Though these pictures are painful and agonizing, they give perpetual magnificence to his works (Clark). Cecil believes that this play is the study of sin in the world. The main characters in this play are sinful devils but disguised as white devils which are more dangerous than the real devils. Bogard mentions that Webster discusses the origin of life through the depiction of corruption not only in the court but also at higher levels in society. Also, he wants to illustrate the religious corruption in the Renaissance. The missing point in these studies is the “bad faith” that is ignored and we couldn’t find any research about that. Both Sartre and Webster pay attention to this issue from various countries, nationalities and even far eras in two different fields of study which proves its importance. So It sounded necessary to do a comparative study related to both of these fields and scrutinize the topic.Methodology Sartre defined “bad faith” as hiding the truth from oneself, a truth that is related to existence and being. It is somehow synonym with “self-deception”. For a liar to successfully lie to the victim of the lie, the liar must know that what is being said is false. To be successful at lying, the victim must believe the lie to be true. When a person is involved in “bad faith”, the person is both the liar and the victim of the lie. So at the same time, the liar believes the lie to be false, and as victim believes it to be true. So there is a contradiction in that a person in “bad faith” believes something to be true and false at the same time. Sartre observes that “the one to whom the lie is told and the one who lies are the same people, which means that I must know the truth in my capacity as a deceiver, though it is hidden from me in my capacity as the one deceived”, adding that “I must know that truth very precisely, to hide it from myself carefully”. So all the levels happen freely to ignore the truth just like whatever the main characters do in the White Devil to justify their victims.ConclusionMain characters with the help of “bad faith” consciously change their being from “being for itself” as a free human to an aimless “being in itself” like any inhuman like rocks and air. The present article explores these characters through the theory of “bad faith” and examines the effect of this attitude on the decline of their beliefs. As they deny their freedom, attempt to lie to themselves, and consciously cling to “bad faith” to justify their crimes. All these characters fall into the abyss of absurdism and overthrow. Ultimately, this research proves that the only way to save all human beings and these personalities in this play, as Sartre states, is to change the mind-set, believe in freedom, take responsibility for one's actions, transcend, and be self-aware.
Original Article
Shafigheh Keivan
Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 08 May 2023
Abstract
Introduction: With the advent of modernity, Mimesis and the classical art and literature proved to be no more the adequate methods of representation. Strongly conscious of the changes of her era, Virginia Woolf is one of the first writers of the twentieth century to have used and developed the "fragmentary ...
Read More
Introduction: With the advent of modernity, Mimesis and the classical art and literature proved to be no more the adequate methods of representation. Strongly conscious of the changes of her era, Virginia Woolf is one of the first writers of the twentieth century to have used and developed the "fragmentary writing" as an aesthetic technique to reflect the change and the chaos in modern man's inner and outer world. Among the critics who have attempted to elaborate on the fragmentary style of representation in modern art and literature, Lucien Dällenbach employs the analogous figure of "mosaic" to explain the aesthetics of modern texts and the structure of fragmentary writing. The present article seeks to study Woolf's selected novels from Dällenbach's point of view in order to show to what extent Woolf's fragmentary texts can be considered mosaics.Background of the Study: A descendant of Geneva School, Lucien Dällenbach (1940-present) is a contemporary literary critic whose theories can be categorized as “thematic criticism”. For Dällenbach, "The Mosaic" is an important theme in and a metaphor for modern literature, through which one can best express and understand the link between sociology and the aesthetics. In his book entitled “Mosaïques : Un objet esthétique à rebondissement”, Dällenbach defines two contradictory poles as the two essential characteristics of a “mosaic text”: 1. the discontinuity of its components, 2. the unity of the whole. Hence, a “mosaic text”, in itself a reflection of a “mosaic world”, contains homogeneity of heterogeneity and is the solution for order in chaos, totality in fragmentation. According to Dällenbach, therefore, the best model to represent the pluralism and the diversity in the heart of modernity and at the same time the solution to prevent the dismantling of the coherence and unity is to be found in the mosaic. Methodology: This study attempts to read Virginia Woolf’s fragmentary writing in the light of Lucien Dällenbach’s “Mosaics”. To this end, the two main characteristics of literary mosaic according to Dällenbach -- discontinuity and unity -- are to be examined in the following elements of Woolf's fiction: The structure of her novels; the main elements of the novels (time and space (what Dällenbach studies as “spatialized temporality”), point of view (polyphony and multi-perspectivism according to Dällenbach), characterization (The mosaic of the self); the images and motifs (cutting and breaking vs. sewing and knitting); the themes (the theme of the distance of vision and the theme of order & disorder). Conclusion: Through the analysis of the above factors, this article demonstrates how the mosaic model is interwoven in the form as well as in the content of Woolf's novels and that as a result, woolfian texts tend toward a coherent unity in spite of their disjointedness.
Original Article
Leili Kafi; Kian Soheil; Keyhan Bahmani Kolour; Newsha Ahmadi
Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 20 May 2023
Abstract
Introduction:Pain as a positive phenomenon is rare in literary studies, especially in those related to Nabokov. This research, for the first time, discusses ideas of Damasio on emotions and consciousness and applies it to the character of Luzhin through close reading of the text to show how the individual’s ...
Read More
Introduction:Pain as a positive phenomenon is rare in literary studies, especially in those related to Nabokov. This research, for the first time, discusses ideas of Damasio on emotions and consciousness and applies it to the character of Luzhin through close reading of the text to show how the individual’s lived experiences are vital in his formation of consciousness and survival.Background:Brian Boyd in his extensive biography of Nabokov contends, “In creating Luzhin, Nabokov uses his eye for psychological quirks common to us all but rarely attended to” (323). He believes Nabokov creates vivid worlds out of details that can place readers “wherever his imagination sends the shots” (324). Masing compares Luzhin with Gogol’s Bashmakhin of “The Overcoat” to conclude both are fascinated with abstract patterns, having no defense against the chills of life. Farmasi considers patterns of consciousness to be easily observable in The Defense as it engages the reader with Luzhin’s consciousness through representations of his experiences and perceptions. She believes Luzhin’s story can be read as “an allegory of the relationship between narrative patterns and experience” (40). Kalay discusses the complicated character of Luzhin and considers his escape from reality as a force to death. Boyd, in his essay on role of senses, writes: we are always embedded in experiences and Nabokov depicts them artistically multidimensional.Methodology and Argument:Antonio Damasio, the prominent contemporary neuroscientist, in The feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness, focuses on emotions and consciousness. He believes consciousness and emotions are inseparable, as are embodied and embedded. Hence, emotions are not just the by-product of consciousness; but are also influential in its formation. He divides ‘self in three types of proto-self (reflection of body’s internal state), core-self (a sense of ownership to emotions) and autobiographical self (integration of memories, emotions and personal experiences into a coherent narrative). By “self” being updated, consciousness is formed in three levels of proto, core and extended. He concludes that self is not fixed and is in constant change based on experiences. Therefore, the extended consciousness which is formed in this way is able to help the individual to survive.Luzhin is presented in three interwoven phases: his childhood in which he “flinches from life's pinpricks and jagged edges (Boyd RY 326), the genius of his early youth and the final years when he is disappointed to have survived and commits suicide. Nabokov introduces a fatal pattern into his life by depicting him as a locked genius who has difficulty communicating and is driven to seclusion. For years he has just chess in mind; so, his definition of self is limited to proto-self. He lacks experiences which he needs for his core self or his autobiographical self to bestow on him identity and meaning. Based on Damasio, there grows a big gap between Luzhin and his emotions, so his “self” is not able to update itself, leading to a true formation of deep or extended consciousness.Conclusion:The character of Luzhin is studied based on the ideas of Damasio to find how emotions and consciousness work. The analysis shows when man limits the array of experiences, he is depriving himself of knowing his emotions. These emotions can update one’s self, which in turn can form one’s core consciousness. Luzhin locks himself in his loneliness and runs to the black and white world of chess. Unable to have sincere communications, he prefers to get hold of the chess board rather than managing his being. If experiences are escaped, there would remain no way out as these is no consciousness or memory at hand.
Original Article
Hoda Shabrang; Bahare Tajik
Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 25 May 2023
Abstract
IntroductionNowadays, speaking about immigration and its consequences is a controversial topic of many academic groups. The rise of postcolonialism and immigration has led to indescribable changes in world public affairs. In the field of immigration studies, the individual experiences of women in the ...
Read More
IntroductionNowadays, speaking about immigration and its consequences is a controversial topic of many academic groups. The rise of postcolonialism and immigration has led to indescribable changes in world public affairs. In the field of immigration studies, the individual experiences of women in the diaspora are not significantly considered as the dominant experiences of immigrant men who are still claimed to represent all immigrants. Thus, it can become challenging to examine female migration experiences and it consequences which are ignored and overlooked. For this reason the eminent novel of Mohsin Hamid, Exit West, is chosen. This article carefully examines the consequences of assimilation of female characters in the hybridized Space.Background of the StudyAlthough assimilation to the host cultures in hybridized spaces situates migrant women in impossible situation or inbetween, the transformation of the migrant women’s identities can also become a tool to deconstruct stereotypes of third world women and patriarchal hegemonic discourse. In Exit West the main character, Nadia, is presented as the migrant woman with hybridized identity. The migrant woman is not obliged to choose between two identities, particularly between the cultural identity of the country where she comes from and that where she finds herself. In other words, both identities can co-exist in the same person, dialoguing and promoting cultural understanding. In this way immigrant woman in hybridized space is empowered to move freely between cultures and establish a sense of home and belonging even in her new places. These ideas of identity transformation and identity creation are very evident in Nadia at Exit West, portrayed as a key example of an immigrant woman whose identity is influenced by the places and cultures she encounters around the world. She feels like “vermin” at first in the host culture yet she turns to a beautiful butterfly at the end of the story.MethodologyThe present article explores the ignored parts of female experiences as subalterns in migration and it focuses on the process of their assimilation in the host countries in accordance with the Gayatri Spivak’s theories. Her intention to illustrate that the level where the subaltern could be heard or read cannot be reached because what is said is either ignored, forgotten or it simply disappears from the official, male-centered historical. As the migrant woman’s identity transforms from “somebody” to “nobody”, she further more hopelessly agonizes as she also turns from a former member of a society to someone who is just “the Other”. This predicament of otherness is a universal reality among migrant women as they do not only experience it from people whose nationalities are different from them but also from men with whom they share similar race or background.ConclusionThe idea that female migrants consider their identities as multiple or fluid is a key theme in literary representations of the female migrant experiences in the novel, Exit West. The key point to consider is that such representations of the experience of the migrant woman underlines how this shift in identity does not only come in the form of a physical alteration of her body and geographical crossing of borders but, more so, in her symbolical and psychological being. Despite the number of challenging experiences for migrant women in Exit West, it does overall emphasizes on the positive impact of such migration experiences. In fact, migration is also depicted as an opportunity that opens doors for the migrant woman to be exposed to a multicultural life and to improve her quality of life.
)
