Development of the Jordanian Novel and the Emergence of Manifestations of Alienation in it (Published)
This study aims to investigate the stages of the development of the Jordanian novel and the emergence of the manifestations of alienation in it. The study hypothesizes that there are manifestations of ‘alienation’ in the Jordanian novel that entered the modernist world, which expressed, through its characters, the existential, personal, social and psychological alienation of the modern man.To achieve its goals, the study tries to confirm this hypothesis by conducting an in-depth analysis of the language, styles, techniques, and narrative forms that entered the modernist novel to express through the characters the existential, personal, social, political and psychological the alienation of the modern man. The novels that will be discussed are the following: al-Ḍaḥik (1970), by Ghālib Halsā, al-Baḥth ʿan Walid Masʿoud (1978), by Jabra Ibrāhim Jabra; Qamāt al-Zabad (1987), by Elias Farkouḥ; ʿAw … al-General la Yansa Kilabahu (1990), by Ibrāhim Nassralla; and al-Shazāya wa al-Fusayfisaʾ (1994), by Muʾnis al-Razaz, which represents the climax of experimentation in al-Razaz’s fictional works. The discussion of ‘form’ focuses on the development of the technical and linguistic forms of the novel from the traditional classical simple forms into the modernist complicated and experimental forms. The discussion of the ‘content’ focuses on the movement from traditional themes that concern the Arab culture and traditions into modernist themes, focusing mainly on the theme of ‘alienation’, its causes, its manifestations, and its psychological impacts on the Arab individual, particularly the intellectual particular, which are represented in the social, political and existential conditions that prevailed in ‘exile’ in general and in Jordan in particular, as a result of the Palestinian Nakba / Catastrophe in 1948, and the Six Days War in 1967.
Keywords: Alienation, Crisis, classical novels, exile., modernist novels
Intergenerational Discrepancies and Alienation in Selected Plays by Horton Foote (Published)
This paper examines intergenerational discrepancies and consequent sense of alienation in Horton Foote’s theatre, where traumatized youth are brought to life by dramatizing their sufferings in coping with the elderly and transforming into positive and fruitful members in American society. Foote also explores respective tropes, like alcoholism, death, and racism. The subject matter of his plays illustrates the power of cohesion within the society. Foote’s plays present a serious allegation of the parent’s personal intricacies and selfish exploitation of their children; but their essential theme of alienation and intergenerational discrepancies deserves a deeper view and treatment socially and psychologically.The paper shows the varying manifestations of social status as a power (re)shaping the lives of young and old men. Foote visualizes society as a fragmented, disappointed and alienated. He has fought against sentiments of deprivation, deficiency, oppression, and alienation, advocating intimacy, adequacy, and harmony between the two generations. The 20th cent. American playwright has recently received recognition and praise for his narrative plays about the nuances of negotiations and conflicts between the different generations within the same family. His talent emerged in developing conditions for a better world, a harmonious one that should start with the two generations by evoking real negotiations. His power came clear in illuminating the melancholic history of society around him where the gaps and differences between generations come to surface.
Keywords: Alienation, Conflict, Foote, familial relation, intergenerational discrepancy
After Jesus, Hamlet is the most cited figure in western consciousness” : Philosophical Readings in Shakespeare’s Hamlet (Published)
Shakespeare’s Hamlet is regarded as one of the greatest mysteries of world literature to be unfolded ever since it was first written. For centuries, Hamlet the play and Hamlet the character have bewildered readers and critics alike. The play is embedded with meanings and laden in philosophical thoughts and interrogations producing an endless width of readings and controversies throughout different ages and generations. However deeply rooted in time, Hamlet has always meant something for everyone ever since it was released. The play has transcended its spatial and temporal framework to embrace the universal, making it a good reference and landmark to return to according to the needs of the time. Hamlet breaks the thematic stereotyping cycle of the time during which it was penned in ways that provide meaningful discursive interpretations re-contextualized to resonate with contemporary audience and modern readers. This paper reinterprets the tragedy of Hamlet whose inner dilemma becomes that of the Modern Man worldwide. Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, is a call to hold a mirror to our most profound conflicts and anxieties, to the bulk of our darkest torments. Any discussion of the play should acknowledge the weight of its philosophical dimensions on which hinge the works of great existentialist philosophers like Sartre, Heidegger, and Kierkegaard (among others), which this paper will try to elucidate. A central concern in this paper is the disconcerting issue of Hamlet’s “nothingness” which becomes, in the long run, our own. Peering into the abyss of Hamlet’s psyche allows for a self-reflection, an outcry for the modern self to survive along with the fight with our consciousness to stabilize it.
Keywords: Alienation, Anxiety, Trauma, hamlet, philosophical insights
A Marxist Reading of Nikolai Ostrovsky’s How the Steel Was Tempered (Published)
The paper proves that How the Steel Was Tempered depicts the theory of Marxism. During the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century, capitalism spread in various countries in Europe. As a result, the struggle of the common masses became more organized and conscious. As the conflicts between the upper and lower class became more profound, the philosophical thought of Marxism spread rapidly. The paper makes an analysis of Marxism in How the Steel Was Tempered. The paper discusses all the Marxist ideologies found in the novel, including: the inequality between classes, anti-Capitalism, class conflict, historical materialism, and alienation. So, this paper will add a piece of new information in the existing literature.
Keywords: Alienation, Capitalism, Class, Marxism, Materialism
Saul Bellow’s Seize the Day: A Study of Marxist Perspective (Published)
Marxist perspective has undergone a progressive dominance over time in the globe of literature. Marxist approach has always been an impressive implement in comprehending any literary sort of pieces in case of philosophy, economy, history and sociology. This aids learners to approach the text in a distinctive way that issues reader’s better sort of apprehension of literary works and serves to attain the purpose of communicative literary competence, appreciations and conventions. The research inclines to focus on one of the most appreciated and unparalleled novels of Saul Bellow, “Seize the Day (1956)”. The lens of Marxist point of view has been used in this study to bring out how all the characters affected by materialism hanker after worldly success, trying to survive with the critical circumstances, and at last gaining worldly success or failure in the complexity of modern American society. Here, most of the characters’ attitude and psychology are directed by longing for material wealth and financial stability. The paper critically demonstrates on how the quest for American dream, money and success triggers the actions of materialistic characters while specially concentrating on the actions of protagonist Tommy Wilhelm whose life is distorted in a capitalistic society due to the thirst for money and success.
Keywords: Alienation, American dream, Class Struggle, Marxism, Materialism
‘A FATHER’ AND ‘FATHERING’ BY BHARATI MUKHERJEE: A COMPARATIVE STUDY (Published)
The literature of the Indian diaspora constitutes an important part of the burgeoning field of Anglophone post colonial literature. Diaspora is an emerging word in post colonial literary scenario. Its emergence has produced a radical transformation or ‘paradigm shift’ in literary and cultural studies. The Indian diasporic writers have attained popularity in the last decade because of the theoretical formulations generated by their works. These writers present a blend of culture of their native homeland and the culture of the host land. Diasporic literature helps in bridging the gaps between different countries, glocalizing the global and even in maintaining universal peace. The diasporic writings feature the quest for identity, uprooting and re rooting, insider and outsider syndrome, nostalgia, nagging sense of guilt etc. The process of survival of the diasporic individual involves the struggles and sufferings from “alienation” to “assimilation”. Bharati Mukherjee is an India born Canadian /American writer. She immigrated from her native land i.e. India to USA. She lived in Canada for about fourteen years before finally moving to USA. Her stay in Canada witnessed racist attacks, which are very clearly depicted in her writings. The author of eight highly praised novels, two collections of short stories and a smattering of non- fiction, shows her personal experiences. An immigrant’s life, full of pain, struggle, nostalgia, sense of belongingness, struggle for survival in the alien land, serves as the background of Bharati Mukherjee’s writings. The paper aims to compare two of her short stories, “A Father” and “Fathering”, extracted from her collections titled Darkness and The Middleman and Other Stories, respectively. The objective of this paper is to undertake diasporic perspective including the post colonial approach to achieve the objective.
Keywords: Alienation, Assimilation, Diaspora, Postcolonial Theory
‘A FATHER’ AND ‘FATHERING’ BY BHARATI MUKHERJEE: A COMPARATIVE STUDY (Published)
Keywords: Alienation, Assimilation, Diaspora, Postcolonial Theory
THEME OF ALIENATION IN MODERN LITERATURE (Published)
Alienation is the basic form of rootlessness, which forms the subject of many psychological, sociological, literary and philosophical studies. Alienation is a major theme of human condition in the contemporary epoch. It is only natural that a pervasive phenomenon like alienation should leave such an indelible impact upon the contemporary literature. Alienation emerges as natural consequence of existential predicament both in intrinsic and extrinsic terms. The theme of alienation has been variously dealt with persistently and unflinchingly in modern literature. The alienated protagonist is a recurrent figure in much of the twentieth century American and European fiction. Alienation in its various forms, has been dealt with in the existentialistic literature. Owing to its historical and socio-cultural reasons, the Indo-English literature also, could not remain unaffected by it. Alienation is the result of loss of identity. The dispossessed personality’s search for identity is a common place theme in modern fiction. Man fails to perceive today the very purpose behind life and the relevance of his existence in a hostile world. Edmund Fuller remarks that in our age “man suffers not only from war, persecution, famine and ruin, but from inner problems ——— a conviction of isolation, randomness, meaninglessness in his way of existence “.The paper will discuss and analyze theme of alienation in modern literature in general and Indo-English literature in particular from different angles. It will be contextualized by referring profusely the works of renowned writers. Nuances of the word alienation will also be discussed thoroughly
Keywords: Alienation, Existence, Existentialism, Identity, Isolation, Predicament, Randomness, Rootlessness
Marital Metaphors in Robert Lowell’s Life Studies (Published)
This paper will examine Robert Lowell’s creative process of exposing his private experiences in his autobiographical poetry, particularly in one of his best volumes; Life Styles, through which he intended to fictionalize his self in the process of creating a retrospective truth of his life.
Lowell utilized his recollected memories, not only to explore his lost self and others’ as part of his psychotherapy, but to employ such reminiscences to recreate a modified self located at the center of the cultural framework. By following such a poetic style, that represented a new sensibility, Lowell achieved a significant breakthrough in American poetry, that M.L. Rosenthal branded as “confessional (1), while B. Shaw labeled as “poetry of revolt.” (2)
However, the most interesting feature in his confessional poetry is the use of ‘marital metaphors’; specifically those of ‘separation’, ‘breaking up’ and ‘divorce’. Lowell adapted this style to launch a procession of alienated figures whose calamities examine, shed light and link the poet’s private embarrassments, painful memories and psychological traumas with so many seemingly unrelated topics such as American materialistic traditions, estrangement of the artist from culture, religious false verifications and war.
Keywords: Alienation, Confessional poetry, Family pressure, Mortification, Mrital metaphors that indicate collapse and parting
