Suicidal Tendencies

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 599-616
Author(s):  
Dana Seitler
Keyword(s):  
Short Story ◽  
Narrative Strategy ◽  
Compelling Argument ◽  
Alternative Configuration

This essay concentrates on a series of suicide plots in which the risk of one’s undoing does not indicate a refusal of one’s existing life as much as it performs a fantastic desire to live a different one. Willa Cather’s short story “Paul’s Case” (1905), Ridley Scott’s Thelma and Louise (1991), and Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Birdman (2014) help us think about how suicide functions as a sustaining fantasy and a queer narrative strategy. In each, the main character’s retreat into suicidal fantasy is not limiting but productive: it creates a space of protection for otherwise damaged individuals, allowing them to imagine an alternative configuration as/at the end of their world. This essay thus makes the counterintuitive claim that the suicide plot should be read non-tragically. It considers how acts of self-annihilation force us to think about the binding narratives of gendered and sexualized person-hood. If these narratives most readily seem to forward a critique of the hetero and sexist norms for life, they also offer a compelling argument about how the use of death works to imagine new forms, narratives, and possibilities of living.

scholarly journals Stáří jako zrcadlo zmařených iluzí v próze Karla Václava Raise „Když se připozdívá”

2017 ◽  
Vol 163 ◽  
pp. 463-471
Author(s):  
Zuzana Urválková
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Family Life ◽  
Core Values ◽  
Narrative Strategy ◽  
The Core ◽  
Village Life ◽  
Home Living ◽  
The City ◽  
Harmonious Family

The age as the mirror of thwarted illusionsin Karel Václav Raisʼs novel Když se připozdíváThe study deals with the way old age is captured in the prose of K.V. Rais Když se připozdívá [When Itʼs Getting Late]. In the short story, K.V. Rais shows what role illusions about life in the city, the love of children for their parents and village life in general play in the protagonists’ lives and what happens to these illusions when the characters get old. Against the background of confrontation of these illusions with reality, the core values of Biedermeier harmonious family life, respect for old age, love of home, living according to Christian principles, etc., rendered untenable and impracticable in Rais’s short story, come to the forefront. In the opinion of the author of the study, this narrative strategy forms the basis of Rais’s critical realism.­Starość jako zwierciadło rozwianych iluzji w prozie Karla Václava Raisa Když se připozdíváRozważania dotyczą sposobu przedstawienia starości w prozie K.V. Raisa Když se připoz­dívá. Rais w swym opowiadaniu pokazuje, jaką rolę odgrywają w życiu bohaterów ich iluzje o pobycie w wielkim mieście, o miłości dzieci do rodziców i o życiu na wsi w ogóle oraz to, co się z tymi iluzjami dzieje, kiedy postacie zestarzeją się. Na tle konfrontacji rzeczywistości z iluzjami widoczne są najbardziej kluczowe wartości biedermeieru harmonijne życie rodzinne, szacunek dla starości, miłość do domu, życie według zasad chrześcijańskich itp., które w opowiadaniu Raisa okazują się trudne do utrzymania i niewykonalne. Ta strategia narracyjna stanowi według autorki podstawę realizmu krytycznego Raisa.

Childhood Perspectives of the Holocaust in Jurek Becker’s “The Wall” and “The Invisible City,” and Frank Beyer’s film While All Germans Are Sleeping

2021 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-78
Author(s):  
Delene Case White
Keyword(s):  
Short Story ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
Narrative Strategy ◽  
Child Survivors ◽  
Child Survivor ◽  
Soviet Occupation ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Fictional Representations ◽  
Soviet Occupation Zone ◽  
The Invisible

Abstract At the age of eight, Polish-Jewish child survivor Jurek Becker settled with his father in the Soviet Occupation Zone of Berlin, later becoming a professional writer in the German Democratic Republic. He left after a series of protests by artists and intellectuals against the expatriation of dissident singer-songwriter Wolf Biermann, and took up residence in the Federal Republic of Germany. The author of the present study addresses Becker’s short story “Die Mauer” (The Wall) and testimonial essay “Die unsichtbare Stadt” (The Invisible City), along with Frank Beyer’s 1991 film Wenn alle Deutschen schlafen (While All Germans Are Sleeping), based on “The Wall.” In particular, the author analyzes all three works in relation to other fictional representations of the Holocaust and discourses of childhood, imagination, and play. It draws on M.M. Bakhtin’s theories of narrative strategy and Johan Huizinga’s ideas about the “ludic element” (essentially, play) needed to survive totalitarian systems such as Nazism, to argue for valuing such works as important expressions by child survivors.

scholarly journals Metalepsa jako strategia narracyjna w dziełach literackich i filmowych (analiza zjawiska na wybranych przykładach)

2015 ◽  
pp. 384-475
Author(s):  
Magdalena Karkiewicz
Keyword(s):  
Short Story ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Narrative Strategy ◽  
Forbidden Transition ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Gerard Genette ◽  
Ontological Uncertainty

Logically forbidden transition, the impossible transgression, fictional characters moving through the boundaries between levels of (un)reality and the attempt to cross the ‘frames’ of artistic presentation constitute the essence of the subject of this dissertation: the metalepsis. This term, originally derived from the rhetoric, was annexed to narratology field in 1972 by a French theoretician, Gérard Genette. In his book Figures III, he described a narrative metalepsis (ʻla métalepse narrativeʼ) as ʻany intrusion by the extradiegetic narrator or narratee into the diegetic universe (or by diegetic characters into a metadiegetic universe, etc.), or the inverse.ʼ The definition became a starting point for further research on metalepsis, which in recent years has gained particular popularity in Western Europe. It was noticed that metalepsis is particularly characterized by the comic potential and Woody Allen’s movie ‘Purple Rose of Cairo’ is a perfect example of it. However, the influence range of this figure seems to go far beyond the mere evocation of emotions. The analyzed examples of the use of metalepsis as a narrative strategy, for example a short story written by Julio Cortázar The Continuity of Parks, have emphasized the specificity of impact of this figure on the recipient. By corresponding with such phenomena as ʻmise en abymeʼ or ʻtext in the textʼ, metalepsis draws attention to the recipients, the readers or the viewers themselves and puts them in ontological uncertainty concerning their own existence. Since heroes of the fictional worlds can move between levels of diegesis, leave the novel or the cinema screen, read the book about their own fate or suddenly realize that they are the imaginary creatures created by some higher creative’s instance and ruled by a higher order, then how can we be sure that we are for r e a l ?

The Relationship of Interrogative Suggestibility to Memory and Attention

2006 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.C. Howard ◽  
A. Chaiwutikornwanich
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Oddball Paradigm ◽  
Memory Processes ◽  
Memory And Attention ◽  
Irrelevant Distractors ◽  
Alternative Hypotheses ◽  
Visual Oddball Paradigm ◽  
Interrogative Suggestibility ◽  
Task Irrelevant

This study combined an individual differences approach to interrogative suggestibility (IS) with ERP recordings to examine two alternative hypotheses regarding the source of individual differences in IS: (1) differences in attention to task-relevant vis-à-vis task-irrelevant stimuli, and (2) differences in one or more memory processes, indexed by ERP old/new effects. Sixty-five female participants underwent an ERP recording during the 50 min interval between immediate and delayed recall of a short story. ERPs elicited by pictures that either related to the story (“old”), or did not relate to the story (“new”), were recorded using a three-stimulus visual oddball paradigm. ERP old/new effects were examined at selected scalp regions of interest at three post-stimulus intervals: early (250-350 ms), middle (350-700 ms), and late (700-1100 ms). In addition, attention-related ERP components (N1, P2, N2, and P3) evoked by story-relevant pictures, story-irrelevant pictures, and irrelevant distractors were measured from midline electrodes. Late (700-1100 ms) frontal ERP old/new differences reflected individual differences in IS, while early (250-350 ms) and middle latency (350-700 ms) ERP old/new differences distinguished good from poor performers in memory and oddball tasks, respectively. Differences in IS were not reflected in ERP indices of attention. Results supported an account of IS as reflecting individual differences in postretrieval memory processes.

Borrowing As A Tool To Fill The Ideological Thoughts: The Role Of Code-Mixing In An American Brat By Bapsi Sidhwa And The Escape By Qaisra Shiraz

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (II) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Short Story ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Literature ◽  
Native People ◽  
British Imperialism ◽  
Native Languages ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Bapsi Sidhwa ◽  
Code Mixing ◽  
Language And Literature

This research article highlights the temperament, inference, scope, and motives of code-mixing in Pakistani English works. One novel from Pakistani English novels namely, An American Brat by Bapsi Sidhwa, and one short story namely, The Escape by Qaisra Shehraz are being selected as an illustration of this reading. In this novel and short story, the writers have already dealt with the characteristics of postcolonialism. English language and literature pierced into the privileged civilizations of the sub-continent, after the end of British Imperialism. Pakistani writers in English are the best interpreter of the post-colonial communal language. In this study, I have hit upon code-mixing in English works written by Pakistani authors to a bigger echelon. These works are paragons of arts and the unbelievable mixture of rhetorical and fictitious study. In these works, the writers have not abased the confined diversities. They have tinted the value of Pakistani English in order to achieve the chatty desires of native people. These borrowings from the native languages are used to fill the lexical fissures of ideological thoughts. The reason of these borrowings is not to represent the English as a substandard assortment. Through the utilization of native words, we conclude that the significance of native languages has been tinted to question mark the dialect as well. The words of daily use also have an area of research for English people without having any substitute in English. That’s why in English literature innovative practices and ideas of code-mixing have been employed.

Deconstructive Analysis Of The Short Story “Saleema” By Daniyal Mueenuddin

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 106-125
Author(s):  
Omama Tanvir ◽  
Nazish Amir
Keyword(s):  
Short Story ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Male Character ◽  
Binary Oppositions ◽  
Power And Authority

The aim of this research is to apply deconstructive approach to a short story. For this purpose Daniyal Mueenuddin’s short story “Saleema” is selected and analyzed. Through deconstruction the feminist reading of the story is dismantled and the power dynamics of the patriarchal Pakistani society are subverted. The research is anchored in Derrida’s concept of unreliability of language and Cuddon’s idea of reversal of binary oppositions. The paper finds that the protagonist Saleema is not as weak and oppressed as she is perceived to be, rather she is a resilient, independent woman who uses any means possible to get what she wants. The power and authority reside with her and not with any male character. The study is purely qualitative and exploratory in nature.

Borrowing As A Tool To Fill The Ideological Thoughts: The Role Of Code-Mixing In An American Brat By Bapsi Sidhwa And The Escape By Qaisra Shiraz

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Short Story ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Literature ◽  
Native People ◽  
British Imperialism ◽  
Native Languages ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Bapsi Sidhwa ◽  
Code Mixing ◽  
Language And Literature

This research article highlights the temperament, inference, scope, and motives of code-mixing in Pakistani English works. One novel from Pakistani English novels namely, An American Brat by Bapsi Sidhwa, and one short story namely, The Escape by Qaisra Shehraz are being selected as an illustration of this reading. In this novel and short story, the writers have already dealt with the characteristics of postcolonialism. English language and literature pierced into the privileged civilizations of the sub-continent, after the end of British Imperialism. Pakistani writers in English are the best interpreter of the post-colonial communal language. In this study, I have hit upon code-mixing in English works written by Pakistani authors to a bigger echelon. These works are paragons of arts and the unbelievable mixture of rhetorical and fictitious study. In these works, the writers have not abased the confined diversities. They have tinted the value of Pakistani English in order to achieve the chatty desires of native people. These borrowings from the native languages are used to fill the lexical fissures of ideological thoughts. The reason for these borrowings is not to represent the English as a substandard assortment. Through the utilization of native words, we conclude that the significance of native languages has been tinted to question mark the dialect as well. The words of daily use also have an area of research for English people without having any substitute in English. That’s why in English literature innovative practices and ideas of code-mixing have been employed.

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