Misrepresentation of Orientals in Dave Eggers’s A Hologram for The King

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 250-258
Author(s):  
Samal Marf Mohammed

      This study deals with the colonial perspectives in Dave Eggers’s A Hologram for The King (2012), according to the postcolonial approach. Although colonialism era is over by now, colonial perspectives remain strong in some literary works. Since its advent in the second half of the twentieth century, postcolonial theory confronts colonial attitudes and experiences as colonialism has been justified in many works of Western writers and scholars who have distorted the real image of non-Europeans and non-Westerners via different means and techniques in masquerade of orientalism. Postcolonial discourse opposes the misrepresentation of non-Europeans and argues that such falsification is driven by political, social, religious and economic motives. In the current study, the researcher aims at explaining the notions of colonialism, otherization and other falsified images of non-Westerners in A Hologram for the King. This paper mainly questions Eggers’s portrayal of the protagonist, Alan Clay, who after bankruptcy and failure at home, flies to Saudi Arabia and capitalizes on the physical and moral assets of the Orientals in this country to convert his story of failure to a success. The characterization of the oriental world and its setting show Eggers’s being biased against the Eastern world and ironically mirror clear hints of colonialism and eurocentrism.

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 74
Author(s):  
Ehsan Ghabool ◽  
Mina Ravansalar

Imagology is a branch of comparative literature which explores the image of one nation in the literature of another nation. One Thousand Nights and One Night is among the important books which can show the image of different nations and people such as Indians, Iranians and Arabs. Since the oldest version of the book is in Arabic, it is considered an Arabic literary work though it was translated from a Persian tale in the first place. On this basis the study of the image of Iranians in One Thousand Nights and One Night can be included under the definition of imagology. In this article, first we explain, analyze and study the image of Iranians in the book One Thousand Nights and One Night with respect to 1. anthropology (including entertainments, personification of animals, disapprobation of lies and betrayal of spouses), 2. religious and mythical beliefs (including the belief in daevas and jinnis, magic, fire-worshipping and similar plots), 3. politics (emphasizing the position of vizier and his family in government), 4. economics (emphasizing economic prosperity), then we will compare the collected information with the image of Iranians in credited works and in this way we will identify the similarities and differences of Iranians’ image in One Thousand Nights and One Night and the above-said literary works. Finally we come to this conclusion that the similarities belong to the real image of Iranians in the pre-Islamic days and that differences show the image of post-Islamic Iran which is added through Arabic translation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 00034
Author(s):  
Novi Kurniawati

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0in">Learning a foreign language cannot be separated from literature and culture. One of the definitions of literature is a reflection of society; so through literature we can know the real image of society as well as the culture. Moreover, by knowing the foreign cultures of the countries from which we learn the language, we can not only read, but also understand the problems that appear in the texts studied. Similarly, French culture cannot be separated from Maghreb culture. The two cultures complement each other, later becoming the content of various literary, French literary and Francophone literary. The relationship between the two cultures is also part of the content of Virginie Despentes' novel <i>Apocalypse bébé</i>. Through this novel, we can see an image of the relationship between France and the Maghreb people in their social life. Thus, as a learner of French, we could know not only French culture through the textbooks published by French publishers, but also recognize the French culture associated with France both directly and indirectly. Therefore, the literary text entitled <i>Apocalypse bébé</i> can be an alternative source of learning French, not only in terms of language attached to vocabulary and grammar, but also to know French and Francophone culture so that students know the relationship for understanding and analyzing literary works.</p>


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Reham Sherbiny

The great cities in Egypt have been exposed to radical changes in its form and design since the second half of the Twentieth century. The study discusses these changes and their effect on the artistic production of the contemporary Egyptian painters. The positive and the negative aspects of this continuous relationship between the artist and the surrounding environment feature are presented, prominently, here.Did the changes in the urban design reflect in the paintings of these artists? How did the Egyptian artists receive and respond to these major urban changes in their paintings?The study deals with the most important changes in the design of the great cities in Egypt. This is coupled with a comparative study of the selected examples from the works of the contemporary painters, with the real image of the urban designs revealing interesting insights about the dynamics of this process.


2014 ◽  
Vol 55 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 17-26
Author(s):  
Paul W. Merrick

The influence of Byron on Liszt was enormous, as is generally acknowledged. In particular the First Book of the Années de pèlerinage shows the poet’s influence in its choice of Byron epigraphs in English for four of the set of nine pieces. In his years of travel as a virtuoso pianist Liszt often referred to “mon byronisme.” The work by Byron that most affected Liszt is the long narrative poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage which was translated into many languages, including French. The word “pèlerinage” that replaced “voyageur” is a Byronic identity in Liszt’s thinking. The Byronic hero as Liszt saw him and imitated him in for example Mazeppa and Tasso is a figure who represented a positive force, suffering and perhaps a revolutionary, but definitely not a public enemy. Liszt’s life, viewed as a musical pilgrimage, led of course to Rome. Is it possible that Byron even influenced him in this direction? In this paper I try to give a portrait of the real Byron that hides behind the poseur of his literary works, and suggest that what drew Liszt to the English poet was precisely the man whom he sensed behind the artistic mask. Byron was not musical, but he was religious — as emerges from his life and his letters, a life which caused scandal to his English contemporaries. But today we can see that part of the youthful genius of the rebel Byron was his boldness in the face of hypocrisy and compromise — his heroism was simply to be true. In this we can see a parallel with the Liszt who left the piano and composed Christus. What look like incompatibilities are simply the connection between action and contemplation — between the journey and the goal. Byron, in fact, can help us follow the ligne intérieure which Liszt talked about in the 1830s.


Author(s):  
Nadav Samin

Why do tribal genealogies matter in modern-day Saudi Arabia? What compels the strivers and climbers of the new Saudi Arabia to want to prove their authentic descent from one or another prestigious Arabian tribe? This book looks at how genealogy and tribal belonging have informed the lives of past and present inhabitants of Saudi Arabia and how the Saudi government's tacit glorification of tribal origins has shaped the powerful development of the kingdom's genealogical culture. The book presents the first extended biographical exploration of the major twentieth-century Saudi scholar Hamad al-Jāsir, whose genealogical studies frame the story about belonging and identity in the modern kingdom. It examines the interplay between al-Jāsir's genealogical project and his many hundreds of petitioners, mostly Saudis of nontribal or lower status origin who sought validation of their tribal roots in his genealogical texts. Investigating the Saudi relationship to this opaque, orally inscribed historical tradition, the book considers the consequences of modern Saudi genealogical politics and how the most intimate anxieties of nontribal Saudis today are amplified by the governing strategies and kinship ideology of the Saudi state. Challenging the impression that Saudi culture is determined by puritanical religiosity or rentier economic principles, the book shows how the exploration and establishment of tribal genealogies have become influential phenomena in contemporary Saudi society. Beyond Saudi Arabia, this book casts important new light on the interplay between kinship ideas, oral narrative, and state formation in rapidly changing societies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 327
Author(s):  
R Bawazeer ◽  
M Algoribi ◽  
T Abujamel ◽  
L Okdah ◽  
M Alzayer ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-194
Author(s):  
Ronan McDonald

Cynicism styles itself as the answer to the mental suffering produced by disillusionment, disappointment, and despair. It seeks to avoid them by exposing to ridicule naive idealism or treacherous hope. Modern cynics avoid the vulnerability produced by high ideals, just as their ancient counterparts eschewed dependence on all but the most essential of material needs. The philosophical tradition of the Cynics begins with the Ancients, including Diogenes and Lucian, but has found contemporary valence in the work of cultural theorists such as Peter Sloterdijk. This article uses theories of cynicism to analyze postcolonial disappointment in Irish modernism. It argues that in the “ambi-colonial” conditions of early-twentieth-century Ireland, the metropolitan surety of and suaveness of a cynical attitude is available but precarious. We therefore find a recursive cynicism that often turns upon itself, finding the self-distancing and critical sure-footedness of modern, urbane cynicism a stance that itself should be treated with cynical scepticism. The essay detects this recursive cynicism in a number of literary works of post-independence Ireland, concluding with an extended consideration of W. B. Yeats’s great poem of civilizational precarity, “Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen.”


Mathematics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (13) ◽  
pp. 1569
Author(s):  
Jesús Montejo-Gámez ◽  
Elvira Fernández-Ahumada ◽  
Natividad Adamuz-Povedano

This paper shows a tool for the analysis of written productions that allows for the characterization of the mathematical models that students develop when solving modeling tasks. For this purpose, different conceptualizations of mathematical models in education are discussed, paying special attention to the evidence that characterizes a school model. The discussion leads to the consideration of three components, which constitute the main categories of the proposed tool: the real system to be modeled, its mathematization and the representations used to express both. These categories and the corresponding analysis procedure are explained and illustrated through two working examples, which expose the value of the tool in establishing the foci of analysis when investigating school models, and thus, suggest modeling skills. The connection of this tool with other approaches to educational research on mathematical modeling is also discussed.


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