Problematizing Polygyny in the Historical Novels of Chinua Achebe: The Role of the Western Feminist Scholar

2008 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 166-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Powell
Author(s):  
Oleksandra Nikolova ◽  
Kateryna Vasylyna

: The article is aimed at the study of Ukrainian quasi-historical novels of the early 21st century, characterized by the renunciation of “objectivity” of the narrative and emphasized the role of imagination. These are the pieces by Bakalets and Yarish (“From the Seventh Bottom”), Vynnychuk (“The Pharmacist”, “Lutetia”), and by Yatsenko (“Nechui. Nemov. Nebach”). The study reveals the features and functions of fantastic characters in the abovementioned novels. These fictional images of modern Ukrainian quasihistorical literary discourse are characterized by infernality, grotesque anthropomorphism, destruction of traditional antinomy “otherworldly– earthly/human”, philosophical and ironic coloring. Interpreting the fantasy in quasi-historical novels is expedient in the context of the global problem of perception of historical past by people of the 21st Century, with an emphasis on significant changes in public consciousness motivating writers to “Re-write/Reimagine the past”. The spread of this phenomenon reveals public distrust of the authorities, offering “correct” answers to the questions about past events, protest against permanent manipulation of historical facts (the tendency of growing consciousness and intellectualization of society).


Author(s):  
Popadynets O.O. ◽  
Kovalchuk O.Ya.

Purpose. To analyze the artistic details of W. Scott’s and M. Starytsky’s historical novels to identify the author’s position on the details depicted; to compare the artistic and functional features of their local color, landscape, and objects; to show the intersections and differences in the development of both Scottish and Ukrainian literature and the interaction of different mentalities in the process of reflecting the world around.Methods. The research is carried out from the standpoint of complex literary-textological analysis, cultural-historical and comparative-typological methods.Results. As a result of the research, analysis of the types of artistic details in the historical novels of W. Scott and M. Starytsky was carried out; different types of artistic details were discovered, collected and systematized and their functions were revealed in separate works of the Ukrainian and Scottish novelist; the peculiarities of use of portrait details and landscapes, their place and role in the creative process of the writers are determined.Conclusions. Based on the analysis of the artistic detail in both writers’ historical novels, it can be argued that M. Starytsky, having mastered the experience of predecessors and contemporaries (and not only from domestic literature), developed his own system of images of the objective world and generally maintained it, albeit inconsistently, in all his multifaceted work. In this system, the writer’s scientific knowledge and his ideological and aesthetic principles were synthesized in a unique way, to which we include various factors – religious, historiosophical, national, stylistic, and so on. Scott’s experience became a kind of springboard for actively increasing the role of the authorial-subjective factor in literature and art, which is clearly defined in realistic novels of the second half of the nineteenth century, when attention was given to detailing the environment. Detailing, in the historical novels of W. Scott and M. Starytsky, serves as a historical background, conveys the spirit of the era, helps to reveal the temper and individuality of the character, his/her own artistic image, is a part of the landscape panorama as well as it is a means of emotional impact on the reader.Key words: artifact, subject detail, color local, verbal painting, portrait, ethnography. Мета. За допомогою аналізу художніх деталей романів В. Скотта та М. Старицького виявити авторську позицію стосовно зображуваного, а також зіставити художні й функціональні особливості їхніх описів місцевості, предметів і таким чином побачити перетинання і розбіжності в розвитку літератур обох країн, взаємодію різних ментальностей у процесі відображення навколишнього світу.Методи. У статті застосовано порівняльно-історичний, культурно-історичний, типологічний та контекстуальний методи при порівнянні суб’єктивних і водночас національно-репрезентативних принципів створення художньої деталі.Результати. У ході дослідження здійснено аналіз різновидів художніх деталей в історичних романах В. Скотта й М. Старицького; виявлено, зібрано і систематизовано артефакти та розкрито їх функції в окремих творах українського та шотландського романістів; визначено особливості використання прозаїками деталей портрету, пейзажу, речей, їх місця й ролі у творчому процесі письменників.Висновки. На основі здійсненого аналізу проблеми художньої деталі в історичних романах обох письменників можемо стверджувати, що М. Старицький, засвоївши відповідний досвід попередників і сучасників (причому, не тільки з вітчизняного письменства), виробив власну систему зображення предметного світу і загалом витримував її, хоч і непослідовно, в усій своїй багатогранній творчості. У цій системі своєрідно синтезувалися й наукові пізнання письменника, і його ідейно-естетичні принципи, до яких ми зачисляємо різні чинники – релігійний, історіософський, національний, стильовий тощо. Досвід Скотта став свого роду трампліном для активного підвищення ролі авторсько-суб’єктивного фактора в літературі й мистецтві, що виразно визначається у реалістичній романістиці другої половини ХІХ століття, коли посилилася увага до деталізації зображення середовища та аналізу. Деталізація в історичних романах В. Скотта й М. Старицького виконує роль історичного тла, допомагає розкрити характер та індивідуальність персонажа, виступає складовою художнього образу людини, частиною пейзажної панорами, передає дух епохи, доносить до читача авторське, сучасне переживання історії, служить засобом емоційного впливу на читача.Ключові слова: артефакт, предметна деталь, місцевий колорит, словесний живопис, портрет, етнографізм.


2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (81) ◽  
pp. 23-38
Author(s):  
Gábor Attila Csúr

Gábor Attila Csúr: “The Inclination to the Supernatural in the Middle Ages – A Critical Reading of Medieval Religiousness in Danish Historical Novels” The article focuses on Danish historical prose fiction from the last two centuries and analyzes how the phenomenon ‘medievalism’, i. e. the interpretation, reception and recreation of the Middle Age, has changed during this period. Stereotypes about medieval religious thought and belief and the role of the church have always been popular features of historical novels. By analyzing the depictions of religiousness, the article attempts to draw a line of development in understanding medieval culture and everyday life.


Kalbotyra ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 74 ◽  
pp. 160-181
Author(s):  
Iva Novakova

The present paper is based on the assumption that the language of the novel is characterized by a statistically relevant overrepresentation of certain linguistic units (e.g. lexemes, key words, collocations and colligations, Siepmann 2015). First steps towards checking the validity of this hypothesis had been undertaken in pioneering works in the 1990s/2000s (e.g. Stubbs & Barth 2003). These studies were however limited by the small size of their (exclusively English) corpora. The present study explores the role of some patterns (phraseological motifs) in distinguishing French literary subgenres. It also proposes a case study of some motifs related to the verbal (dire avec sourire ‘to say with a smile’) and non-verbal communication (adresser un sourire ‘to send a smile’). Unlike traditional corpus-stylistic analyses, which frequently focus on the style of a single author, our corpus-driven approach identifies lexico-syntactic constructions in literary genres which are automatically extracted from the corpora.The main purpose is to show the relevance of the notion of phraseological motif (Legallois 2012; Longrée & Mellet 2013; Novakova & Siepmann 2020) for the distinction of literary subgenres. Linking form and meaning, these ‘multidimensional units’ fulfil pragmatic as well as discursive functions.The data has been extracted from large French corpora of the PhraseoRom research project https://phraseorom.univ-grenoble-alpes.fr. They are accessible on http://phraseotext.univ-grenoble-alpes.fr/phraseobase/index.html and contain 1000 novels (published from the 1950s to the present), partitioned into six sub-corpora: general literature (GEN), crime fiction (CRIM), romances (ROM), historical novels (HIST), science fiction (SF) and fantasy (FY).The results of our study reveal some unexpected differences between the literary subgenres: e.g. the motif dire d’une voix ‘to say in a voice’ in HIST compared to GEN. In FY, expressions of verbal communication are related to shouting and screaming. Expressions related to the non-verbal communication (prendre dans ses bras ‘to take in one’s arms’) are specific to ROM, where body language is overrepresented. In SF, there is a very limited number of these types of expressions. More generally, the motifs provide the link between the micro level (phraseological recurrences) and the macro level (the fictional script).


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 103
Author(s):  
Sulaiyam Mohammed Al hinai

The study seeks to highlight the role played by the Al- jahiz in the presentation of historical novels about the Umayyads, these novels by Al- jahiz himself from the rest of history, literature and other books, the study also explores the factors that contributed to the entry of the Umayyad dynasty in particular conflicts in the last years of the Umayyad state. The study addresses to highlight the role of Al- jahiz in writing the Umayyad state and how it was to the closeness of the Abbasid Caliphate reflection on his writings about the Umayyad dynasty. The study also explores the approach that was followed by most of the history book and Al- jahiz position of many of the writings and novels when streamlines and analyzes and be critic. The study is based on the historical method and descriptive analytical approach in the presentation and discussion of the results through analysis of previous studies, and research will be added due to the lack of scientific research that dealt with the history of the Umayyad dynasty through literature. 


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 3
Author(s):  
Apegba KER

Oral literature has been the original medium of communication in traditional societies. Unfortunately however, in most instances when contributions of individual members of a society are being considered, emphasis is usually placed on the contributions of the educated elites in such a society with rare attention given to the efforts of the oral artists who, through their songs preach unity and mobilize the populace to embrace many a government programmes/projects. In Nigeria for instance, whereas the role of literary artists like Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Niyi Osundare, Buchi Emecheta, just to mention a few, are well known and appreciated both within Nigeria and beyond, hardly are the roles and contributions of the countless oral artists that are constantly playing important roles in the development of various sectors of the Nigerian state highlighted and celebrated. This paper is therefore a deliberate effort to critically project the life and times of Tarker Golozo, one of the most outstanding oral composers/singers that ever lived in Tivland of Benue State in the North Central geo-political zone of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Golozo’s comments on local, national and sometimes international issues are worth documenting and analyzing. The aim is to project and therefore state that when considering contributions of members of a society to its development, a holistic approach should be adopted so as not to alienate any significant segment of such a society. The paper concludes that more scholarly research activities should be carried out by oral literary scholars across the globe to highlight, document and preserve such contributions as it is being done for the written artists, across cultures.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. p19
Author(s):  
Momtajul Islam

The colonial invaders and their repressive means of governance in Africa were not the only reasons that could be solely held accountable for the fall of indigenous African society during the colonial invasion. Native weaknesses, socio-cultural conflicts and hegemony were equally responsible for the falling apart of native social setups when confronted with colonial alternatives. Native people had had their own covert religious and cultural limitations long before the colonizers entered their soil. The colonial powers cleverly used such inherent societal flaws of African people as excuses to impose European religion and traditions on them. Chinua Achebe does not blindly idealize native African traditions in his writings. He frequently narrates his doubts on flawed socio-cultural practices and moral dualities in the native society, too. This paper is an attempt to explore how innate weaknesses of native Igbo people, socio-cultural conflicts and domination in the native society have also made it easier for the colonial administration to prolong their supremacy in the Igbo land, as depicted in Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe. It also elaborates how Ezeulu, the chief priest of god Ulu, falls from dominance in his society because of his intent to execute personal desires which jeopardize his societal role in the Igbo land.


Author(s):  
Emma Doherty

This paper investigates the role of Fyfe Dangerfield’s cover of “She’s Always a Woman” by Billy Joel, within the presentation of heteronormative gender roles in John Lewis’ 2010 advertising campaign. After outlining the narrative of the advertisement and the ways in which the female protagonist is gendered from girlhood to womanhood, this paper draws upon the work of feminist scholar Judith Butler to problematize John Lewis’s portrayal of gender to show how it perpetuates heteronormative stereotypes. Then, drawing on theories of popular music surrounding identity and the importance of lyrics, John Lewis’ use of Fyfe Dangerfield’s cover is analyzed, outlining the way in which the music strengthens a simplistic narrative of ideal girlhood and womanhood, as well as how it encourages potential customers to identify with the brand. The paper then questions whether John Lewis is able to challenge heteronormativity due to their established brand identity or whether the responsibility falls upon the society, and concludes that it is essential to challenge the function of gender and music within advertisements.


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