Unfinished Work

2021 ◽  
pp. 173-190
Author(s):  
Tom Sperlinger
Keyword(s):  
Formal Education ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Aesthetic Response ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Central Characters ◽  
Recurrent Theme

Where education opportunities in Palestine continue to narrow, this chapter considers Selma Dabbagh’s Out Of It as a work of fiction that is particularly attentive to scenes of education and as offering a critique of colonial modes of teaching. Modes of informal and formal education are a recurrent theme in the book and one that illuminates the wider hopes and experiences of the central characters, as they respond to the colonial character of their situation. The chapter reads the novel in light of Paulo Freire’s theories in Pedagogy of Freedom (1996), which emphasises the unfinished nature of the individual as a necessary condition for learning, and offers a model for anticolonial learning. Following this, the chapter contends that the subjective and unfinished work of some of the characters in Out Of It represents an alternative aesthetic response to the situation in Gaza, compared to that which is aesthetically ‘perfect,’ but that mimics a colonial voice with its apparent objectivity.

Why British Society Had to ‘Get a Young Virgin Sacrificed’: Sacrificial Destiny in The Tree of Heaven

May Sinclair ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanna Melin Schyllert
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
British Society ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Tree Of Heaven ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Personal Sacrifice ◽  
Central Characters

In May Sinclair’s fiction, images of sacrifice abound. From the self-abnegating Katherine Haviland in Audrey Craven (1897) to the eponymous antiheroine of The Life and Death of Harriett Frean (1922), Sinclair’s central characters seem to be eternally struggling with the issue of renunciation. The treatment of the theme is heterogeneous in many of Sinclair’s texts, not least in the novel The Tree of Heaven, which both condemns and praises personal sacrifice for a higher or communal purpose. This displays a fundamental insecurity about the nature, function and value of sacrifice. It is this ambivalence, which underlies so much of Sinclair’s fiction, in combination with the individual mixture of philosophies in her work, that will be explored here. This chapter investigates the concept of sacrifice in the war novel The Tree of Heaven and how it is connected to community and feminism. In order to find an understanding of sacrifice as proposed by Sinclair, and its meaning in the lives of both women and men in the context of early 20th century England, the chapter discusses the crossroads in the text between sacrifice, idealism, feminism, and the nation-wide feeling of community that appears to be required in wartime.

scholarly journals Post-Aural Story-Telling and the Iranian Flaneurs: A Benjaminian Reading of Sina Dadkhah’s Yousef Abad, Street 33

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Bakhtiar Sadjadi ◽  
Bahareh Nilfrushan
Keyword(s):  
Charles Baudelaire ◽  
Urban Literature ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Modern Aspect ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Central Characters ◽  
The City

The city has fascinated the street wanderer as the contemplation of modern life. Walter Benjamin’s conception of ‘flâneur,’ originally borrowed from Charles Baudelaire, could be taken as the true legacy of such fascination. There is always a sense of nostalgia being revealed through the flânerie of the city stroller passing through the metropolis, its shopping centers, and boulevards nourishing the mind of the bohemic storyteller with tales of post-aural experience and memory. Adapting Walter Benjamin’s concept of ‘flânerie’ in the streets of Paris to those of Tehran, the present paper attempts to explore Sina Dadkhah’s Yousef Abad, Street 33 in order to demonstrate the post-aural stories of the flaneurs in an Iranian milieu. This article focuses on the modern aspect of the Iranian contemporary society and explores the immediate consequences of modernity on the individual subjectivity of the characters represented in the novel. Considering Dadkhah’s novel as a product of the urban literature of a generation dealing with modernity of the arcades and other lures of the megapolis on the one hand and feeling of nostalgia for their past spirit on the other, the paper simultaneously reveals the close affinity between the subjectivity of the characters and Benjaminian tenets of flânerie and modern storytellers. The flaneurs represented in the novel, by rambling through and about the city of Tehran, are turning to be the storytellers who narrate their ‘post-aural’ experiences. In Yousef Abad, Street 33 the central characters are, as fully manifested in the paper, deeply engaged in the experiences of a modern sense of living while wandering to console their wistful longings despite the everyday challenges.

scholarly journals ANDROGYNOUS MOTIVES IN LENA ELTANG’S NOVEL “STONE MAPLES” (“KAMENNYE KLEYNY”)

2021 ◽  
pp. 135-143
Author(s):  
Елена Александровна Полева
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Symbolic Meaning ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Silver Age ◽  
Methodological Basis ◽  
Ontological Completeness ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Central Characters

Введение. Образ андрогина, начиная с «Пира» Платона, служит осмыслению темы любви, проблемы поиска антропологической цельности. Широкую палитру вариантов осмысления андрогинности дает модернистская литература рубежа ХIX–ХХ вв., в традиции которой вписывается творчество современного писателя Лены Элтанг. Цель – проанализировать воплощение мотива андрогина в романе Л. Элтанг «Каменные клены». Материал и методы. Работа М. Элиаде «Мефистофель и Андрогин, или Тайна целостности», исследования образа андрогина в литературе Серебряного века и философии И. А. Едошиной, Е. С. Турутиной, Н. А. Копыловой, труды Б. М. Гаспарова и И. В. Силантьева о мотивном анализе. Результаты и обсуждение. В «Каменных кленах» андрогинные мотивы проявлены в коллизиях взаимоотношений центральных персонажей Саши Сонли и Луэллина Элдерберри, сводных сестер Саши и Эдны, представлены в нескольких вариантах, включая «интерсексуальные переодевания» (М. Элиаде), жертвоприношение. Обретение любви, обеспечивающее антропологическую и онтологическую полноту бытия, сопряжено с преодолением трудностей (мотивы прохождения испытаний, разгадывания загадок, выбор суженого). Соединение двух людей в гармоничное целое передано через метафорические образы женщины и мужчины: «автор – читатель», «хозяйка гостиницы – постоялец». Л. Элтанг принципиально дистанцируется от телесной семантики мотива андрогина, актуализируя его символический смысл: соединение со второй половиной трактуется как встреча автора со своим читателем, готовым стать соавтором. Заключение. Роман Лены Элтанг «Каменные клены» вписывается в традиционную, начиная с Античности, интерпретацию образа андрогина, выражающего идею «реинтеграции противоположностей» (М. Элиаде), преодоления одиночества, обретения антропологической и онтологической полноты и целостности личности. Андрогинные мотивы раскрывают в романе темы любви и творчества. Обретение Другого и соединение с ним, подобное по сути андрогинности, дает центральным персонажам романа смысл существования. Introduction. Lena Eltang’s novel “Stone Maples” fits into the traditional, since antiquity, interpretation of the androgynous image associated with the idea of “reintegration of opposites” (M. Eliade), the problem of finding the Other to gain the anthropological and ontological completeness and integrity of the individual. The aim is to analyze the semantics of the androgynous motif in L. Eltang’s novel “Stone Maples”. The theoretical and methodological basis of the research is the work of M. Eliade “Mephistopheles and Androgynes”, the research of I. A. Edoshina, E. S. Turutina, N. A. Kopylova, devoted to the image of androgynes in the literature of the Silver Age and philosophy. Results and discussion. In “Stone Maples”, androgynous motifs are manifested in the conflicts between the central characters of Sasha Sonley and Llewellyn Elderberry, the half-sisters of Sasha and Edna. Androgynous motifs are presented in several versions: homosexual attraction, “intersex disguises”, sacrifice, as well as through specific metaphors of connecting two people into a harmonious whole “author-reader”, “hotel hostess-guest”. Finding love, which provides the anthropological and ontological completeness of being, is fraught with difficulties (motives for passing tests, solving riddles, choosing a betrothed). L. Eltang fundamentally distances hirself from the bodily semantics of the androgynous motif, actualizing its symbolic meaning: unity with the second half is interpreted as a meeting of the author with his reader, who is ready to become a co-author. Conclusion. Androgynous motifs reveal the themes of love and creativity in the novel. Only the acquisition of the Other gives the fullness and meaning of existence.

scholarly journals Identifying Characters of “Where Angel Fear to Tread Novel” in Teaching Literary Work

AL-TA LIM ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-145
Author(s):  
Suhaimi Suhaimi
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Main Character ◽  
Central Figure ◽  
Library Research ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Central Characters ◽  
High Social Status

The aim of the research is to identify some characters in the novel Where Angels Fear to Tread in teaching literary works. In learning of characters, someone will understand about the term of the interests, desires, emotions, and moral those form the individual within a story. Library research was used in thid study. The experts divide characters become two characters; they are central characters and additional characters. Central characters are a character who takes the greatest part in the main character or a figure that is most telling. Volume appearance of the main character more than the other characters. Meanwhile, additional characters or subordinate figures are figures that appear once or several times, figures that support or assist the central figure. In the novel Where Angels Fear To Tread, writer found some figures or characters such as: Mrs. Herriton, Lilia, Philip, Gino, and Carroline Abbot. Each of them had different characters; Mrs Herriton was a selfish and arrogant because she came from a high social status. Lilia was a patient and never denied what was ruled by her mother in-low although sometimes she was often treated her like slaves. Philip was figured as a handsome man, his tolerance and empathy were high. Gino was figured as stupid character. Miss Abbott as a nice, quiet, dull, and friendly.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Philip Kitcher
Keyword(s):  
Good Life ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Literary Modernism ◽  
Middle Years ◽  
Philosophical Significance ◽  
Relative Neglect ◽  
Narrative Techniques ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Central Characters

The Introduction explores the philosophical significance of Ulysses. Despite the relative neglect of the novel by Anglophone philosophers who have discussed literary modernism, it argues that Joyce’s fiction takes up the oldest questions of philosophy, those revolving around the qualities of the good life. In particular, Ulysses focuses on the middle years, when the “straight way” has been lost. Through its explorations of the thoughts and feelings of the central characters – Bloom, Stephen, and Molly – Joyce brings about a revaluation of everyday values, and an elevation of the commonplace. His strategies for doing so require the development of new narrative techniques, so that philosophical explorations are often intertwined with attention to the features on which literary scholars have fastened. The introduction closes with brief summaries of the themes of the individual chapters.

The Movement of History in Our Mutual Friend

PMLA ◽  
1974 ◽  
Vol 89 (3) ◽  
pp. 487-495
Author(s):  
William J. Palmer
Keyword(s):  
Past History ◽  
Sexual Relationship ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Our Mutual Friend ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Main Protagonist ◽  
Central Characters ◽  
Mutual Friend

Dickens' Our Mutual Friend is an existential novel dealing with the struggles of the central characters to place, in Sartrean terms, existence before essence. This theme of self-definition involves characters singularly preoccupied with analyzing the deadness of past history and with rejecting the impositions of the past upon the present and the future. Boffin's historical reading and Lizzie Hexam's visions in the symbolic fire both reveal the necessity of change if there is to be an existential future. The main protagonist, Eugene Wrayburn, faced with the Shakespearean-Sartrean decision of whether or not to be in his sexual relationship with Lizzie, chooses to reject the pornographic cliches of Victorian sexuality and establish an existence for himself outside of the atrophied “Society” of the novel. Because of these decisions by the central characters to reject the dead history of the past, Our Mutual Friend is an optimistic statement of Dickens' belief in the power of the individual to regenerate a dead world.

Margaret Mahy: An Adlerian Reading

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-199
Author(s):  
KATHRYN WALLS
Keyword(s):  
Young Female ◽  
The Other ◽  
Individual Psychology ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Alfred Adler ◽  
Female Protagonists ◽  
Magical Power ◽  
Margaret Mahy ◽  
The Individual

According to the ‘Individual Psychology’ of Alfred Adler (1870–1937), Freud's contemporary and rival, everyone seeks superiority. But only those who can adapt their aspirations to meet the needs of others find fulfilment. Children who are rejected or pampered are so desperate for superiority that they fail to develop social feeling, and endanger themselves and society. This article argues that Mahy's realistic novels invite Adlerian interpretation. It examines the character of Hero, the elective mute who is the narrator-protagonist of The Other Side of Silence (1995) , in terms of her experience of rejection. The novel as a whole, it is suggested, stresses the destructiveness of the neurotically driven quest for superiority. Turning to Mahy's supernatural romances, the article considers novels that might seem to resist the Adlerian template. Focusing, in particular, on the young female protagonists of The Haunting (1982) and The Changeover (1984), it points to the ways in which their magical power is utilised for the sake of others. It concludes with the suggestion that the triumph of Mahy's protagonists lies not so much in their generally celebrated ‘empowerment’, as in their transcendence of the goal of superiority for its own sake.

THE ROLE OF EDUCATION ON DISASTER PREPAREDNESS CASE STUDY OF 2012 INDIAN OCEAN EARTHQUAKES ON THAILAND’S

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raya Muttarak ◽  
Wiraporn Pothisiri
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Emergency Preparedness ◽  
Disaster Preparedness ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Disaster Experience ◽  
Individual Household ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
The Individual

In this paper we investigate how well residents of the Andaman coast in Phang Nga province, Thailand, are prepared for earthquakes and tsunami. It is hypothesized that formal education can promote disaster preparedness because education enhances individual cognitive and learning skills, as well as access to information. A survey was conducted of 557 households in the areas that received tsunami warnings following the Indian Ocean earthquakes on 11 April 2012. Interviews were carried out during the period of numerous aftershocks, which put residents in the region on high alert. The respondents were asked what emergency preparedness measures they had taken following the 11 April earthquakes. Using the partial proportional odds model, the paper investigates determinants of personal disaster preparedness measured as the number of preparedness actions taken. Controlling for village effects, we find that formal education, measured at the individual, household, and community levels, has a positive relationship with taking preparedness measures. For the survey group without past disaster experience, the education level of household members is positively related to disaster preparedness. The findings also show that disaster related training is most effective for individuals with high educational attainment. Furthermore, living in a community with a higher proportion of women who have at least a secondary education increases the likelihood of disaster preparedness. In conclusion, we found that formal education can increase disaster preparedness and reduce vulnerability to natural hazards.

The Free Responsible Action of the Individual

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael P. DeJonge
Keyword(s):  
The Novel ◽  
Extreme Situation ◽  
The Third ◽  
Third Phase ◽  
Responsible Action ◽  
Action Type ◽  
Two Phases ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Church

If, as Chapter 12 argues, much of Bonhoeffer’s resistance thinking remains stable even as he undertakes the novel conspiratorial resistance, what is new in his resistance thinking in the third phase? What receives new theological elaboration is the resistance activity of the individual, which in the first two phases was overshadowed by the resistance role played by the church. Indeed, as this chapter shows, Bonhoeffer’s conspiratorial activity is associated with what he calls free responsible action (type 6), and this is the action of the individual, not the church, in the exercise of vocation. As such, the conspiratorial activity is most closely related to the previously developed type 1 resistance, which includes individual vocational action in response to state injustice. But the conspiratorial activity differs from type 1 resistance as individual vocational action in the extreme situation.

Authorship, Publication, Reception (2)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert D. Hume
Keyword(s):  
The Novel ◽  
True Relation ◽  
Recurrent Theme ◽  
Secret History

This chapter examines the period between the mid-1680s and 1740, long considered to be the time ‘the rise of the novel’ occurred. Scholars have difficulty separating fiction from factual narrative during this era, as the authors and readers of the time thought of fiction not as the ‘novel’ but rather as a congeries of disparate and overlapping types: ‘history’, ‘letters’, ‘tale’, ‘romance’, ‘secret history’, ‘memoirs’, ‘true relation’, and the like. Only in the 1740s could one find a publishing environment more familiar to modern observers. Moreover, a recurrent theme of this era is price, to which book historians are usually sensitive, but which literary critics have not tended to consider important. Price is a crucial factor in relation to the length of the book, the author's remuneration, the publisher's profit, and the audience that can be reached.

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