Matijaner Meyera in Translation: Cultural Identity Construction Through Untranslatability of Language

The concepts of language and cultural identity of a speaker are entwined as they complement each other. However, translation poses a challenge to the identity language predominantly constructs. Therefore, translatable elements of language get the stage of universality while the untranslatable-s essentially bring forth the culture they are descended from. In this study, a short story collection from Bangladesh, Matijaner Meyera, where there is a celebration of diverse branches of Bengali language, has been brought to light to show how untranslatability of a number of culture-oriented vocabularies vibrantly tells about Bengali culture. The primary resource includes a lot many culture-oriented vocabularies as well as few phrases that English, as a language, cannot accommodate in it. Inability of other languages to penetrate such culture-rooted belongings of Bengali language showcases the power a language retains to protect itself from any invading force. This study has argued in favor of the untranslatable base of Bengali that English, due to cultural distance, cannot embrace linguistically. Therefore, such cultural difference eventually develops a distinct linguistic identity of Bengali through untranslatability that this study has attempted to divulge.

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Across community barriers: female characters in Vimala Devi’s short stories

Acta Scientiarum Language and Culture ◽

10.4025/actascilangcult.v41i2.45888 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 41 (2) ◽

pp. e45888

Author(s):

Cielo Griselda Festino

Keyword(s):

Short Stories ◽

Women Characters ◽

Cultural Identity ◽

Short Story ◽

Main Argument ◽

Female Characters ◽

Short Story Cycle ◽

Short Story Collection ◽

Story Cycle ◽

Story Collection

This article brings a reading of the short-story collection Monção [Monsoon] ( 2003) by the Goan writer Vimala Devi (1932-). The collection can be read as a short-story cycle, a group of stories related by locality, Goa, character, Goans, from all walks of life, and theme, in particular women´s milieu, among other literary categories. In her book, written from her self-imposed exile in Portugal, Devi recreates Goa, former Portuguese colony, in the 1950s, before its annexation to India. A member of the Catholic gentry, Devi portrays the four hundred years of conflictive intimacy between Catholics and Hindus. Our main argument is that Devi´s empathy for her culture becomes even more explicit in Monção when her voice becomes one with that of all her women characters. Though they might be at odds, due to differences of caste, class and religion, Devi makes a point of showing that they are all part of the same cultural identity constantly remade through their own acts of refusal and recognition. This discussion will be framed in terms of Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson’s theory of autobiography (2001) as well as the studies on Goan women by the Goan critics Propércia Correia Afonso (1928-1931), Maria Aurora Couto (2005) and Fátima da Silva Gracias (2007).

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IDENTITAS BUDAYA HIBRID DALAM TIGA CERPEN PENGARANG AFRIKA DALAM BUKU KUMPULAN CERPEN L’EUROPE VUE D’AFRQUE (Identity of Hybrid Culture in Three Short Stories of African Authors in the Book of the Short Story Collection “L’Europe Vue D’afrque”)

METASASTRA Jurnal Penelitian Sastra ◽

10.26610/metasastra.2016.v9i2.225-238 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 225

Author(s):

Mega Subekti

Keyword(s):

Short Stories ◽

Cultural Identity ◽

Short Story ◽

African Society ◽

Short Story Collection ◽

Ken Bugul ◽

Homi Bhabha ◽

European Culture ◽

Hybrid Culture ◽

Story Collection

Tulisan ini ditujukan untuk mengungkapkan identitas budaya hibrid yang ditampilkan dalam tiga cerpen yang ditulis oleh pengarang Afrikadalam buku kumpulan cerpen L’Europe Vue D’Afrique (Eropa dilihat Afrika). Tiga cerpen itu berjudul ”Femme de Gouverneur” (LFG) karya Ken Bugul, “La Bibliothèque d’Ernst” (LBE) karya Patrice Nganang, dan “Âllo” karya Aziz Chouaki. Identitas budaya hibrid itu tercermin melalui pandangan Eropasentris para tokoh utama dan mimikriyang mereka lakukan sebagai individu hibrid (Afrika-Eropa). Homi Bhabha (1994) dalam The Location of Culture, mengungkapkan bahwa konsep mimikri tidak berarti sepenuhnya meniru karena terkandung juga unsur mengejek (mockery). Oleh karena itu, budaya hibrid yang muncul itu dapatdianggap sebagai senjata untuk meresistensi pengaruh budaya Eropa pada diri mereka, juga untuk mengkritik pengaruh budaya Eropa yang selama ini telah dianggap baik oleh masyarakat Afrika.Abstract: This paper aims to describe the hybrid cultural identity shown in three short stories, which were written by African authors in the book of the short story collection “L’Europe Vue D’Afrique”. The three short stories are Ken Bugul’s La Femme de Gouverneur (LFG), Patrice Nganang’s La Bibliothèque d’Ernst (LBE) , and Aziz Chouaki’s Allo. The hybrid cultural identity is reflected through the Eurocentric perspective and mimicry of the main character as individual hybrid (African-European). Homi Bhabha (1994) in “The Location of Culture” describes that the concept of mimicry not only mimics something but also contains mockery. Therefore, the hybrid culture represented in the short stories can be considered a weapon to resist the influence of European culture on them and to criticize the influence of European culture, which has been considered superior by the African society.

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Excavation of History and Narration of Subaltern Orality in the Short Stories of Mahasweta Devi

SMART MOVES JOURNAL IJELLH ◽

10.24113/ijellh.v8i11.10845 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 (11) ◽

pp. 159-166

Author(s):

Anuranj C K

Keyword(s):

Short Stories ◽

Short Story ◽

Short Story Collection ◽

Mahasweta Devi ◽

Relevant Today ◽

Tribal Communities ◽

Political Activist ◽

History Of ◽

Story Collection ◽

Bengali Language

In 1979 Mahasweta Devi had written and published a short story collection in Bengali language. Later, the short story collection had been translated into English by Ipsita Chanda and published in 1998 under the title of Bitter Soil. This paper studies two short stories from this collection of translation, which entitled as Little Ones and Salt respectively. Mahasweta Devi made tremendous contribution to literary, social and cultural studies in this country and she always believed that the real history is made by the ordinary people as she is also a political activist. Both these short stories represent the history of post independent India. Mahasweta Devi’s empirical research into oral history and haunting tales of exploitation and struggle as it lives in the cultures and reminiscences of tribal communities is highly relevant today.

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Cultural Identity Representation in Short Story Collection on Media

Proceedings of the International Conference on Education, Language and Society ◽

10.5220/0008999704080415 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Rhani Febria ◽

Liliana Muliastuti ◽

. Emzir

Keyword(s):

Cultural Identity ◽

Short Story ◽

Short Story Collection ◽

Identity Representation ◽

Story Collection

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Petite idole énigmatique aux yeux allongés et pleins de rêve ». Les stéréotypes orientalistes dans Le Harem entr’ouvert d’A.-R. de Lens

Romanica Silesiana ◽

10.31261/rs.2019.16.19 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (2) ◽

pp. 200-210

Author(s):

Małgorzata Sokołowicz

Keyword(s):

Short Story ◽

North Africa ◽

Short Story Collection ◽

Story Collection

The present paper describes some orientalist stereotypes concerning women and manifesting themselves in Le Harem entr’ouvert (1919), a short story collection by Aline Réveillaud de Lens (1881–1925), a French painter and writer, whose works are devoted mainly to North Africa. The paper focuses on three, most common, stereotypical representations of the Oriental woman according to which she is, firstly, a beautiful odalisque serving the man; secondly, extremely sensual and thus unfaithful and, finally, jealous and, sometimes, very cruel. The author attempts to explain the origins of those representations and to answer the question why A.-R. de Lens used them in her writings

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The Intertextual Use of Greek Mythology in Agatha Christie’s Detective Fiction

English Studies at NBU ◽

10.33919/esnbu.20.2.8 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 321-331

Author(s):

Tatiana Ternopol

Keyword(s):

Short Stories ◽

Short Story ◽

Detective Fiction ◽

Comparative Methods ◽

Greek Mythology ◽

Short Story Collection ◽

The Face ◽

Greek Myths ◽

Story Collection ◽

Over Time

This study investigates the intertextual use of Greek mythology in Agatha Christie’s short stories Philomel Cottage, The Face of Helen, and The Oracle at Delphi, a short story collection The Labours of Hercules, and a novel, Nemesis. The results of this research based on the hermeneutical and comparative methods reveal that A. Christie’s intertextual formula developed over time. In her early works, allusions were based on characters' appearances and functions as well as on the use of motifs and themes from Greek myths. Later on, she turned to using allusory character names; this would mislead her readers who thought they already knew the formula of her stories. Although not a postmodern writer, A. Christie enjoyed playing games of allusion with her readers. She wanted them not only to solve a case but also to discover and interpret the intertextual references.

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