Suchergebnisse

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy ; Embedded in the socio-political milieu of the country Anglophone Pakistani fiction provides a critical perspective on some of the important contemporary issues facing the country like feminism, class struggle, misuse of religious discourse, sectarianism, terrorism and the fragmentation of the Pakistani society. By contextualizing the works of four Pakistani fiction writers, Sara Suleri, Kamila Shamsie, Mohsin Hamid and Mohammed Hanif, in the theoretical paradigms of modernism, postmodernism and postcolonialism, this research identifies salient facets and characteristics of Pakistani Anglophone fiction produced during the last three decades. This thesis argues that Pakistani Anglophone fiction is Janus-faced in nature. On the one hand it specifically deconstructs various indigenous issues which are destabilizing Pakistani society and politics, while on the other hand it challenges the discursive construction of Pakistan as a terrorist country through international discourse. By doing so, these writers not only adopt the role of political commentators and interveners but also create a counter-narrative to Western hegemonic discourse and represent a case for a liberal and democratic Pakistan. Moreover the textual analysis of this fiction indicates a shift from traditional postcolonial literature. Instead of contextualizing their work in the colonial experience of the British Raj or its aftermath, these writers dissociate themselves from it and use this dissociation as a narrative strategy to hold the political and military leadership accountable for the socio-political chaos in Pakistan. The thesis argues that this characteristic of Anglophone Pakistani fiction indicates the emergence of a new phase, 'Paracolonialism' or 'Paracolonial fiction' which rejects the influence of colonialism on the socio-economic and political crisis of Third World countries and deconstructs various factors which led to their post-independence unstable economy and social fragmentation. ; GOVERNMENT COLLEGE UNIVERSITY FAISALABAD

'This article intends to explore and expose through the analysis of Morrison's Paradise how the Afro American female writers [re]construct the potential of Afro American ecriture feminine to seek the true freedom and empowerment of black women by appealing them to 'write-through bodies'. To achieve this purpose, this article articulates its theoretical agenda, through the exploration of the work of the outstanding, widely acknowledged award-winning, English speaking Afro American female writer: Toni Morrison. Though it aims to highlight the significance and contribution of the Afro American female novelists towards broadening the frontiers of 'ecriture feminine', it does not aim to offer the generalized history of women writing in Afro American literature. It seeks to propose alternative ways of informed analysis, grounded in discourse and Feminist theories, to evaluate Toni Morrison's contribution to 'ecriture feminine'.

hrough Julia Kristiva's intertextuality, this study explores the diasporic version of identity in Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient - the text that is based on Ondaatje's inspiration from other literary and non-literary texts: Rudyard Kipling's Kim, Herodotus' The History, James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans and the story of Gyges and the Queen. This theoretical inscription locates the source of the expression of the meaning of the text: either the author or the text per se. It argues the intertextual narration of Ondaatje, a Sri Lankan living in Canada, about the fragmented identities of the diasporas in the post-World War II milieu. This intertextual approach highlights the politics working behind the location of the characters, their (dis)placement from/to their origin and their identity in the post-WWII time. The framing of these intertextual discourses helps understand the contexts of diaspora characters as well as diaspora writers.

This paper investigates how Hosain's Sunlight on a Broken Column presents the oppression of women in the socio-political and cultural contexts of the Indo-Pak society. Patricia Collins's views of intersectionality and matrix of domination and Wrede's concept of agency serve as a theoretical framework for this research. Intersectionality works through a matrix of domination that includes four domains of power: structural, disciplinary, hegemonic and interpersonal, which further serves to organize, regulate, maintain and internalize oppression. The study is significant as it intends to unravel the fact that in Sunlight on a Broken Column, gender is not the only factor causing subjugation. Oppression keeps on multiplying with the inclusion of several aspects of individual identity in general and female identity in particular, including age, color, creed, religion, race and sexual orientation. The research establishes that despite intersecting forces of suppression, there still is room for the female agency as the character of Laila foregrounds the fact that the existing situation can be challenged and reverted by few individuals found inside the suppressed groups.

With Dirk C. Van Raemdonck's theory of 'tridimensional game of chess in South Asia', this study explores how the Great Game of chess has encompassed the board of Afghanistan into the strategic and economical range of global as well as local nations. In this regard, this study delimits Zia Haider Rahman's 'In the Light of What We Know' to examine the role of great (US, India), little (Pakistan, Saudi Arabia), and local (ISI, UNAMA, AfDARI, militants, etc.) players respectively. The three-level players struggle to win their politicoeconomic and geostrategic motives. The delimited novel exposes that the little and local players are playing the game of proxy to fetch their own designs. This study concludes that great global players/forces ensnare little and local players and misuse them as white and/or black pieces respectively to win their gains.

This study explores the shattered Pakistani nationalism in Nadeem Aslam's 'The Blind Man's Garden' (2013) in the context of the post-9/11 invading military globalism and reactionary social globalism. Focusing on Nadeem Aslam's hallmark work, 'The Blind Man's Garden' (2013), this article not only explores the current foundationless nationalism of Pakistan as the byproduct of undue chauvinism instead of being the outcome of its real ideology but also stresses the need for renewal of ideological boundaries of Pakistan in the light of current sweeping effects of thick globalism. Being a diaspora and much influenced by the secularity of the host society, Aslam seems to be desirous of featuring the nationalist inscription of home society in accordance with the global world, as is revealed from the roles played by his characters like Mikal etc. in the novel. The study motivates us to revisit the national myths with an aim to devise the marks of nationalism, provided if we are to rehabilitate our national identity.