Memory, Exile and Identity: A Negotiated Post-Apartheid South Africa in John Kani’s nothing But the Truth (Published)
Memory, exile and identity are part of the psychical configurations that embody the experience of man within the spatial location he occupies and that in which he achieves rigmarole of the performances of different activities akin to the idea of the ‘Waiting for Godot’. Exile has precipitated memories which invariably mould and reconstruct identities, rendering them fluid and malleable. This paper examines the invention and reinvention of memory in John Kani’s Nothing But the Truth (2002) as it affects how justice is perceived and how reconciliation and forgiveness are issued. It also investigates how Kani’s characters navigate the murky waters of a conflated experience in dual identities, informed by exile, and how shifts and adjustments are made to accommodate the products of crossed borders to achieve a resounding reconciliation, having blurred, repressed, or better still, obliterated the dictates and vestiges of the wounded past. It is inferred, therefore, that the reconstruction of the unpalatable past will engender concrete cohesion beyond all existing divides in a new South Africa provided remorse is shown for past deeds and individual identity subsumed under the national identity.
Keywords: Identity, Memory., New South Africa, Remorse, Spatial Space
THEME OF ALIENATION IN MODERN LITERATURE (Published)
Alienation is the basic form of rootlessness, which forms the subject of many psychological, sociological, literary and philosophical studies. Alienation is a major theme of human condition in the contemporary epoch. It is only natural that a pervasive phenomenon like alienation should leave such an indelible impact upon the contemporary literature. Alienation emerges as natural consequence of existential predicament both in intrinsic and extrinsic terms. The theme of alienation has been variously dealt with persistently and unflinchingly in modern literature. The alienated protagonist is a recurrent figure in much of the twentieth century American and European fiction. Alienation in its various forms, has been dealt with in the existentialistic literature. Owing to its historical and socio-cultural reasons, the Indo-English literature also, could not remain unaffected by it. Alienation is the result of loss of identity. The dispossessed personality’s search for identity is a common place theme in modern fiction. Man fails to perceive today the very purpose behind life and the relevance of his existence in a hostile world. Edmund Fuller remarks that in our age “man suffers not only from war, persecution, famine and ruin, but from inner problems ——— a conviction of isolation, randomness, meaninglessness in his way of existence “.The paper will discuss and analyze theme of alienation in modern literature in general and Indo-English literature in particular from different angles. It will be contextualized by referring profusely the works of renowned writers. Nuances of the word alienation will also be discussed thoroughly
Keywords: Alienation, Existence, Existentialism, Identity, Isolation, Predicament, Randomness, Rootlessness
Fantasy versus Authenticity in Doris Lessing’s The Fifth Child (Review Completed - Accepted)
Doris Lessing, the Nobel Laureate, is known as one of the most prominent British novelists. Adorned with many achievements she focuses on the identity as a major issue though here both the protagonists (Harriet and David) fail to build their own identity. The aim of this paper is to show the importance of dreams or fantasies in our practical life. In The Fifth Child the novelist has merged reality and imagination altogether. David and Harriet have fantasy or earlier dreams to have a big (traditional) family. Though in the era of sixties the bulk of society had changed its mind in relation to women and the family but Harriet and David neglect the drawbacks of a big family. And they also feel good with their family until they get the fifth child, Ben, who is abnormal. Even with the pregnancy of Ben Harriet feels much trouble and unnatural. Due to this child the relation between Harriet and David becomes bitter and troublesome. They feel the reality of life that is quite different from their imagination. Ben is sent to an orphanage but Harriet takes him back to home that is more problematic. Neither of the parents can love Ben because they are afraid of him and his monstrous activities. Thus this paper relates subconscious state of mind to the consciousness through the fantasies or dreams.
Keywords: Abnormal, Consciousness., Drawbacks, Fantasies, Identity, Problematic, Reality, Sub Consciousness, Unnatural