From the Present to the Past: Redemptive Authority of History in Octavia Butler’s Kindred (Published)
The present paper aims to validate the idea that history is a foundational site of redemption. Through anachronistic traumatic journeys that take place in the present, Octavia Butler’s Kindred establishes symbolic and critical connections between past and present. Using magical realism, a counter hegemonic style, the novel blurs binary oppositions, such as past and present, dominant and dominated, questioning notions of hierarchy and dominance, and above all subverting the official reality of slavery. In re-enacting slavery, this historical narrative constructs a linkage across time and race, and conceives the relevance of the racial past. Drawing on the postmodern slave narrative framework, we trace the process whereby the main character submits to the position of slave and at the same time incorporates in the historical narrative representation her sense of self – her subjectification. This experiential position facilitates the construction of a counter hegemonic knowledge that undermines the master narrative of slavery.
Citation: Koffi Eugene N’guessan (2022) From the Present to the Past: Redemptive Authority of History in Octavia Butler’s Kindred, European Journal of English Language and Literature Studies, Vol.10, No.1, pp.16-30
Keywords: Masochism, Slavery, history, magical realism, past, present, redemption
Deconstruction of Psychic Issues in Plath’s Poetry (Published)
Sylvia Plath’s poetry offers a wide range of ideas and themes. The article uses Derridian deconstructive ideology to break up the meanings of the text and highlight the wide range of meanings it offers to the readers of different contexts. Deconstruction is the theory that challenges the centrality of any phenomenon and breaks up its structures to generate endless modes of signification. In this article, the study deconstructs Plath’s poems to generate a plurality of meanings related to human behaviors and psychology. It would be debated that various psychic states emerge in her poetry that resists any uniform reading of her poetry. It will be argued that deconstructing the text creates a multiplicity of meanings related to the human psyche and attitudes. This aspect of her work adds meaningfulness to her text and enables the readers to bring out a plurality of meanings associated with a particular mood and behavior. Carl Jung (1975) states that poetry is instrumental in understanding the psyche of the poet. The archetypal patterns and symbols that are recurrent in Plath’s poetry are the expressions of the psychic continual potential for transformation. Her themes are universal because they deal with the traumatic nature of human experience. That is the reason her poetry has influenced half a century after her committing suicide in February of 1963.
Keywords: Fear, Madness, Masochism
Adaptation of Shakespeare’s Plays into Films: The Dark Side (Published)
To what extent our innermost feelings can be revealed through our works? The unbearable face of human being cannot be hidden and what a director shot in a film may reveal the real sense of what is hidden from our eyes. Thus directors sometimes try to hide their dark side behind such interesting movies after having modified the events of the original text to achieve their end. This paper, however, is an overview about the technique of adaptation which varies from one adaptationist to another depending on the historical background of the screenplay writer. Although the director succeeds to project what is on one side of his curtain, he fails to hide what is on the other side that discloses his innermost feelings
Keywords: Adaptation, Dark side, Masochism, Sadism, Shakespeare, Vishal Bhardwaj