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
A Psychoanalytic Reading in Toni Morrison’s Beloved: Trauma, Hysteria and Electra Complex (Published)
Psychoanalysis seems to be the most suitable approach to analyze and interpret Toni Morrison’s Beloved. Freud is the founder of this theory in which he was able to explain human behavior through dreams and unconscious symptoms. Beloved is recognized as one of the most modern novels to apply psychoanalysis theories. In this research, I am going to explain these theories in the novel through characters and some important incidents that occurred in a great part of the novel. Sethe is the central character in the novel , she was influenced by her actions, especially killing her innocent daughter. It was evident that she had experienced a harsh treatment in her past. She suffers from slavery, oppression and raping in Mr.Garner Sweet Home in Kentucky. Trauma, hysteria, Oedipal complex are very clear to readers as psychological symptoms in Beloved. Many critics have written and discussed the theories of psychoanalysis in the novel such as Kristin Boudreau in her article “Pain and the unmaking of self in Toni Morrison’s Beloved”. She asserted that” People attempted to find an outlet to help them to clear out their painful experiences and hurtful past”. Sethe released her negative emotions and her stored desires by killing her innocent daughter. In the end, Many readers believe Morrison’s novels are the establishment of her envisioned tradition. She challenges and requires the reader to accept her on her own terms.
Keywords: Holocaust, Hysteria, Psychoanalysis, Sethe, Slavery, oedipal complex