The Validity of the Vision: The Scholar’s “Fight to Find the Lost Element”

In the context of Anorld’s poetic landscape, the “forest glade” is gone and the “glimmering sea is far beyond the reach of people who are wandering in the “darkling plain” where the genuine self is buried. The inability to find the genuine self, brought about by loss of hope, made the inhabitants of the “burning plain” continue their oscillations between the frustrating world and what they unconsciously felt to be its essential existence. It is actually because of this lack of courage that Empedocles suspends his own life. The inhabitants of the “burning desert” wait passively, and the culture simultaneously wait for the light; they are shown as awaiting some revolution, but they are in a mood of “not being” or in a continual disappointment, without specific purpose. The aim of this essay is to show the changes in the passive, meditative mood of Arnold’s characters who begin the active life of the quest to find the genuine self. This quest begins with the story of “The Scholar Gipsy”.

A Comparative Study: Self-Realization in Twentieth-Century Western Thought, Ibn e Arabi's Idea, and Theatre of The Absurd

Following humans' struggles to achieve a better under¬standing of the self throughout major historical periods, the idea of the quest for a whole self is once more rekindled in the anxiety-laden atmosphere of the twentieth century. However, unlike the previous approaches, the twentieth century reflection of the notion of the quest for self-realization is paradoxically revealed in a new model of struggle which inclines more toward spiritual search. This inward struggle manifests itself through connecting the ego to the unconscious world, in line with the theories of Freud and Jung. The similarity which exists between Jung's psychic state and the Sufis' mystical world defined by Ibn e Arabi, makes it possible to reconsider the seemingly nihilist readings of the quest for self-realization of the twentieth century absurd thoughts in a positive wa

Pioneers of “Dawnism” in Victorian Desert

Arnold more than any other Victorian writer sums up for the reader the most typical qualities of the age. He shows the movement of thought in man in relation to the age. Arnold depicts the intellectual, cultural, religious and literary confusion of the age and calls it the “darkling plain. Throughout Arnold’s poetic career he tries to connect internal integrity with the social lives of men who are alone in an alien world. “The Scholar Gipsy” brings a sense of contemplation back to the frozen minds of the Victorian Utilitarianism. Although the images of hopes in “The Scholar Gipsy” done by the visionary quest and the Tyrian Trader put an end to the life-long doubt-stricken Victorian men, they are only the demonstrations without any palpable, real application in the wasteland of the age. Sohrab in Sohrab and Rustum is a servant of God who struggles to enter the territory of his father. It is his own lost origin to which he enters and consequently finds peace and joins the ‘All.’ Here, Sohrab is the son who is under the ageis of Thomas Arnold, the father, a triumphant practical spirit guiding the inhabitants of the darkness to the light. If “The Scholar Gipsy” is the renovation of man’s spirit from the uncertainty through the suggestion of a vision, and a ‘beacon of hope.’ Sohrab and Rustum is Arnold’s achieved vision and the real capture of the genuine self through the open involvement of the committed traveller in the way of perfection. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n4s2p34

Allegorized Subaltern: Subjectivity and Death in the Works of Bahman Ghobadi

The aim of the present study is to explore the reflection of the subaltern in the works of Kurdish filmmaker, Bahman Ghobadi. In order to do so, three periods in the development of the works of Ghobadi is analyzed. These periods include the time prior to the invasion of Iraq by United States and its allies when A Time for Drunken Horses (2000) and The Songs of my Homeland (2002) appear. The second phase is at the time of the invasion of Iraq including Turtles can Fly (2004), and the third period is after the invasion with Rhino Season (2012). These works deal with the neglected minority within Kurdish ethnicity and look through the ways in which there might be a possibility for this group to attain a sense of identity. Facing internal and external oppression, minority-within-minority section of the Kurdish society finds no way for resistance other than death where the power structures that are in a tacit concurrence in its subjugation are challenged and as a result, a space is created where the subaltern can speak

Psihoanalitičko čitanje odabranih perzijskih dječjih igrokaza

Once theatre aims at children, who are the citizens and decision makers of the future, it can influence the course of society through the values and worldviews that it promotes. The exceptional capacity of this medium in engaging the audience, along with children’s receptiveness, necessitates a meticulous study of the ideologies embedded in plays. This study unravels how these ideological factors can hamper the theatre’s main purpose which is to encourage the audience to form individual fantasies. Accordingly, Žižek’s theories are drawn upon for their hints on ideology, fantasy, reality, and subjectivity. Taking his psychoanalytic views into account, four Persian plays are examined to determine what ideologies underlie these plays’ motifs and instructions, as well as what may justify their presence in plays. On close inspection, it becomes evident that these plays are loaded with conscious manipulative ideologies which are intended to train homogeneous social members rather than present objective glimpses of real life.Jednom kad se kazalište okrene djeci, budućim građanima koji će donositi odluke, ono vrijednostima i stavovima koje promiče može utjecati na smjer razvoja društva. Izniman kapacitet toga medija u poticanju i aktivaciji publike u kombinaciji s dječjom receptivnošću, nužno upućuje na važnost detaljnoga istraživanja ideologija kojima su igrokazi prožeti. Ovaj rad otkriva kako ti ideološki čimbenici mogu ugroziti glavnu svrhu kazališta, tj. poticanje gledatelja na stvaranje svojih vlastitih zamisli. Istraživanje se oslanja na Žižekovo razumijevanje ideologije, fantastike, zbilje i subjektivnosti. Polazeći od njegovih psihoanalitičkih uvida, analiziraju se četiri perzijska igrokaza kako bi se utvrdilo koje su ideologije u temelju motiva i pouka tih djela, kao i to kako se opravdava prisutnost takvih sadržaja u dječjoj drami. Detaljno razmatranje pokazuje da su analizirani igrokazi obilježeni svjesnim manipulativnim ideologijama s namjerom odgajanja homogeniziranih članova društva umjesto posvećenosti prikazivanju objektivnih uvida u stvarni život

Reimagining Elizabeth Alexander’s “The Antebellum Dream” through the Lens of Social Practice Theory

The present paper aims to examine Elizabeth Alexander’s The Antebellum Dream Book through the prism of Dorothy Holland’s ‘Social Practice Theory’ in an attempt to unravel how African American identity is built, disintegrated, and repossessed both as a legacy of the past and part of history and culture. The close examination of important poems like “Fugue”, “Visitor”, “Race”, and “Early Cinema”, underscores how Alexander has merged the memory, geography, and the surreal imagery to criticize and redefine the Black identity as a reaction to slavery, migration, and racial violence. Besides being a poetic record of trauma and struggle, the collection is also a place of active cultural formation and the construction of subjectivity. The paper illustrates how the poetic voice of Alexander involves collective memory, disrupts the dominant racial master narratives, and puts Black body and voice in place as both objects and agents of change through a socio-historical approach. In conclusion, the paper establishes the relevance of the anthology as a crucial literary place of expression of identity (both Black and personal), agency, recovery, and movement within the intersection of past trauma and the futur

Moderno kazalište iz estetskih perspektiva: negacija, estetska istina i temporalna dijalektika u Dugome putovanju u noć Eugenea O’Neilla

Modern aesthetics is fascinated by the quality of empirical expressions in art, where the most unattainable forms of experiences seek refuge to survive through temporal dialectics. Whereas modern art endeavors to transcend its inherent experience of suffering through negating the sociopolitical reality of the imposed suppressive pain, Theodor Adorno’s Aesthetic Theory associates itself with the study of a non‐discursive form of experience that refers to the transient nature of a multilayered truth, compromising a self‐reflexive and subjectively temporal essence, to which all aesthetic questions terminate. Correspondingly, the current paper aims at approaching Eugene O’Neill’s mental theater from a new perspective, acknowledging the significance of temporal dialectics in modern aesthetics. Accordingly, the current research studies Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night based on the elements of temporal dialectics and aesthetic negation, confirming the significance of these elements in detecting the ultimate aesthetic truth in the works of literature.Moderna estetika fascinira je kakvoćom empirijskih izraza u umjetnosti u kojoj najnedohvatljiviji oblici iskustava traže utočište za opstanak kroz temporalnu dijalektiku. Dok moderna umjetnost nastoji transcendirati svoje inherentno iskustvo patnje kroz negiranje sociopolitičke stvarnosti nametnute supresivne boli, estetska teorija Theodora Adorna povezuje se s proučavanjem nediskurzivnoga oblika iskustva koji se odnosi na prolaznu prirodu višeslojne istine, kompromitirajući samorefleksivnu i subjektivno vremensku bit na kojoj završavaju sva estetska pitanja. U skladu s tim, ovaj članak ima za cilj pristupiti mentalnomu teatru Eugenea O’Neilla iz nove perspektive, priznajući značenje temporalne dijalektike u modernoj estetici. Aktualna istraživanja stoga proučavaju O’Neilleovo Dugo putovanje u noć na temelju elemenata temporalne dijalektike i estetske negacije, potvrđujući značenje ovih elemenata u detektiranju ultimativne estetske istine u književnim djelima

Borges’s “The Intruder” Remediated: Adaptation to Silver/Cyber Screens

The present article is a critical scene for studying Ghazal 1975, an Iranian film by Masud Kimiai and Natalie Bookchin’s videogame, The Intruder 1999, both adapted from Borges’s short story, “The Intruder”. Exploiting Linda Hutcheon’s A Theory of Adaptation (three modes of engagement in a story), the concentration is on showing how Borges’s story, as a telling mode (print), is remediated into showing (film) and interactive (video game). Ghazal exercises both fidelity criticism and appropriation regarding contextualization and adaptability, whereas The Intruder is a game of narration and interaction simultaneously, where the significance lies at studying the game’s “narrative mode” as a show case of Cyber Literature. The effort is aimed at scrutinizing how literary adaptations as forms of remediation are practically the manifestations of change in the storytelling narrative modes

Indigenous ambivalent figure in Jack Davis’s Play, The Dreamers

History of Australian Aboriginal’s colonisation, exploitation and assimilation has had ill effects on the performance of Indigenous gender relations, challenged the heteronormative conception of gender and directed Aboriginal people into shaping marginalised type of masculinities and femininities. With this background, this study attempts to depict the trajectory of shift in gender enactment of Aboriginal men and women in the pre and post contact era. The purpose is to account for the gender enactment of Indigenous people of Australia as has been veridically represented in Davis’s The Dreamers in the decades of 1970s and 1980s. Zooming in on such issues as unemployment, imprisonment, alcohol consumption, and acts of violence, among others, this paper argues that Indigenous characters in the play show signs of crisis of masculinity; in this regard, Tim Edwards’s notion of the crisis of masculinity has been employed. As the counterbalance of Indigenous emasculated men, however, the masculine performative role of Indigenous women has been highlighted. Raising these assumptions, we touch upon Judith Butler’s notion of performativity and gender identity, at the heart of theoretical framework, and prove the authority of our discussion regarding Indigenous ambivalent figures in the light of Indigenous critics such as Brendan Hokowhitu, Kim Anderson and Shino Konishi, to name but a few