The centre and pathology: Postmodernist reading of madness in the oppressor in contemporary fiction

This study examines the pathological consequences of in-between identity on the members of the dominant group in polarized cosmopolitan settings in Lessing’s The Grass is Singing (1950). The study is a postmodernist reading of postcolonial literature to interrogate the pathological consequences of the constant shifts of identity in migrant characters. Most postcolonial studies contend that marginalization occasioned by the dominant group result in neurotic conditions in members of the minority group. They maintain that severe cultural conditions introduced by the dominant group mostly affect the psyches of the members of the minority groups and clinical madness becomes prevalent. This study, however, interrogates this thesis and investigates the possibility of the dominant group sustaining pathological tendencies as they change their perspectives to coexist with members of the minority through hybridity. In some postcolonial works of fiction, there is a tendency of some members of the dominant group undergoing severe mental disintegration in spite of their claim to superiority in relation to the marginalized groups. Using Ato Quayson’s calibrations, the study adopts postmodernist, postcolonial, and psychological models to interrogate possible causes and aspects of pathology in members of the dominant group with reference to Lessing’s The Grass is Singing. Although postmodernism is the umbrella theory, Quayson’s calibrations enable interaction of scholars from different academic disciplines for effective exegesis of pathology in the dominant group. The major finding of the study is that marginalization does not just adversely affect the objectified but also the dominant group as well; and results in the collapse of their psyche. The ideas of Jacques Derrida and Albert Memmi will form a theoretical basis of interpretation

Wagar and Motley “Archaic” Vestiges: A Postmodernist Reading of Contemporary Somali Fiction

The advent of the modernist dream resulted in the universalisation of culture, which entails deliberate effort to abandon traditional ways of life that foster difference and instead embracing national cultures to bring different communities together. Colonialism in the Horn of Africa, for instance, brought different Cushitic communities under single political entities and most of them adopted Islam to find a common ground. Other communities in East Africa had to convert to Christianity to find a universal cultural bridge. This has resulted in the assumption that most African peoples are homogeneous given that past traditions that elevated difference have been eradicated by unifying factors such as modern states and conventional religions such as Islam and Christianity. A critical reading of some literary texts, however, demonstrates that such claims are partly unfounded because there exist aspects of pre-Islamic Somali religion along with the fundamental beliefs of Islam, which bolster difference. This article is a postmodernist reading of selected contemporary Somali fiction to investigate the influence of pre-Islamic Somali religion on contemporary Somali culture. Using the ideas of Jacques Derrida and Joseph Campbell, the study demonstrates the impact of myth and the ancient traditions on migration and contemporary culture in Nadifa Mohamed’s Black Mamba Boy and Nuruddin Farah’s Secrets

Re-centring Mother Earth: Ecological Reading of Contemporary Works of Fiction

As the title, Re-centring Mother Earth: Ecological Reading of Contemporary Works of Fiction suggests, this book seeks to restore the principal influence of Mother Nature in human life. Individual literary critics have demonstrated how literary writers have deliberately presented the impact of Mother Nature on the lives of characters. However, most of them have hardly demonstrated the indispensable role of ecological environment on the political, social and religious attributes of human life. Although most scholars single out human greed and imperialism as the prime causes of historical events such as colonialism, war, slavery and industrialisation, this book extendsit by investigating the influence of Mother Nature in the political, cultural, religious aspects of human life in contemporary novels. This book is close textual analysis of works of fiction from any regions of the globe. The wide scope of choice of texts is deliberate because ecological issues are global and should be given the gravity they deserve in every continent. This study would have used academic and journalistic primary texts, but I choose literary texts because literature has the capacity to speak to hearts rather than minds of audiences. According to Brueggemann (1989): To address the issue of a truth greatly reduced requires us to be poets that speak against a prose world. The terms of that phrase are readily misunderstood. By prose I refer to a world that is organised in settled formulae, so that even pastoral prayers and love letters sound like memos (48) Brueggemann in the line “speak against prose world” suggests that works of art possess certain unconventionality that will invert the homocentric ethos that has constantly relegated Mother Nature

A Comparative Reading of Dialogism and Monologism in Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood (1979) and Wanner’s London, Cape Town, Jorburg (2014)

Many literary scholars have demonstrated the merits of divergent arguments within the novel. According to these conversations, the authorial voice becomes a witness of the diverse arguments raised by characters without being judgemental. Subsequently, great writers may not resolve major arguments but leave them for the reader to reflect and make their own judgements. This use of multiple voices is contrary to homophony in which the authorial voice dominates the conversation in the novel and characters that raise divergent views to this dominant voice are punished. Characters under this monologic mode are mere authorial mouthpieces to inculcate particular conversations and attitudes in the reader. Whereas, literary scholars focus on dialogism in prose fiction, this study is a comparative reading of dialogism and monologism in Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood (1979) and Wanner’s London, Cape Town, Jorburg (2014) to investigate traditional and current modes of expression in the African novel. While pioneer African novelists basically controlled the story through omniscient narration and authorial intrusion, modern novelists (including feminists) employ limited omniscient narrators that embrace divergent voices within the texts. The major finding of the study is that homophonic narratives are subjective, predictable, preachy and boring while dialogic narratives are objective, unpredictable, conversational and interesting. Furthermore, it was found that omniscient narration is characteristic of monologic desire to control the dominant voice in a novel while first person and limited omniscient narration are pointers to dialogism. The ideas of Mikhail Bakhtin will form the theoretical basis of interpretation

Onward and Return Migrations: Migrant Characters in Hisham Matars’ The Return (2017) and A Month in Siena (2019)

Migration scholars have divergent views concerning the experiences of migrant characters in foreign nations. The first group of scholars suggest that migrant characters are never settled and because of disarticulating legislations by the host nations, migrants tend to yearn for their return to the mother nations whose environment may be more enabling. The constant nostalgia compels them to erect symbols that remind them of home. Emerging voices nonetheless reject the association of migrancy with nostalgia and return and advocate hybridity as a strategy that would enable migrant characters root themselves away from home. These scholars view migration as an endless journey that supposedly guides the character to their destiny without return. This article extends a second argument that migrant characters embark on multiple symbolic and real journeys if they overcome the allure of return. Using the post-colonial theory, the paper juxtaposes characters who return with those keen on hybridization in Hisham Matar’s The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between (2017) and A Month in Siena (2019). The ideas of William Safran and Homi Bhabha will form a theoretical basis of interpretation.The study is a close textual reading that will proceed through close reading of primary, secondary texts and refereed journal articles