• Login
    View Item 
    •   ResearchSpace Home
    • College of Humanities
    • School of Arts
    • English, Media and Performance Studies
    • Masters Degrees (English, Media and Performance Studies)
    • View Item
    •   ResearchSpace Home
    • College of Humanities
    • School of Arts
    • English, Media and Performance Studies
    • Masters Degrees (English, Media and Performance Studies)
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    The language of dreams : a study of transcultural magical realism in four postcolonial texts.

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    Thesis (7.375Mb)
    Date
    2005
    Author
    Hosking, Tamlyn.
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    This research provides an analytical reading of four contemporary novels, in a transcultural study of magical realism and dreams. Two of the novels, Ben Okri's The Famished Road and its sequel Songs of Enchantment, examine dreams through magical realism in postcolonial African literature. The third novel, Toni Morrison's Beloved, is used to depict the use of memory within an African-American magical realist novel. And the fourth narrative is Irvine Welsh's Marabou Stork Nightmares, which focuses on the use of hallucination within what can be seen as a magical realist mode. The analysis of these novels examines certain aspects of magical realism, including the use of the subconscious, focusing primarily on dream, memory and hallucination. In examining this topic, I aim to suggest that the use of the subconscious, within this literature, allows the writer to comment on a particular society. As can be seen in previous studies of magical realism, the writer is able to express his or her dissatisfaction with society by destabilising conventionally accepted truths. A writer can therefore convey a sense that the surface of a particular culture or society is a facade, disguising certain hidden truths, which require a more in depth examination, in order to more fully understand the workings behind that society. The subconscious works to reveal these hidden realities, and is therefore a mode of resistance in that it allows the writers an avenue through which to express their dissatisfaction with their particular society. This is achieved through the exploring and deconstruction of certain boundaries within the novels which, along with several other factors, essentially concords the magical realism inherent in these texts. It is additionally enhanced through the use of the device of the subconscious, which allows the writers to transgress borders, and further explore their particular cultures. Through the use of novels from various contemporary societies, I hope to establish the fact that the subconscious, and therefore magical realism, is a transcultural technique, in that it traverses a multitude of cultures, without being specific to any one in particular. While the use of dreams requires a culture specific interpretation, the use of the subconscious in this literature can be seen as a global technique of expressing dissatisfaction within these societies.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10413/1895
    Collections
    • Masters Degrees (English, Media and Performance Studies) [221]

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • The identity of difference : a critical study of representations of the Bushmen. 

      Bregin, Elana. (1998)
      More than any other people, the Bushmen - like the Aborigines on the Australian continent - have epitomized the sub-human other in South African historiography. My primary concern in this study will be to interrogate the ...
    • A genealogical history of English studies in South Africa : with special reference to the responses by South African academic literary criticism to the emergence of an indigenous South African literature. 

      Doherty, Christopher Malcolm William. (1989)
      This thesis examines certain social and institutional forces that have shaped the outlooks and procedures of English departments in South Africa. The approach taken is based on the researches of Michel Foucault, notably ...
    • The difference debate : the politics of feminist literary criticism in South Africa. 

      Sephuma, Nandipha. (2013)
      This dissertation traces the development of the ‘difference debate’ during the 1990s. Using the ground-breaking Natal conference on ‘Women and Gender in Southern Africa’ as the central point of reference, the study aims ...

    DSpace software copyright © 2002-2013  Duraspace
    Contact Us | Send Feedback
    Theme by 
    @mire NV
     

     

    Browse

    All of ResearchSpaceCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsAdvisorsTypeThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsAdvisorsType

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    DSpace software copyright © 2002-2013  Duraspace
    Contact Us | Send Feedback
    Theme by 
    @mire NV