The buoyant shift from form and structure to the fluid constructs of meaning turned discernible in Jacques Derrida’s Deconstruction. Meaning or reality that had so long been enjoying a fixed and definite status was worn out with the advent of the theory of deconstruction. The turnaround of what was considered real or true became subjacent while challenging all the existing binaries that had been hegemonizing human comprehension of the world (Derrida, 1997). Relying on the theory of deconstruction by Jacques Derrida, the study examines the shift from form and structure to the text itself regarding its privileged and marginal aspects of meaning with particular reference to the novel A Case of Exploding Mangoes. The study suggests that the interplay between privileged and marginal aspects of meaning can constructs multiple meanings and interpretations of a single text. It has further been added that the nature of the theory of deconstruction—change in the fixed status of meaning/reality—at the same time, is a representation of the indefinite nature of modern man who has experienced a bumpy ride of social and religious values resulted due to the political, industrial, economic and technological revolutions. The paper finds that the fluidity of meaning that is the sole characteristic of the theory of deconstruction traverses the contemporary Pakistani fiction in its dealing of the sensitive matters such as religious extremism and dictatorship etc., and Muhammad Hanif’s selected novel is the perfect example of it.
The rising tide of Islamophobia and the consequent acts of violence pertaining to it over the past couple of years, is inflicting misery on Muslims living across the globe. This situation calls for a clear understanding of the phenomenon of Islamophobia. Using the New Historicist approach, this paper embarks on reading Hanif Kureishi's The Black Album (1995) in the backdrop of the politics of Islamophobia in the pre-9/11 context. It thus attempts to highlight the working of the West-driven anti-Muslim political and literary discourse prevalent during the pre-9/11, or post-Cold-War era. The application of Stephen Greenblatt's thesis of power, subversion and containment enables us to examine the selected novel by situating it within the actual political discourse prevalent during the time of its production to examine its treatment of the Western political narrative of Islamophobia. The study finds that since the 1990s, the West has been relying heavily on the political discourse that intensifies the narrative of Islamophobia in order to contain the subversion it encountered in the form of rising Muslim influence and immigration crises in the West. In the case of literary discourse however, we suggest that while The Black Album (1995) may seem to comply to the Western narrative of Islamophobia, it also offers sights of subversion to the anti-Muslim narrative by exposing Western bias and racist tendencies; and, in return, it ultimately demands negotiation and change.
New Historicist approach assumes power to be using texts and co-texts as tools to build as well as retain a certain set of ideology. Since the pandemic has re-defined the personal space of individuals as a precaution to avoid the containment and the spread of COVID-19, the world has come across an ideology of restraint, to live and survive. In other words, social distancing is about to become a new normative structure throughout the world. The study strives to view, how texts and co-texts are being used by the world powers to fashion selves those comply with the new normative, i-e., social distancing and personal care. It also shows the representation of COVID-19 in the literary discourse produced during this pandemic and re-validates Stephen Greenblatt’s constructs of power, subversion and containment in this particular context. The essay, having analysed the child fiction My Hero is You published by UNICEF, finds that this pandemic has changed the dynamics of world politics by bringing all the world governments on one page to fight with COVID-19 and that they are relying heavily on literary as well as non-literary discourses to introduce and implement the new normative of social distancing and personal care. The study also suggests that this pandemic has also accorded the draconian image of power a new form, as this time power is trying to inculcate the ideology that favours humanity; and with the help of these ‘texts’, power wants to construct selves those comply with this new normative.
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