This study examines the relationship between the genre of ekphrastic poetry and art ideology. It provides a theoretical argumentation on this innate association in continuation with James W. Heffernan’s observations in the field. The study argues that ekphrasis is theoretically related to the practice of art criticism, which, in its turn, stands on art ideological grounds. Two hypotheses about the nature of the relationship that combines ekphrasis and art ideology are generated from this theoretical investigation. The first is that art ideology is a sine qua non to ekphrasis, and the second is that art ideology especially contributes to the thematic structure of ekphrasis. The validity of this proposition is tested through analyzing Marianne Moore’s poem “The Camperdown Elm,” in which Moore’s own art ideology as explicated in her non-poetic works is utilized. As a result, this study aims to contribute to both the theoretical and analytical studies of ekphrasis genre.
Numerous critical works have dealt with the fiction of William Faulkner. However, little research has been done about his significant work for the screen. Most studies that have dealt with Faulkner’s screenplays focus on comparing between the fiction and the screenplays detecting especially how cinematic elements have found their way into the author’s works of literature. Hence, this article explores two of Faulkner’s 1930s screenplays, looking at the narrative structures of the scripts, seeking to find out to what extent they are consistent with the structure of the monomyth, the concept introduced by Joseph Campbell. Moreover, the study depicts the main stages of the monomyth, or the hero’s journey, as it traces the main protagonist’s path from the start of his quest till he reaches the end of his adventure and goes through the main trials he has to experience. By applying Campbell’s theory of the mythological hero’s journey and referring to Carl Jung’s ideas on the process of individuation, the study exhibits the psychological development of the main protagonists through the different phases of the monomyth and presents their final transformation and full growth as a result of the tests they have undertaken throughout the journey.
This article aims to relocate Shakespeare’s Othello the Moor in the cultural roots of Moorish Spain, arguing that he is not a Moor in the inclusionary, monolithic sense of the term, but a diasporic Iberian finding refuge in fifteenth–sixteenth-century Venice. It seeks to contextualise Shakespeare’s play by setting the Othello/Iago binary as an epitomisation of the Spanish inquisition. Giving Othello, the Moor of Venice an allegorical reading against its historical background facilitates better perception of the play’s motivational dynamics: why a Moor? And why such extreme enmity? To substantiate the argument, textual and contextual factors, such as characters’ appellations and the Moorish refugee’s ‘royal siege’, are viewed from a different perspective, factors designed to direct the mind towards specific realities, already visible to the playwright’s audience.
Naǧīb al-Kīlānī is an Egyptian novelist and theorist whose work acquires more importance by virtue of its unique position as a literary manifestation of the thought and worldview of the Society of the Muslim Brotherhood. To embark on such a writing career in Egypt at mid-twentieth century meant first the antagonisation of certain power centers, leading to political jail, and ultimate diaspora; and second addressing the task of transforming the rudimentary conjecturing about an Islamic theory of art into a somewhat systematic form of theorization. The study thus aims to investigate al-Kīlānī’s contribution to the foundation of a theory of Islamic novel, focusing on his approach to the dilemmas and ambiguities surrounding the role of the modern Islamic novelist such as maintaining the intricate balance between the demands of religion and the freedom of art.
This paper presents a hermeneutic re-reading of the Qurʾanic Verses 43: 15–19 in the Chapter of Ornament (Surah al-Zukhruf), aiming to excavate the original interrogative nature of the Qurʾanic approach to woman’s positioning, and to expose the accumulative narratives that collapse the ontological into the cultural, reflecting negatively on the community. The paper argues against the assumption that the verses’ telos is to describe and prescribe; evidencing instead their critical and reproving tone. The tripartite methodology followed comprises a morphological analysis; a historical investigation that uncovers the regressive stance of authoritative exegetical texts; and a comparative overture, juxtaposing the Qurʾanic pronouncements with parallel modern concepts, revealing that the problems confronting women are of a persistent nature. Ultimately, the paper questions the authenticity of the self-image engrained in the consciousness of a majority of Muslim women and based on inherited parochialisms rather than rigorous application of critical thinking.
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