785 research outputs found
Don DeLillo’s "White Noise": A Virilian Perspective
No full textDon DeLillo’s White Noise depicts a world of rapid techno-scientific and economical changes. Paul Virilio’s concepts of dromology and speed, as well as his notions of accident and technology, seem to be the most relevant in order to examine a novel centrally concerned with change, speed and technology. This article first offers an analysis of White Noise in the light of Virilio’s concept of integral accident in relation to the negative consequences brought about by industrial and technological progress. This is followed by a discussion of the relevance to the novel of Virilio’s theories about architecture and space. Finally, Virilio’s theories about the replacement of conventional war with pure and info wars are discussed in the context of the central event of the novel. Reading the American writer through the lens of the French theorist can shed light on the enduring relevance of both
The exegesis of Tabatabaei and the Hermeneutics of Hirsch: a comparative study
No full textThis thesis is a comparative study between Hermeneutics on the one hand and exegesis of the Holy Qur'an on the other. Its objective is to discover whether there are salient points of convergence between the two disciples, and whether issues germane to the Hermeneutical tradition in the West have been referred to and/or employed in Muslim works of Qur'an commentary. To this end, the works of one of the most prominent Shi'ite philosophers and exegetes. Allama Mohammad Hossein Tabataei, have been analysed and compared with the perspective and methodology of E D. Hirsch, one of the most important hermeneuticians in the Western World. Hirsch has been chosen since, in the opinion of the author, there is a considerable number of commonalities between the Hirschian approach to hermeneutics and the exegetical methodology of Tabatabaei and other Shi'ite Muslim interpreters of the Qur'an.. Hirsch, as an objectivist, along with a number of other Hermeneutical scholars, are critical of those who subscribe to philosophical Hermeneutics, such as Heideger and Gadimer. The same approach is taken in Tabatabaei's works, thus providing a strong rationale for an academic comparison of these two scholars. For this reason, this thesis attempts to study the theories of Tabatabaei and Hirsch in order to highlight the similarities and differences in their works. The central hypothesis is that while small differences in approach exist, there is much common ground, and that it is possible to use certain facets of Hirschian hermeneutics in the interpretation of the Qur'an, thus modernising some of the existing exegetical approaches employed by Shi'ite scholars.Since the aim of this thesis is to compare the interpretive works of Tabatabaei with those of Hirsch's, an introductory chapter has been dedicated to the study of the evolution of Shi'ite exegesis from the beginning to date. Tabatabaei's Al-Mizan has been chosen as the foremost work of Shi'ite exegesis in the modem period. Furthermore, a complete chapter has also been dedicated to Tabatabai's exegetical modus operandi as reflected in Al-Mizan, in order to arrive at a better understanding of his perspectives. This research arrives at the conclusion that philosophical Hermeneutics and Epistemology have opened new horizons on which we will always be dependent. Whatever interpretive theories with regards to the understanding of the text are accepted, or whatever the tendency as far as literary criticism is concerned, or whatever ideas are accepted in the arena of philosophy of human and social sciences, the discussion of the nature of understanding in general cannot be avoided. This does not mean that Hermeneutics is limited to these new theories. Rather, the opportunity always exists to introduce new interpretive theories in connection with the understanding of the text. It is indeed possible to study these discussions in detail in a separate sphere independent of the other branches of Islamic sciences and arrive at a number of stable principles in the interpretation of the text in Islamic research
"Behind the Plan to Bomb Iran"
No full textIsmael Hossein-zadeh is a professor of economics at Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa. He is the author of the newly published book, The Political Economy of U.S. Militarism. His Web page is http://www.cbpa.drake.edu/hossein-zade
"Islamic Fascism?"
No full textIsmael Hossein-zadeh is a professor of economics at Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa. He is the author of the newly published book, The Political Economy of U.S. Militarism. His Web page is http://www.cbpa.drake.edu/hossein-zade
(Hi)story in Search of Author(ity): Feminine Narration in J.M. Coetzee’s Foe
No full textConsidering women as marginalized in the patriarchal frames, postcolonial studies has given impetus to a more meticulous study of the (mis)representation of women in literature. In parallel, Post-colonial writers have tried to give voice to this silenced group. Deprived of a voice in Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, the female is given prominence as the narrator of its postmodern rewriting, Coetzee’s Foe. An exemplary postcolonial work in many respects, Foe also focuses the intersection of postcolonialsim and feminism in its use of a female point of view. The present paper is an attempt to analyze the significance of this female narrator, Susan Barton, with regard to such postcolonial issues as resistance, identity and language. Central to the discussion is the modality of Coetzee’s postmodern rewriting, that is, his employment of ‘historiographic metafiction’ and its relevance to the postcolonial issues addressed.Key words: J.M. Coetzee; Foe; Daniel Defoe; Robinson Crusoe; Historiographic metafiction; Colonialism; Feminine narration; Histor
‘Minding ’ the Style: Reading Conrad through Cognitive Poetics
No full textCognitive Poetics works on the triangle of author-text-reader. A main focus is the reader of literature, as a co-producer of the text alongside the author, in an attempt to explain how his/her knowledge and experiences are applied in reaching an understanding of a particular text in a particular context. In this paper several examples of how contextual frames can operate in a narrative are discussed in three works of short fiction by Joseph Conrad. Analyzed in the particular context of Conradian narrative and prose style are such points as: how the readers begin a story, how they enter into the interior levels of it in order to feel and touch the events in the way its characters do, how they follow every episode of it and, in other words, how the readers ‘comprehend ’ the narrative. It is argued that the application of insights from cognitive poetics to Conrad’s fiction is of particular relevance as Conrad is a writer who embodies and foregrounds this very act and process of ‘comprehending ’ in his fiction
History of Maqtal al-Hossein Documents: From Factual History to Fictional History
No full textThe chronological account of Maqtal al-Hossein is a literary work that has been preserved and has become a source of inspiration for the formation of the collective identity of the Shi\u27a. However, Maqtal al-Hossein as a literary work, written based on the subjective understanding of its author, also leaves traces of distortion in the writing of Maqtal al-Hossein itself. This article aims to illustrate the gradual shift of Maqtal al-Hossein\u27s narrative from historical to fictional. This article discusses (1) A discussion of the history of the writing of Maqtal al-Hossein as a development of literacy by previous writers, followed by a review of the history of the writing of the historical kitab Maqtal al-Hossein from the second century to the writing of Maqtal al-Hossein in the tenth century Hijri. (2). A review of the critical analysis of the text of the hadiths of Maqtal al-Hossein that indicated fiction from the third century Hijri to the tenth century Hijri in the two kitabs of Maqtal al-Hossein in the third century and Maqtal al-Hossein in the seventh century Hijri. The conclusion of this article shows that the writing of Maqtal al-Hossein from the period of the third century Hijri to the tenth century Hijri provides an argument about the shift in the historical value of writing the history of Maqtal al-Hossein, from historical facts to fictional narratives. Meanwhile, the writing of Maqtal al-Hossein from the tenth century was also influenced by the various interests of Islamic power at that time
Affective experientiality in Richard Ford’s Canada: a cognitive narratological reading
No full textThis article aims to explore the affective structure of the narrative universe in Richard Ford’s Canada through the lens of Patrick Colm Hogan’s affective narratology. We look into the affective responses provoked through the story-discourse distinction by virtue of Dell Parson’ experientiality, both functioning as the narrating self (the narrator) and the experiencing self (the focalizer) in the novel. By way of considering the story(world) of the novel (what is told) with deliberate emphasis on the characters and the setting, we will also examine the discourse as the reconstruction of the story (how it is told) which crucially comprises the plot or emplotment and narration. The objective is to shed light on the importance of the emotional affordances of experience as reflected in Ford’s novel
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