Critical Discourse Analysis: A Multidimensional Perspective

Defining at the simplest level, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is an act of explaining and interpreting any kind of text – both written and oral – and similar discourses that carry a certain message. It is a study of the ways in which language is used in various texts and contexts. In analysing discourses, the discipline pursues to incorporate various perspectives in order to get the richest meaning of the discourses possible. Further, the CDA adopts an in-depth study of play of power and role of socio-cultural, economic and cultural contexts in which texts and discourses are created. The discursive nature of language further necessitates the CDA to interplay among various facets of understanding. Hence, the Critical Discourse Analysis is not a single theoretical framework; rather a combination of a number of multidimensional approaches, for a good CDA necessarily involves as many approaches as feasible.       

Racist Media in Native Son

A scene from Pierre Chenal's 1950 film Native Son. Courtesy: http://filmcomment.com/

Native Son, a novel by Richard Wright, is often named as one of the greatest pieces of literature in showing experiences of the African-American people. There are many issues that the novel raises regarding racial segregation and torture. The novel exposes how black men and women had to live during the first half of the twentieth century, years after slavery ended. It portrays the treatment of black people by various quarters of social and political life. Among them is the press and, in particular newspapers. The newspapers' role is brought into the novel when pressmen significantly cover the death and murder of Miss Mary Dalton and the incidents following that, in the two chapters ‘Flight’ and ‘Fate’ of the novel. Like other institutions established and operated by white people newspapers too in the novel, are apparently racist; and they sensationalize more than inform the public about what is happening.

What if Stronger Women: Retelling The Winter's Tale

A scene from the Utah Shakespeare Festival's 2004 production of The Winter's Tale. (Copyright Utah Shakespeare Festival. Photo by Karl Hugh.) Courtesy: http://www.bard.org/

In The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare, Queen Hermione is one of the most important characters. Her importance is not only limited to the context of this play in particular; rather Hermione is perhaps one among few strongest women characters Shakespeare has ever created for/ in his plays. Paulina of this very play can also be categorised as similar to Hermione. Yet, the overall development of the play is not presented from her perspective. Although being strong and heroic, the Queen's role is made subordinate, and the role of the King Leontes is highlighted. From a feminist perspective, the point of view which the Shakespearean drama is presented through thus can be called patriarchal, for it presents women in submissive roles who always accept decisions of their male counterparts. If the story is retold with the feminist lens, the plot of the play will go to a completely different direction in which women characters are decisive in themselves for their life.   

Decision Making Right of Women in Pericles

The eight-member cast of California Shakespeare Theater’s Pericles puts on a jousting pageant on stage at the Bruns Memorial Amphitheater in Orinda. Photo by Kevin Berne.  Courtesy: http://www.theaterdogs.net/

Pericles, Prince of Tyre, a romantic play by William Shakespeare revolves around various women characters from diverse family backgrounds. These women have significant roles in movement of the plot, for without them the play would be different. But, their role in decision making moments that actually determine the plot movement is different from character to character. While some characters are not allowed to speak during crucial decision making moments, some other even enjoy it to the extent that they are misused. In some cases, the decision making right awarded to women in the play is not much strong as women generally had in the sixteenth century Shakespearean English society.  But, some women are able to make their voices heard in decision making processes. In overall, the decision making right that women characters in the play can enjoy is not uniform, but different from case to case and person to person.

BOOK REVIEW: Voices of the Century

Speeches That Changed the World is a collection of some important speeches made by significant players of the twentieth-century world politics (though few speakers don't belong to the political domain). Compiled and edited by an Australian history teacher Alan J Whiticker and published by Jaico Publishing House in India in 2010, the book has 43 speeches covering a span of 104 years (1901-2004). The book talks about diverse issues from war to peace, from socialism to the Holocaust, from nuclear weapons to pacifism, and from women rights to AIDS-related discrimination. Considering the geography, time span and themes it covers, the book is a credible document of major ups and downs in the world politics in the twentieth century.  

Value Judgement of Literatures under Questions

Literary studies in almost all parts of the world involve a system of valuation of literary texts and authors. Consequently, some texts and authors are canonised and established as "standards" in every literature on suppression of rest of "non-standard" texts.  Traditionally, some qualities like test of time, aesthetic standard and representation of real life are regarded as benchmarks of value judgement of literary texts and authors. Nevertheless, such systems of judgements are most of the times suspected to be false as they apparently exclude many of texts with different qualities and they base the judgements upon few select critics. Due to exclusion of many texts and authors as decided by few critics, value judgements in literature are under the questions of accuracy and credibility.

The Erasers: A Narrative Rewriting of Oedipus Rex

          

Photo: http://ecx.images-amazon.com

  The Erasers is a detective novel by Alain Robbe-Grillet, originally published in French as Les Gommes in 1953. The novel deals with attempts to find the assassin of a professor named Daniel Dupont who was supposed to be killed in the night before the novel's setting. The novel is set in an unnamed city, covers a full day that a government's special agent spends to find out the murderer. The novel concludes much like the world famous classical Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex by Sophocles revealing to the readers that the one searching the murderer himself turns to be the murderer. Due to its similar plot structure with dramatic irony and other similar elements, The Erasers can be taken as a rewriting and/or rereading of the classical mythical tragedy of Oedipus.

English Medium Education: An Individual and National Need

From www.ekantipur.com

On a day in my twelfth grade, my English teacher was marking my test papers in front of me. Suddenly he asked me if I came from a government school. I said, "Yes, I am from Nepali medium." Then he commented, "If your parents had enrolled you in an English medium school…" He didn't complete the sentence, but looked at my face directly and seriously. My face turned very serious and quite shy. This comment had such an impression on me that I am still thinking what if my parents had enrolled me in an English medium school.

Metaphors in "To a Skylark"

Photo from http://www.charliesbirdblog.com/

"To a Skylark" is a lyrical poem written by one of the best known Romantic poets Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822).  In this poem, the poet has elevated beauty and sweetness of a skylark and the song it sings. To describe its virtues, the skylark is compared with various beautiful things of the world. Metaphoric language has been used in the poem as a means of such comparisons. The poem thus is filled with metaphors to describe beauty of the skylark and sweetness of its songs and such metaphors have made the bird and the song something more than what they really are.

Author's Presence in a Text

           Though Roland Barthes has already declared that the author is "dead" in a text, there are many theories that believe authorship cannot be separated from any writing. Despite many theoretical attacks on presence of the author in a literary creation in the modern era, many other theories believe that author cannot help representing him/herself in his/her writing; thus any writing is expression of its author and his/her feelings, emotions, thoughts and ideas. These theories can be collectively called "the theory of expressivity". Since these theories originate and develop most in Romantic writings, they can also be called "the Romantic theory of authorship" or "the Romantic-expressive theory".

Parody: This is Just to Say

Our poetry teacher Prakash Subedi says one of the best ways to appreciate a good poem is to compose parodies of them. So, he had assigned us to write parodies of the well-known poem 'This Is Just To Say' by William Carlos Williams. Thus, here are a couple of parodies written by me:

Nora's Final Meeting with Torvald: The Doll's Defiance

Nora Helmer, wife of Torvald Helmer is the protagonist of the celebrated realistic play 'A Doll House' (1879) by Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906). The change in her personality from a submissive wife to an assertive woman is taken as the most important move of the plot in this play. In this development, Nora's final meeting with her husband Helmer (whom she is going to leave) is the climax. Understanding this very episode provides the audience with the central controversy associated with Nora's role: is she right in leaving home. In deed, the scene of her meeting with Helmer is essentially crux of the play as it includes the landmark move in the plot, that is Nora's daring defiance against her doll position.

Role of Family in Personality: A Psychoanalytic Reading of 'I Stand Here Ironing'

'I Stand Here Ironing' is a short story by American writer Tillie Olsen. The story is about struggle of a mother – who is also narrator of the story – to bring up and console her psychologically problematic child, Emily. Emily is projected as one with various psychological core issues; namely low self esteem, fear of intimacy, and sibling rivalry. As the story progresses, she is gradually healed. In this process of problematisation and healing, the mother is seen always with her. Besides, the unnamed mother too shares those core issues. In fact, it is the mother (and indirectly the father) who incorporated the psychological problems into the daughter. Thus, the story shows that parents' treatment to children during childhood in the family directly influences their personality formation.

The Battle Royal: A Story of Realisation of Individual Limitations

While reading 'The Battle Royal' by Ralph Ellison, I find the event in which the narrator is called to redeliver his speech most disturbing. The event that he is called by some people to deliver his graduation speech again at a gathering reminds me of an experience that I myself passed through more than a decade ago. Since that experience was not so good for me, I find this call in the story equally disturbing and I can predict the problems that the narrator will face later. Further, that event makes me highlight innocence of the narrator to prove that the story is depiction of an individual's limitations. Then, for me, the story is an expression of individual weaknesses and their realisation, more than the voice for racial equality. 

Review of ‘The Journey’

'The Journey' is a short story by Catherine Lim. The story revolves around movement (not only physical one!) of the character named Richard and his family. It presents a conflict between traditional life style in rural Singapore and the modern life in urban cities of the nation that Richard and his wife Mabel represent respectfully. In addition, there also lies a conflict between older traditionalist generation and newer modernist generation. All the elements of the stories – including structure, characters, actions and language – contribute to the exposition of the same geographical and generational conflicts.

Nature and Time in the Given Poems of Coleridge, Keats and Wordsworth

The three poems - 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' (Coleridge), 'La Belle Dame sans Merci' (Keats) and 'Daffodils' (Wordsworth) belong to the same historical and literary period (of Romantic poetry). Thus they have similar visions toward nature and time that they pay high respect to nature and believe that past has a lasting effect on present and future.

            Explanation of beauty of nature is perhaps the most significant characteristic of literature of their time. Along with appreciation of its beauty, these three poems perceive nature as something great, God-like, thus it deserves high value and respects from human beings. The same beliefs are reflected in the three poems under question.

Mirror or Hammer? : Different Positions of Stories in Social Change

Introduction

            "Art is not a mirror to hold up to society, but a hammer with which to shape it", says Marxist thinker and dramatist Bertold Brecht (1898-1956). His idea is that art does not passively reflect whatever happens in society, but it actively influences and guides it. Art has a role to play, a function to inspire change in human society. It is in apparent opposition to traditional view toward art and literature that they "reflect" society as mirrors. In a way, both views seem correct. Some literatures simply reflect society, whereas some dare to shape it anew. The stories in this course too are divided over it. From the basis of two stories to be interpreted here, we can claim that art doesn't only mirror society every time, but sometime it hammers existing socio-cultural norms and values.

Dr Leinsdorf: Representative of 'White-Chauvinism'

'Town and Country Lovers' by Nadine Gordimer basically deals with racial differences and its impacts in human relationships in then South African settings. It includes two independent but similar stories set in town and country of South Africa. In the first story of town, Dr Franz-Josef von Leinsdorf (white man) is the major character who has relationships with an unnamed black girl. As the title suggests, they love each other. But their love is not so simple like 'pure love', but is complicated that also presents White view toward Black women in particular and whole Black life in general. Dr Leinsdorf's views can be representatives for white's views toward lives of blacks.

Sense of Class in 'The Garden Party'

'The Garden Party' by Katherine Mansfield suggests opinions on class differences in a society as one of its many themes. Its major character Laura belongs to the upper class. However in her neighbourhood, there live many lower (working) class poor families. Laura's and her family's view on life of lower class people has a significance in understanding of the story. Thus, although ambivalent, the story presents upper class's perspective toward life of lower class nearby them.

Delphin Slade in 'Roman Fever': An Unseen yet Important Character

Though only two characters – Alida Slade and Grace Ansley – are seen in 'Roman Fever' by Edith Wharton, there are numerous characters behind the scene. Among them, Delphin Slade is the most important one, whose strong influence can be seen contributing to what appears in the story. At the end of the story, most of the readers are forced to think about his role more importantly than Alida or Grace.