Reading in Margins:A Postcolonial Reading of Evelyn Waugh's A Handful of Dust

سال انتشار: 1392
نوع سند: مقاله کنفرانسی
زبان: انگلیسی
مشاهده: 1,025

متن کامل این مقاله منتشر نشده است و فقط به صورت چکیده یا چکیده مبسوط در پایگاه موجود می باشد.
توضیح: معمولا کلیه مقالاتی که کمتر از ۵ صفحه باشند در پایگاه سیویلیکا اصل مقاله (فول تکست) محسوب نمی شوند و فقط کاربران عضو بدون کسر اعتبار می توانند فایل آنها را دریافت نمایند.

استخراج به نرم افزارهای پژوهشی:

لینک ثابت به این مقاله:

شناسه ملی سند علمی:

TELT01_091

تاریخ نمایه سازی: 28 آذر 1392

چکیده مقاله:

A Handful of Dust, an early novel of Evelyn Waugh, is a modernist work set in a colonial context. In spite of Waugh's claim that the scheme was a Gothic man in the hands of savages… the story circulates mostly around the heroine. Additionally, there are other female characters with different roles and positions which are the points of focus in the present research. Save Brenda Last, the heroine for whose infidelity her husband, Tony seeks refuge in a colonial journey to Amazonian forests; there are other minor female characters that most of the time, seem to be neglected by the critics. Among them are John Andrew's nanny, the oriental Jenny Abdul Akbar and the mimic woman , Rosa. The three of them are subalterns in Spivak's term; and marginalized because of their race, gender and nationality. These women are regarded as alterity, or the other . It is interesting to trace the way these women have been made devoid of their voice. Regarding Waugh's misogynistic tendency in his life and career, the question is: can the subaltern speak? Except the first woman, nanny, the other two have a 'hybrid identity'. Marrying men of another race and nationality, both women inhabit in a liminal position, between the pre-marital and post-marital status. They belong neither to the former nor the new position. Therefore, they are caught between two contrary states which determine their complicated actions and also the way others react to them. Regarding these three women as others in a colonial context to assert their individuality and agency, and the way they are treated is an interesting subject on which this paper aims to work. To do this, the study utilizes the related ideas of the two aforementioned postcolonial theorists to address the way Waugh characterizes colonized women as minorities. Therefore, using Spivak's idea of subaltern, we examine the author's characterization of these figures as marginalities. The study aims to find whether these women can speak or not; and if yes, how. The other thinker whose ideas have been used in this paper is Homi Bhabha. Utilizing Bhabha's ideas of mimicry, liminality, hybridity and dislocation, a deep understanding of these women's status in a colonial context would be resulted.By offering Bhabha and Spivak's postcolonial notions, the present research claims that although this novel seems to be a male story in the Author's eyes; we cannot neglect the important role women, whether white or non-white, colonizer or colonized can play. The research also proves Waugh's ambiguous misogyny. In A Handful of Dust he makes an exception and adds a kind of imperialistic thinking and racial attitude to his misogynistic approach. Creating Brenda, a middle class English New Woman as a voice by herself proves this. In general, regarding these artistic features, this study seeks for a new reading of the marginal characters of the novel and also the way they participate in a self-actualization path to assert their voice.

کلیدواژه ها:

A Handful of Dust ، Evelyn Waugh ، Bhabha ، Spivak ، Subaltern

نویسندگان

Sarah Esmaeili

M.A. Student of English Literature University of Isfahan