Brolly

Andrey Platonov and the Biopolitics of Failed Communism

2021-03-23T07:55:17-04:00

In what follows, I will interpret the works of post-revolutionary Russian writer Andrey Platonov through the lenses of critical theory and assume that there is a certain biopolitical element in his literature. Platonov’s fictional characters represent the "creaturely dimension" of "bare life" constructed by the Soviet governmental machine. They experience a shattering sense of longing for lost revolutionary ideals and manifest some kind of existential alert to the upcoming total colonization of private, as well as social life. What do the notions of "bare life" and "creaturely life" mean and how are these concepts interrelated? To what extent one can apply them to interpret the works of Andrey Platonov? "Bare life" is the conceptual construction, meaning an extra-juridical dimension of existence, produced by sovereign decision. It represents the zero degrees of life without a legal and political framework, where excluded subjects are, like other creatures, living in a natural environment under the constant sense of ontological insecurity. Platonov’s literary experiments are not mimetic reflections of reality. Apart from purely existential themes, his texts are imbued with the nihilistic atmosphere of Soviet social and political order and manifest the real and symbolic structure of power.

A Postmodernist Reading of Imagery in Eugene O’Neill’s “The Iceman Cometh”

2021-01-26T04:16:55-05:00

The characters, in Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh, are remarkably motionless, drinking and daydreaming. However, their portrayal is based upon motion and continuous shift from one image to another. These images are meant to reflect the (post)modern psychological and socio-political conditions in which the derelicts are trapped, and probe issues related to human existence and human identity. Much has been said about the characters in O’Neill’s play and their portrayal in a way that reflects the playwright’s nihilistic vision about Man and society. However, the bulky images employed in the play still open new horizons of interpretation. In this context, the paper attempts to read the device of imagery as a dramatic and textual device and decipher its different meanings as far as the question of human identity is concerned. Imagery and its role in determining Man’s definition will be studied from the psychoanalytical, poststructuralist and postmodernist perspectives.

Psychoanalytical, poststructuralist and postmodernist theories share the common feature of escaping the linguistic sign and opening the possibility of dealing with a reality unmediated by language. These theories offer a solid background to revisit the classical definition of Man, as suggested by classical theories of the Enlightenment and rationalism, providing new possibilities to go beyond the linguistic determinants of meaning. Drawing from notions suggested by Sigmund Freud, Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari and Jean François Lyotard, the paper proposes an exploration of imagery in The Iceman Cometh towards a redefined concept of human identity that blurs boundaries between the human and the non-human.

Autobiographical Elements in Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle”

2021-05-20T14:58:34-04:00

This essay examines Washington Irving’s short story “Rip Van Winkle” from an autobiographical perspective by focusing on the commonality and resemblance between the author and his fictional hero. It suggests that Rip and Irving have many similar traits which underline the deeply personal and subjective dimension of the tale. It begins by considering some of these traits such as idleness, generosity and kind-heartedness. It claims that both Rip and Irving are characterized by their benevolence and altruism which account for their belovedness. After discussing these attributes, the essay focuses on other common characteristics such as the tendency to pull away from matrimony. In this matter, both Irving and Rip’s possible homosexuality are considered. Although there is no clear evidence that they are homosexuals, this essay suggests that they both seem to have a repulsive attitude towards heterosexuality. The essay then concludes by examining some of the shared views and perspectives between the writer and his character. It suggests that both Irving and Rip are characterized by their aversion to politics and by their deep love of nature. Due to the numerous and striking resemblances between the fictional hero and his creator, this essay argues that Rip is a reflection of Irving’s character and personality.

"A Number" and "The Goat; or, ‘Who Is Sylvia?’" (Notes toward a Definition of Tragedy)

2021-04-01T14:22:44-04:00

This paper aims to demonstrate the posthuman elements in A Number by Caryl Churchill and The Goat by Edward Albee concerning the familial relationships that emerge within these two contemporary plays. Churchill constructs the posthumanist dynamics in her work through the clone life forms that bear genetic similarities to the real children of the problematic father in the play, who is in search of total authority to abuse and violate the notion of family. While the first play emphasizes the hierarchical side of the posthuman relationships between man and clone, the second one deals with the role of animals, deconstructing the anthropocentric view. In The Goat, the unusual bond of the father with a goat is regarded as love by him, whereas it turns into some kind of a rivalry for his wife. The contrast between the father’s attitude towards his gay son and his effort to justify his sexual relationship with the animal, problematizing the borders of rape, takes the posthuman relations to an extreme level. In this context, our study shows that the line between human and inhuman is blurred, and the social and familial values become questionable in the 21^st century.

Female Carnality from “A Male Eye”

2021-05-20T15:22:07-04:00

The issues of gender and sexuality in William Faulkner's fiction have provided a fertile ground for debate. Faulkner’s women have perplexed and intrigued scholars and critics, who invested their energy in deciphering his attitudes towards gender and women. While some scholars accuse Faulkner of misogyny and sexism, others perceive his inscription of the female desire in his texts as a challenge to the “Law of the Father” and to the discourse of patriarchy, which silences the female desire and relegates the female carnality to taboo. Focusing on “As I Lay Dying” (1930) and “A Rose for Emily” (1930), two-Faulknerian women-centred narratives that tell their protagonists’ bodies’ stories from the male author’s “eye”, and adopting a gothic perspective, this paper attempts to show that Faulkner’s Gothicized inscription of the female body is neither empowering nor liberating. Rather, it betrays his masculine concerns about female sexuality, as well as his patriarchal Southern society’s fear of the liberation of her body.

Power Relations and the Inevitable

2021-03-31T07:36:30-04:00

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the concepts of power relations, identity, and personality in the cinema of Miklós Jancsó. Even though I take the film My Way Home (1965) as the object study, I point out that the analysis can be applied to the rest of his filmography, since it consists of a recurrent study of similar narrative patterns and topics. To achieve this goal and offer a better understanding of the philosophy behind the cinema of the Hungarian director, I approach the study from a Foucaultian perspective, from which I find a set of relevant similarities and differences between the political visions of both authors. I conclude that how power relations are represented in Jancsó’s films lead to the idea of the inevitable, in which characters are not in control of their fate.

Traditional African Values

2021-05-20T15:30:11-04:00

It is incontrovertible that there are pristine traditional African values for which Africans are identified amidst the cultures of the world. It is also factual that, in contemporary times, Africa is undergoing harrowing experiences due to the corrosion, devaluation and desecration of these values through the uncritical imbibement, assimilation and influences of alien values, which antagonize and conflict with the traditional ones. This work excavates those pristine values, represents and critically appraises them.

Locating Irrationality in Pandemics

2021-04-19T21:25:32-04:00

Biology tends to reveal its mysteries to humans in numerous ways. The uncountable shades of biological problems have always been countered through logical and rationalistic approaches. However, certain pathogenic diseases like pandemics have always resulted in irrational responses which, most of the time, crop up from fear. Albeit, fear is inevitable; its upsurge results in a plethora of irrational responses like superstition, hatred, blame, stigma, to name a few. The article contextualizes the Indian literature on pandemics from the nineteenth century and the media coverage on the current Corona crisis to examine the irrationality towards pandemics. It explores whether or not there is a change in the behaviour of people from medieval to modern India. It also reflects upon questions like why is irrationality aggravated during a pandemic. The study concludes with how the reaction of nineteenth-century India is incidentally similar to the response that has been recorded during the Covid 19 pandemic, despite the technological advancement and modernization.

Pandemic Experiences and the Possibility of Global Health Diplomacy

2020-12-29T13:34:01-05:00

Diplomacy is one of the most prominent parts of statecraft. This research paper illustrates how the COVID-19 situation expands the importance of the incorporation of health issues into diplomatic channels. It also analyzes how the simultaneous interaction of state and non-state actors in global health issues can reduce the danger of pandemic implications rather than a nationalistic approach. Moreover, this analysis underpins how the countries of today’s world are more interdependent than ever in terms of politics and economics dealing with trade and business, people’s movement, information technology, climate change etc. Though there are theoretical and ideological disagreements in the course of diplomacy and statecraft, modern diplomacy does not avoid health issues as an element of its table of contents. It is relevant to mention that the COVID-19 pandemic spreads to all regions of the world and it is no longer an issue of a particular country. Pandemic is not new in the world, but this case is overwhelming, most rapid and unprecedented. And today’s world is more complex than ever. This situation is intertwined with several issues of politics, economics, security etc. Following the qualitative approach based on secondary sources, analyzing the recent and previous cases, examining the duel factors of national and international perspectives, the study finds that the Global Health Diplomacy characterized by cooperation, dialogue, information sharing, capacity building is needed in the battle with a pandemic like COVID-19. It also suggests transparency, accountability and integrity to achieve this goal.

Intangible Slavery and Freedom at Work

2021-04-20T23:53:59-04:00

In this paper, I am introducing a distinction in the notion of slavery, as tangible slavery and intangible slavery. Tangible slavery is the notion of slavery in a strong sense, in which slavery is understood as a system based on property law. I am distinguishing tangible slavery from a weak sense of slavery, intangible slavery, which refers to the situations in which an individual continues to work in place despite being dissatisfied with the work. The force to work against one own will is an outcome of complex situational effects generated from both external forces such as working environment, policies, culture, and internal forces like complacency, aversion to taking risks, refusal to explore new possibilities. I have mentioned and emphasized external forces at a minimal level. The focus of the paper is on the reasons related to the individual level, which creates a puzzle about individual freedom. The puzzle is – despite improved work conditions in modern times, why there seems to be a decrease in the level of work satisfaction? The first section of the paper provides an explication of the tangible and intangible distinction, showing the puzzling situation of freedom at the workplace. In the second section, I have presented a historical survey of evolution in the notion of work and freedom. In the third section, I have discussed freedom and liberty and elaborated on the idea of slavery with an example. In the final section, I have tried to formulate an approach from existential philosophy to overcome the puzzling situation of freedom at the workplace.