scholarly journals Theorizing Conscious Black Asexuality through Claire Kann’s Let’s Talk about Love

Humanities ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 165
Author(s):  
Brittney Miles
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Attraction ◽  
Sexual Politics ◽  
Black History ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
Black Diaspora ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Black Feminist ◽  
Black Sexuality ◽  
Controlling Images ◽  
Romance Novel

Asexuality is often defined as some degree of being void of sexual attraction, interest, or desire. Black asexual people have been made invisible, silent, or pathologized in most fiction, scholarly literature, and mainstream LGBTQ movements. Claire Kann’s 2018 young adult romance novel, Let’s Talk About Love, explores Black asexuality at the intersection of race and (a)sexuality. Through the story of the Black, bi-romantic, asexual, 19 year-old college student Alice Johnston, this text illuminates the diversity of Black sexuality in the Black Diaspora. Using a Black feminist sociological literary analysis to complete a close reading of the novel, I interrogate what Let’s Talk about Love offers for defining a Black asexual politic. To consider Black asexual politics beyond the controlling images of the asexual Mammy figure, and not merely in juxtaposition to the hypersexual Jezebel, calls us to instead center agency and self-definition. This project seeks to answer what Conscious Black Asexuality is, why it is a necessary concept for asexuality studies and the Diaspora, where we locate Black asexuality in Black history, and how Let’s Talk about Love by Claire Kann presents a depiction of Black agentic queerness that reclaims agency and intimacy within one’s sexual politics.

scholarly journals “Esther Weren’t No Harlot”: Rape and Marriage in Go Tell It on the Mountain

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-26
Author(s):  
Porter Nenon
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Sexual Politics ◽  
James Baldwin ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Black Feminist ◽  
Minor Characters ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
Patricia Williams ◽  
Race And Sexuality ◽  
Patricia Hill Collins

To consider how James Baldwin resisted racialized notions of sexuality in his first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, I employ a number of black feminist critics—including Saidiya Hartman, Patricia Williams, Hortense Spillers, and Patricia Hill Collins—to analyze three under-studied minor characters: Deborah, Esther, and Richard. Those three characters are best understood as figures of heterosexual nonconformity who articulate sophisticated and important critiques of rape and marriage in America at the turn of the twentieth century. Baldwin thus wrote subversive theories of race and sexuality into the margins of the novel, making its style inextricable from its politics. Baldwin’s use of marginal voices was a deft and intentional artistic choice that was emancipatory for his characters and that remains enduringly relevant to American sexual politics. In this particularly polarizing transition from the Obama era to the Donald J. Trump presidency, I revisit Baldwin’s ability to subtly translate political ideas across fault lines like race, nationality, and sex.

The Healing Magic of Joy: Understanding Magic as a Metaphor for Positive Emotion in The Secret Garden

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-141
Author(s):  
Margrete Lamond
Keyword(s):  
Positive Affect ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Positive Emotion ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Affective Content ◽  
The Secret Garden ◽  
Biological Nature

Literary analysis tends to be conceptual and top-down driven. Data-driven analysis, although it belongs more to the domain of scientific method, can nevertheless sometimes reveal elements of narrative that conceptual readings may fall short of identifying. In critiques of Burnett's The Secret Garden, the children's return to health is generally understood to be the result of their interactions with nature. Some readings add the power of storytelling as a healing force in the novel. Burnett's concept of magic has tended to be treated with uneasy abstractions, and the influence of affect on health remains open for further investigation. This article bases its argument on data-driven analysis that charts how affective content in the novel occurs in conjunction with references to magic. It identifies the narrative significance of negative allusions to nature and how concepts of magic occur alongside representations of positive affect, and suggests that the magic of healing in The Secret Garden is not the transforming power of biological nature, nor the transforming power of storytelling, but the transforming power of surprise, wonder and happiness in conjunction with all these factors. Positive affect represents the essence of what Burnett means by magic.

STRUKTUR NARASI NOVEL CA BAU KAN, KARYA REMY SYLADO ANALISIS SEMIOTIK

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 70
Author(s):  
Sri Sabakti
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Structure ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Basic Scheme ◽  
Library Research ◽  
The Mean

This research is aimed to expose the narrative structure of the novel Ca Bau Kan by using semiotical theory. The source of the data is the novel Ca Bau kan written by Remy Silado and published by KPG, eight edition, 2004. The data is collected by doing the library research. The teory applied in this research is the emiotical theory, especially the literary analysis of Subur Laksono Wardoyo that the analysis of the text of prose can be applied by using three fases; the analysis of the basic scheme narrative, the analysis of mean signifier, and the analysis of syntagmatics and pragmatics. The result of this research showed that the narrative structure in the novel CBK that (1) the life of Tinung before being a ca bau kan, (2) the life of Tinung as a ca bau kan, and (3) the life of Tinung after not being a ca bau kan anymore. Based on the narrative structure, it was found that “ Love is only one. No measurement is needed” is the mean signifier and able to be clarified by the analysis of syntagmatics-paradigmatics based on the biner oposition of weak x strong.AbstrakPenelitian ini bertujuan mengungkapkan stuktur narasi dalam novel Ca Bau Kan (CBK) dengan menggunakan teori semiotika. Penelitian ini menggunakan sumber data novel CBK karya Remy Silado yang diterbitkan oleh KPG, cetakan kedelapan tahun 2004. Pengumpulan data dilaksanakan dengan teknik kepustakaan. Teori yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah teori semiotika, khususnya analisis sastra menurut Subur Laksono Wardoyo bahwa analisis teks prosa dapat dilakukan melalui tiga tahap, yaitu: analisis skema naratif dasar, analisis signifier utama, dan analisis sintagmatik-paradigmatik. Hasil penelitian menggambarkan bahwa struktur narasi pada novel CBK adalah sebagai berikut: 1) kehidupan Tinung sebelum menjadi ca bau kan, 2) kehidupan Tinung sebagai ca bau kan, dan 3) kehidupan Tinung setelah tidak menjadi ca bau kan. Berdasarkan struktur narasi, maka didapatkan bahwa “Cinta cuma satu, kagak perlu takaran” merupakan penanda utama dan dapat diperjelas melalui analisis sintagmatik-paradigmatik yang didasarkan atas sebuah oposisi biner lemah x kuat.

scholarly journals Language, Form and Emotion in James Joyce’s Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man: A Literary Analysis

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 158
Author(s):  
Robert S.P. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Associative Learning ◽  
Emotional Response ◽  
Emotional Responses ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Psychological Perspective ◽  
Literary Traditions ◽  
Language Form ◽  
The Relationship

James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man has fascinated readers for more than a century and there are layers of psychological meaning to be found throughout the novel. The novel is the perfect vehicle to discuss the relationship between form language and emotion as Joyce deliberately manipulated the emotional response of the reader through innovations in form and language, departing dramatically from previous literary traditions. This paper attempts to take a fresh look at the novel from a psychological perspective and seeks to examine underlying conditioning processes at work in the narrative – particularly the concept of associative learning. Understanding emotional responses to different stimuli is the bedrock of psychological investigation and 100 years after the date of its publication, Portrait of an Artist presents remarkably fresh insights into the human experience of emotion. Despite its age, Portrait of the Artist contains many contemporary psychological insights.

scholarly journals The Concept of “Thrownness” in Algis Budrys's Short Story “Wall of Crystal, Eye of Night”

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (45) ◽  
pp. 111-121
Author(s):  
Svetozar Poštič
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Meaning Of Life ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
Being And Time ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Main Character ◽  
Physical Frailty ◽  
New Horizons ◽  
German Philosopher

This paper analyses the concept of thrownness and the related notions of immediacy and actuality in a 1961 short science fiction story “Wall of Crystal, Eye of Night” by Algis Budrys. It first defines the concept of thrownness (Geworfenheit), created and coined by the German philosopher Martin Heidegger in his classic book Being and Time, and it explains how this notion can be employed in literary analysis in general and applied to this work in particular. The article then analyses how certain stylistic devices in the short story, namely similes, change of pace and the presentation of an inner conflict in the main character, contribute to the feeling of authenticity. In other words, it attempts to exhibit the means used in a prose work to make it seem more realistic and immediate. Finally, the work also argues that science fiction is in many ways more real than other fictional works. Although it belongs to the genre that has traditionally been denied serious literary merit, the novel view and interpretation of this story aims to disclose new horizons of artistic expression that illuminate human mental and physical frailty and stimulate a valuable inquiry into the meaning of life.

scholarly journals Precision, Honesty and Liveliness: The Newspaper Medium in "The Unfortunates" by B. S. Johnson

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Biela
Keyword(s):  
Media Studies ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Post War

The article analyses the representation of the newspaper medium in <em>The Unfortunates</em> – the fourth novel by the post-war British avant-garde author B.S. Johnson. The narrator’s job as a football reporter is discussed with reference to other themes and the unconventional form of the novel. Special attention is paid to the section called “The pitch worn”, which presents the process of writing the report. The aim is to see how the chapter resonates within the whole work and what it reveals as regards Johnson’s views on precision, honesty and liveness. Literary analysis is accompanied by references to journalism and media studies.

scholarly journals [Book Review] Homegoing

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 221
Author(s):  
Louise Ling Edwards
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
The United States ◽  
Black History ◽  
Emotion Understanding ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Cape Coast ◽  
Personal Connection ◽  
The Family ◽  
Seven Generations

In Yaa Gyasi’s debut novel Homegoing, two sisters separated by circumstance are born in 18th-century Ghana not far from the Cape Coast Castle.  One sister, Effia, marries a white officer employed at the Castle and lives a comfortable life there with her husband and son.  The other sister, Esi, is captured during a raid on her village, marched to the Castle, and held in appalling conditions in its dungeons.  They reside in the castle together, yet without knowledge of the other’s presence or situation. The two sisters’ stories diverge when Esi is shipped to the southern plantations of the United States as part of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.  The rest of the novel follows the two branches of the family through seven generations in portrait-like chapters that alternate between describing the descendants of Effia and those of Esi.  Not only does the story illustrate how the legacy of slavery impacts the two lineages generations after emancipation, but it describes an expansive scope of Black history and the relations between Africans and African-Americans through personal narrative. What is impressive about the tale is that it utilizes thorough and complex character development to move forward the histories of two nations over the span of 300 years.  The shortness of each characters’ individual story builds the intensity of each chapter packing every paragraph with emotion.  Understanding Gyasi’s deep personal connection to the story makes it clear why Gyasi was able to depict each character with such nuanced detail.  She is telling a fictionalized version of her own family history, based off of her experience straddling Ghana’s and America’s two histories.

scholarly journals Chronotope of Russian Works about Robinson

2021 ◽  
pp. 287-302
Author(s):  
T. V. Shvetsova ◽  
V. E. Shakhova
Keyword(s):  
Russian Language ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The Real ◽  
New Methods ◽  
Space And Time ◽  
Language Interpretation ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
The Russian Language

The results of the study of the chronotope in Russian-language compositions based on the novel about Robinson’s adventures are presented. The material for the work was A. E. Razin’s novel “The Real Robinson” (1860) and Lev Tolstoy’s story “Robinson” (1862). The issues of the specifics of the representation of the chronotopic in the works of Russian writers are considered. The relevance of the study is due to the appeal to the universal of the chronotope, which contains an exhaustive toolkit for the artistic embodiment of images of space and time; as well as the search for new methods of literary analysis of the text. It is shown that in the analyzed texts, a kind of fusion of Russianlanguage compositions with a foreigncultural text in the aspect of a chronotope is realized. The similarities and differences in the rethinking of the story of Robinson are shown on the example of the model of textual connexity, the national specifics of the representation of the image of Robinson are indicated. It is noted that the external and internal chronotopes are retransmitted from work to work and create the basis for the emergence of the author’s intentions. It is proved that chronotopic analysis allows one to form an idea of the peculiarities of the Russian-language interpretation of the story of Robinson.

STRATEGIES FOR INTERPRETING I.A. BUNIN’S SHORT STORY “THE RAVEN” IN THE CONTEXT OF INTEGRAL ANALYSIS

2021 ◽  
pp. 106-111
Author(s):  
Н.Г. Сичинава
Keyword(s):  
Short Story ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
Psychological State ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Hidden Information ◽  
Inner World ◽  
Artistic Images ◽  
Foreign Speakers ◽  
The Aesthetic

Статья посвящена рассмотрению проблемы формирования основ филологического анализа и интерпретации художественного текста на материале новеллы И.А. Бунина «Ворон». Автор обосновывает необходимость интеграции лингвистического, лингвострановедческого и литературоведческого анализа для обеспечения максимально полного восприятия художественного дискурса инофонами. Зависимость понимания художественного текста и получаемого при его чтении эстетического эффекта от глубины восприятия словесно-художественных образов автор продемонстрирует на материале новеллы И.А. Бунина «Ворон». Средствами создания образов в рассказе являются символика имени; прямая или косвенная характеристики; портрет героя; действия и поступки героя; образы-детали; описание психологического состояния героя; изображение внутреннего мира героя через воспоминания; речь. Как показал анализ, в тексте бунинского рассказа значительный лексический пласт образуется за счет прецедентных феноменов. Процесс их декодирования можно рассматривать как важное средство экспликации текстовой информации. Прежде всего, в исследовательский объектив попадают прецедентные имена. Именно через них можно установить ассоциативные связи с теми понятиями-образами, которые были характерны для российского общества описываемой эпохи или русского лингвокультурного сообщества в целом. В раскрытии образов важную роль играют имплицирующие детали, актуализация которых в ряде случаев происходит через комментарии, заранее подготовленные преподавателем. Особый интерес вызывает проблема смыслового восприятия и понимания имени героини новеллы. Декодирование символики имени героини происходит на основе прецедентных текстов. Данная стратегия формирует у студентов способность узнавать, понимать и адекватно интерпретировать смысл художественного теста с интертекстуальными включениями. Кодирование культурной информации, которая впоследствии должна быть разгадана читателем, имеет место при введении в контекст новеллы определенных лексических единиц. Ключевые слова: художественный текст, интерпретация, прецедентный феномен, образ, язык, И.А. Бунин. The article is devoted to the problem of forming the foundations of philological analysis and interpretation of a fiction text based on the material of I. A. Bunin's short story “The Raven”. The author justifies the need to integrate linguistic, linguistic-cultural and literary analysis in order to ensure the fullest possible perception of fiction discourse by foreign speakers. The author demonstrates the dependence of the understanding of a literary text and the aesthetic effect obtained when reading it on the depth of perception of verbal and artistic images based on the material of I. A. Bunin's Novella "the Raven". The means of creating images in the story are: symbolism of the name; direct or indirect characteristics; portrait of the hero; actions and actions of the hero; images-details; description of the psychological state of the hero; image of the inner world of the hero through memories; speech. Explication of the information contained in the text can proceed along the path of decoding precedent phenomena. When using a precedent name, the author appeals to certain concepts-images that were well known to him and his contemporaries, but do not mean anything to the modern reader. Thus, decoding hidden information requires knowledge accumulated in a given linguistic and cultural community or by humanity as a whole. Implying details play an important role in the disclosure of images, which in some cases are updated through comments prepared in advance by the teacher. Of particular interest is the problem of semantic perception and understanding of the name of the heroine of the novel, which contains references to precedent texts. Decoding the symbolism of the heroine's name gives students the ability to recognize, understand and adequately interpret the meaning of an artistic test with intertextual inclusions. The encoding of cultural information, which must later be unraveled by the reader, takes place when certain lexical units are introduced into the context of the novel.

Thyra Edwards’s Spanish Civil War Scrapbook

2019 ◽  
pp. 101-122
Author(s):  
Anne Donlon
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Spanish Civil War ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
Black History ◽  
Popular Front ◽  
Black Feminist ◽  
Record Keeping ◽  
Feminist History ◽  
History Of

This essay examines the life of African American social worker Thyra Edwards, who traveled to Spain during its civil war, and returned home to fund-raise and organize. She created a scrapbook, a public-facing record of African American women’s efforts on behalf of Republican Spain, made up of photographs prepared for publication and articles about her efforts circulated in newspapers. This feminist perspective of the “folks at home” is a crucial addendum to black history of the war in Spain. Edwards’s scrapbook is a multifaceted document: a kind of autobiography that is self-conscious in its historical record-keeping, an account of a very broad black Popular Front, and a black feminist history of the Spanish Civil War.

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