[New publication] International Journal of Comparative Literature & Translation Studies, 6 (3)
International Journal of Comparative Literature & Translation Studies, 6 (3)
Link: http://www.journals.aiac.org.au/index.php/IJCLTS/issue/view/195
Articles:
Extra-Legal Legality: Orientalism and Biopolitics in a State of Exception
Igbinedion Obaretin
Abstract: With recourse to the poetry of Guantanamo’s detainees, this article describes the extra-legal legality that typifies the conception and activities of post-9/11 terror-suspect prison camps. It argues that the state of exception, which has become integral in the war on terror, is not a product of necessity, but a reflection of the interplay between biopolitics, biopower, and Orientalism in the post-9/11 era. By considering the ways in which Guantanamo detainees employ poetry to plead their innocence and exhibit their suffering body as political subjects and objects, this article pays careful attention to the aesthetics of Guantanamo poetry and how it reveals the poets’ individual humanity against the fabric of the brutality and illegality packaged ironically as the ‘war on terror’.
The Profile of Acehnese Variation: Sociolinguistic Analysis
Abstract: This descriptive study identifies the variation of Acehnese in sociolinguistic reviews by identifying the variations in terms of language spoken, usage, formality as well as a mean of communication. To understand the Acehnese variations in sociolinguistic reviews, a series of techniques were applied such as understanding the language spoken, reading the text, and speaking to the speaker of Acehnese. The results indicate that there are seven variations of the language in the perspective of speakers and six variations were identified in the Acehnese language, i.e. idiolect, dialect, sociolect, acrolect, basilect, and slang. While the crolect variation was not identified. In the perspective of language use, there are four variations with three identified; the variety of literature, journalism (non-productive), and a variety of scientific (non-productive). While the military variety is not identified. In the perspective of language formality, there are five variations i.e. frozen (non- productive) variety, official (unproductive) variety, consultative variety, casual variety, and familiar variety are all identified. In the perspective of means of communication, there are two variations, namely wide variety of oral and writing are both identified. The existence of identified and unidentified variations of language indicates that the language of Aceh has been abandoned by speakers.
Taocriticism in an Essay on Man
Abstract: Taoism, as a distinct type of philosophy, radically differs from many other philosophies in China, such as Confucianism and Mohism, by taking a much broader, much greater and more transcendental view of the world. Many similar notions of Tao have been found in the “An Essay on Man” in four epistles penned by Alexander Pope. Therefore, a challenging and daring approach to employ Taoist perspectives to interpret An Essay on Man penned would shed light upon new ways of undertaking literary criticism, namely, using non-western philosophical outlooks to re-read western literary works. The Taoist ideas used herein include oneness, small knowledge, instrumental mentality, and yin-yang. The method of using Taoism to read literary texts is dubbed Taocriticism.
The Manifestation of Slave Trauma in Lyrics: A Reading of Select Slave Songs
Abstract: This research paper looks into the effect of slavery, as a traumatic communal experience, on music and lyrics. It focuses on the development of narratives out of the collective memory of trauma in the African-American community; which in turn worked first as a tool for freedom and evolved to function as cure and testimony. It addresses the issue of trauma being imbibed into a collective consciousness of a culture and its reflection in the narratives. The research paper looks at narratives used as escape slave codes and deconstructs them. While the primary text used to understand cultural trauma is the lyrics to the song “Strange Fruit” sung by Billie Holiday and written by Abel Meeropol. Trauma theories by Cathy Caruth, Jeffrey C. Alexander and Toni Morrison are used to understand how trauma is manifested in lyrics. The research paper will also look into the account of Billie Holiday to understand the development of Strange Fruit as an anthem and how she performed the song for racially integrated audiences when she felt that the song would receive its due.
Romanticism in Context: Shelley’s and Keats’s Verse and Prose: Keats’s Letters and Ode to a Nightingale, Shelley’s Defense of Poetry and Skylark
Abstract: This paper argues it is probably unavoidable perceiving the works of Shelley and Keats without putting these works in the context of the age and in the context of Romanticism. On the whole the selected pieces of prose and verse of the poets represent their postulations in an era which witnessed great revolutions, political and industrial bringing about new trends in literature and in society. From the personal perspective of the two poets, the birds in the poems represent ideals reflecting the treatment of imagination, nature and ideology of their time and their individual experience, knowledge of the world and of prosody. Thus the treatment of this topic as such opens an old and new interpretation of the poets’ work since the topics in their poetry can apply to their age and ours.