Some of these critics are using “history” as an idea of return. This idea is to make one believe that there is something positivist about the past. The author of this criticism has different views and believes “new” should not suggest retroactive, backward looking positivism. Lisa Jardine believes that what society should be looking at is “the converging practices of social historians, intellectual and cultural historians, text critics and social anthropologists, as they move together towards a more sensitive integration of past and present cultural products.” This essay suggests that our access to the past is found in 'textual remains', such as literary works and literary theory. Historians can retrieve and re-construct the past will of necessity and be incomplete and indeterminate because of Stephen Greenblatt's idea of self-fashioning.
And although both stories have a strong resemblance in theme, both authors present it very differently especially when using symbolism. As stated in our text, “A symbol is something that has a literal identity but also stands for something else”. (Clugston, 2010) Also, symbolism was a “19 century movement in art and literature which made extensive use of symbols to indicate or evoke emotions or ideas” (Credo Reference, 2010) Within this paper, I will discuss on how both narratives utilize symbolism to convey the essence of their theme. As stated, “story writers want you to understand and learn from the imaginary world they are creating, they find ways to make the theme stand out clearly, and they use symbols to convey feelings, describe settings, present characters, heighten conflict, and create various moods”. (Clugston, 2010) Also, I will explain the difference between the poem “The Road Less Taken” and the short story, “I Used to Live Here Once”.
Heckerling’s film has transformed Emma into a dramatic twentieth century teen flick that both exemplifies and undercuts the contemporary culture of 1990s Los Angeles defined by consumption and appearance while still maintaining aspects of Emma’s narrative and characterisation. The juxtaposition of the two texts allows the audience to identify the tension between continuity and change through the use of the female protagonist who portrays the flaws of human nature. Jane Austen’s novel begins with, “Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever and rich.” This highlights the attributes that were most desired at the time of 19th century Highbury, England. However, Jane Austen’s context had a class hierarchy with males that had inherited wealth at the top. This patriarchal society represented in Emma portrays the importance of marriage for women as it was their only means of financial security as well as the advancement of their position in society.
Conflicting perspectives arise when personalities clash, as evident in Ted Hughes' poems 'Your Paris' and 'The Minotaur', and in The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath. These texts demonstrate the influence of egocentric bias on shaping perspectives, and how composers manipulate textual forms and features to shape our understanding of events and personalities. Hughes' publication of 'Birthday Letters' was a challenge against the dominant mythologies which had surrounded his and Plath's relationship ever since her suicide, and a medium through which he presented his own side of the story. Much of the criticism of the time came from feminists and American admirers of Plath, thus he sought to absolve himself of the blame which had been attributed to him for the breakdown and dissolution of their marriage. In 'Your Paris', it is immediately made apparent that Hughes and Plath had antagonistic outlooks even in the early days of their relationship.
Likewise, through her Untitled Film Stills series and her later Sex Pictures, Cindy Sherman has used the nature of confronting images to examine our culture and its clichés, cleverly depicting the impact of representation. Postmodernism is the late 20th century concept of art that represents a departure from modernism. It literally means ‘after modernism’ and is a reaction against the narrowness modernism had developed in to. A distinguishing characteristic of the postmodernist movement is its wit and parody, and in particular the appropriation and pastiche of past artworks. Julie Rrap has used this device to investigate the ways that the female identity has been portrayed in history.
Dustin F. Guastella A.P. English Mr. Conston April 03, 2009 John Barth's Experimental Postmodernism John Barth discovered that literature was repetitive that it was growing old and bland styles and genres were perpetually repeating themselves so he decided to attempt to break from this norm. With his essays on the Literature of Exhaustion, his short stories, and his novels he explores a new realm of fiction and a new aspect of humanism. His philosophies on ambiguity are the driving force throughout this new literature, which is neither absurd nor classic but a hybrid of the two. Through the bewitching stories we see that Barth is exploring an entirely new style of writing, sometimes confusing, sometimes fragmented, but always captivating.
Intertextuality in Scary Movie In his article, “Intertextuality and the Discourse Community,” James Porter proclaims that writers are collectors who accumulate fragments of texts from the past and assemble them to create new meanings, a concept called intertextuality. Intertextuality allows the audience to create meaning. Therefore, learning to see texts and writers through the idea that the author is not only the creator of meaning requires one to rethink research, plagiarism, and the author in a new regard that goes against most reader’s definition of what authorship and writing are. Successful writing from authors “helps to redefine the matrix and in that way becomes creative” (Porter). Although the author for the trailer of Scary Movie uses mainly fragments of other texts, he brings them together in a unique way that “alters the text” of horror movies (Porter).
We do not have a homogeneous identity but that instead we have several contradictory selves.’ (p. xv) I will argue that these multiple identities are demonstrated in both White Noise ( ) by DeLillo as DeLillo’s characters have to change and adapt their identities in the face of danger during the Holocaust, and The Complete Maus ( ) by Spiegelman when Jack has to change his name to be taken seriously in his academic career and also because media and technology are shown to have an effect on characters thoughts and insecurities. This essay will also consider how ‘signifiers of culture’ are used to establish characters identity through stereotypes and representation, and I will demonstrate how the texts are a means for both Spiegelman and DeLillo to develop and construct their own insecurities of identity. Both authors use ‘signifiers of culture’ to explore identity. For example in White Noise, as the head of his department, Jack wears a gown, so when Eric Massingale see’s him off campus he says “I’ve never seen you off campus, Jack. You look different without your glasses and gown .
In this time many modernist authors and artists sourced to change and challenge society’s expectations and their inflexible, harsh conventions that not only restricted free thinking but repressed the ideas of change in their beliefs. The idea of gender roles and the role of women in a patriarchal society are challenged and questioned in Hedda Gabler as Ibsen confronts the audience with the isolation and plight of women that was created out of extreme patriarchy during the Victorian period. The destructive consequences of society’s barriers and women turning away and escaping from established gender roles is also presented in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening with the two spheres of men and women being challenged with their desires. The rapidly changing world, socially and technologically, brought many people to a dilemma on choosing to stay in their traditional superficial world, or to welcome the new. The superficiality of life is constantly contrasted with the differing social structures within society in Katherine Mansfield’s The Garden Party and Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway with her continuing fear of aging and the new that constantly rocks her world.
English Literature Discuss Coetzee’s presentation of Sex and gender roles in Disgrace. This essay discusses Coetzee’s presentation of sex and gender roles in Disgrace through an analysis of David’s attitudes and actions in relation to sex, his relationships with women and the rape of his daughter. David’s views on sex and gender roles are major themes in the book and are seen entirely from David’s perspective. Although the book is written in the third person it’s David’s thoughts and perspectives that dominate the book. I will explore the contradictions in the way that David behaves towards and views women and his inability to reconcile himself to his daughter’s passive acceptance of her rape.