Gender and Narrative in the Mahabharata

Gender and Narrative in the Mahabharata PDF Author: Simon Brodbeck
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134119941
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 669

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Book Description
The Sanskrit Mahabharata is one of the most important texts to emerge from the Indian cultural tradition. At almost 75,000 verses it is the longest poem in the world, and throughout Indian history it has been hugely influential in shaping gender and social norms. In the context of ancient India, it is the definitive cultural narrative in the construction of masculine, feminine and alternative gender roles. This book brings together many of the most respected scholars in the field of Mahabharata studies, as well as some of its most promising young scholars. By focusing specifically on gender constructions, some of the most innovative aspects of the Mahabharata are highlighted. Whilst taking account of feminist scholarship, the contributors see the Mahabharata as providing an opportunity to frame discussion of gender in literature not just in terms of the socio-historical roles of men and women. Instead they analyze the text in terms of the wider poetic and philosophical possibilities thrown up by the semiotics of gendering. Consequently, the book bridges a gap in text-critical methodology between the traditional philological approach and more recent trends in gender and literary theory. Gender and Narrative in the Mahabharata will be appreciated by readers interested in South Asian studies, Hinduism, religious studies and gender studies.

Gender and Narrative in the Mahabharata

Gender and Narrative in the Mahabharata PDF Author: Simon Brodbeck
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134119941
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 669

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Sanskrit Mahabharata is one of the most important texts to emerge from the Indian cultural tradition. At almost 75,000 verses it is the longest poem in the world, and throughout Indian history it has been hugely influential in shaping gender and social norms. In the context of ancient India, it is the definitive cultural narrative in the construction of masculine, feminine and alternative gender roles. This book brings together many of the most respected scholars in the field of Mahabharata studies, as well as some of its most promising young scholars. By focusing specifically on gender constructions, some of the most innovative aspects of the Mahabharata are highlighted. Whilst taking account of feminist scholarship, the contributors see the Mahabharata as providing an opportunity to frame discussion of gender in literature not just in terms of the socio-historical roles of men and women. Instead they analyze the text in terms of the wider poetic and philosophical possibilities thrown up by the semiotics of gendering. Consequently, the book bridges a gap in text-critical methodology between the traditional philological approach and more recent trends in gender and literary theory. Gender and Narrative in the Mahabharata will be appreciated by readers interested in South Asian studies, Hinduism, religious studies and gender studies.

Gender and Narrativity

Gender and Narrativity PDF Author: R. Barry Rutland
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN: 0886292980
Category : Gender identity
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
It is impossible to imagine a community that is not divided into at least two gender groups. It is equally impossible to imagine a community that does not tell or enact stories. The relationship between these universal aspects of human culture is the mainspring of Gender and Narrativity. From Genesis to Freud, the Western narrative tradition tells the same old story of masculine dominance/feminine subservience as a matter of divine will or natural truth. Here, nine Canadian scholars challenge and interpret this tradition, in effect "re-telling" the story of gender, and themselves intervening in the narrative process. Critical readings from a wide range of literary texts - medieval and modern, European and Canadian - replace abstract theory in these studies, while sociology, anthropology, psychoanalysis, deconstruction and new history are the axes of discussion. This book exemplifies the current range and diversity of Canadian critical writing.

Telling Performances

Telling Performances PDF Author: Brian Nelson
Publisher: University of Delaware Press
ISBN: 9780874137071
Category : Gender identity in literature
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
These essays engage with narratives and narrative issues, in particular on the issue of performance in and of narrative, with the telling of performance and the performance of telling, and the way stories perform gender and identity. They focus on narrative as such, on narrative genres, and on particular narratives, but they all seek to inform thinking on narrative.

Gender and Narrative

Gender and Narrative PDF Author: Rajul Bhargava
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
"This book has grown out of a felt-need to rethink and re-evaluate the forces that have been at work shaping the literature of the last decade of the century--literature written in english. There is no denying that what had largely emerged as insurgent writing, especially focusing on the socio-political realities of our country, has today gained wider ground, acceptability and acclaim. It has become a vehicle of articulating awareness, voicing dissatisfaction and reviewing historical and philosophical truths. In its long-strided progress Indian writing in english has not overlooked the literary canons and in the directions it has taken, it has created not only a niche for itself but also made a discernible mark on literary theory. The essays included in this volume represent the multiple ways in which we view our literature."

Gender, Genre & Narrative Pleasure

Gender, Genre & Narrative Pleasure PDF Author: Derek Longhurst
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136321527
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
Recent years have witnessed important new initiatives in the study of popular fictional modes of writing. At one time the field could have been described with reasonable accuracy by two traditions: one that analyzed the production and distribution of popular fiction as commodities; and one whose proponents regarded popular fiction as the negative which offered definition to the exposure of the positive - the ‘great’ canonic literary tradition. Generally, then, popular fictions were to be ‘evaluated’ according to the institutionalized norms which had been established as common sense practice around literary studies. The decade of the 1970s, however ushered in a bewildering range of theoretical debates - a crucial gain was establishment of interdisciplinary courses in communication, cultural and media studies, providing a network of contexts within which serious analysis could evolve and progress. Responding to a fundamental challenge from feminism, a primary objective of this book is to propose that all narrative and its reading are intrinsically inflected by sexual politics. Various approaches represented here demonstrate problems of confronting the gendered pleasures of reading. Questions about self, sexuality and identity within specific historical formations are raised. The objective is to frame, describe and unearth the notion of ‘men as readers’ as a project rather than as the usual, unquestioned normative procedure. Drawing eclectically upon Marxist, psychoanalytic and discourse theory, the essays set out readings of popular texts and genres – the Western, the sentimental novel, detective and crime fiction, political thrillers and horror and science fiction – in the interest of provoking other readers to see the critical study of popular fiction as unthinkable without gender as a central concern.

Gender in the Vampire Narrative

Gender in the Vampire Narrative PDF Author: Amanda Hobson
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9463007148
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 201

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Book Description
Gender in the Vampire Narrative addresses issues of masculinity and femininity, unpacking cultural norms of gender. This collection demonstrates the way that representations of gender in the vampire narrative traverse a large scope of expectations and tropes. The text offers classroom ready original essays that outline contemporary debates about sexual objectification and gender norms using the lens of the vampire in order to examine the ways those roles are undone and reinforced through popular culture through a specific emphasis on cultural fears and anxieties about gender roles. The essays explore the presentations of gendered identities in a wide variety of sources including novels, films, graphic novels and more, focusing on wildly popular examples, such as The Vampire Diaries, True Blood, and Twilight, and also lesser known works, for instance, Byzantium and The Blood of the Vampire. The authors work to unravel the ties that bind gender to the body and the sociocultural institutions that shape our views of gendered norms and invite students of all levels to engage in interdisciplinary conversations about both theoretical and embodied constructions of gender. This text makes a fascinating accompanying text for many courses, such as first-year studies, literature, film, women’s and gender studies, sociology, popular culture or media studies, cultural studies, American studies or history. Ultimately this is a text for all fans of popular culture. “Hobson and Anyiwo chase the vampire through history and across literature, film, television, and stage, exploring this complexity and offering insightful and accessible analyses that will be enjoyed by students in popular culture, gender studies, and speculative fiction. This collection is not to be missed by those with an interest in feminist cultural studies – or the undead.” – Barbara Gurr, University of Connecticut “Hobson and Anyiwo push the boundaries of the scholarship as it has been written until now.” –Catherine Coker, Texas A&M University Amanda Hobson is Assistant Dean of Students and Director of the Women’s Resource Center at Indiana State University. U. Melissa Anyiwo is a Professor of Politics & History and Coordinator of African American Studies at Curry College in Massachusetts.

Immersion, Narrative, and Gender Crisis in Survival Horror Video Games

Immersion, Narrative, and Gender Crisis in Survival Horror Video Games PDF Author: Andrei Nae
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000440656
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
This book investigates the narrativity of some of the most popular survival horror video games and the gender politics implicit in their storyworlds. In a thorough analysis of the genre that draws upon detailed comparisons with the mainstream action genre, Andrei Nae places his analysis firmly within a political and social context. In comparing survival horror games to the dominant game design norms of the action genre, the author differentiates between classical and postclassical survival horror games to show how the former reject the norms of the action genre and deliver a critique of the conservative gender politics of action games, while the latter are more heterogeneous in terms of their game design and, implicitly, gender politics. This book will appeal not only to scholars working in game studies, but also to scholars of horror, gender studies, popular culture, visual arts, genre studies and narratology.

Gender and Memory

Gender and Memory PDF Author: Luisa Passerini
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351518135
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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Book Description
Gender and Memory brings together contributions from around the world and from a range of disciplines--history and sociology, socio-linguistics and family therapy, literature--to create a volume that confronts all those concerned with autobiographical testimony and narrative, both spoken and written. The fundamental theme is the shaping of memory by gender. This paperback edition includes a new introduction by Selma Leydesdorff, coeditor of the Memory and Narrative series of which this volume is a part. Are the different ways in which men and women are recalled in public and private memory and the differences in men's and women's own memories of similar experiences, simply reflections of unequal lives in gendered societies, or are they more deeply rooted? The sharply differentiated life experiences of men and women in most human societies, the widespread tendencies for men to dominate in the public sphere and for women's lives to focus on family and household, suggest that these experiences may be reflected in different qualities of memory. The contributors maintain that memories are gendered, and that the gendering of memory makes a strong impact on the shaping of social spaces and expressive forms as the horizons of memory move from one generation to the next. They argue that in order to understand how memory becomes gendered, we need to travel through the realms of gendered experience and gendered language.

Narrative Deconstructions of Gender in Works by Audrey Thomas, Daphne Marlatt, and Louise Erdrich

Narrative Deconstructions of Gender in Works by Audrey Thomas, Daphne Marlatt, and Louise Erdrich PDF Author: Caroline Rosenthal
Publisher: Camden House
ISBN: 9781571132673
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
Study of three North American women novelists combining the standpoints of gender studies and narratology. By analyzing the works of Thomas, Marlatt, and Erdrich through the lenses of subjectivity, gender studies, and narratology, Caroline Rosenthal brings to light new perspectives on their writings. Although all three authors write metafictions that challenge literary realism and dominant views of gender, the forms of their counter-narratives vary. In her novel Intertidal Life, Thomas traces the disintegration of an identity through narrative devices that unearth ruptures and contradictions in stories of gender. In contrast, Marlatt, in Ana Historic, challenges the regulatory fiction of heterosexuality. She offers her protagonist a way out into a new order that breaks with the law of the father, creating a "monstrous" text that explores the possibilities of a lesbian identity. In her tetralogy of novels made up of Love Medicine, Tracks, The Beet Queen, and The Bingo Palace, Erdrichresists definite readings of femininity altogether. By drawing on trickster narratives, she creates an open system of gendered identities that is dynamic and unfinalizable, positing the most fragmented worldview as the most enduring. By applying gender and narrative theory to nuanced analysis of the texts, Rosenthal's study elucidates the correlation between gender identity formation and narrative. Caroline Rosenthal is Professor and Chair of American Literature at the Friedrich-Schiller University in Jena, Germany. Her book Narrative Deconstructions of Gender was published by Camden House in 2003.

Mystic Leeway

Mystic Leeway PDF Author: Frances Gregg
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN: 0773573968
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 205

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Book Description
Who is Frances Gregg? In her youth she was a poet in her own right, a friend of Ezra Pound, and an intimate of Hilda Doolittle and John Cowper Powys. In our literary history, particularly the history of Modernism, she has been a mysterious presence. Now, with this publication for the first time of The Mystic Leeway, we have Gregg's testament to her lovers, her life, her deeply troubled times, and to Art. Written over the three years before her tragic death in the bombing of Plymouth in 1941, this memoir marks the course of Gregg's journey, both spiritual and physical, through a passionate life. With painful and amusing honesty, Gregg records her experience of other icons of Modernism, including William Butler Yeats, May Sinclair, Alice Meynell, George Moore, Jacob Epstein, Walter Rummel, and Louis Wilkinson.