Author: Anne-Karen Fischer
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3668595305
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 82
Book Description
Examination Thesis from the year 2017 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Literature, Works, grade: 1,0, University of Constance (Anglistik/Amerikanistik), language: English, abstract: Although the use of children in warfare is not a recent issue, child soldiering has received increasing attention throughout the past two decades. This trend led to a rapid increase of literary works that deal with the topic of child soldiers, both fictional and autobiographical. The topic of child soldiers often goes hand in hand with the topic of trauma and traumatization. Repeated exposure to overwhelming danger and life-threatening experiences can leave children with severe mental ill-health such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and personality changes. Literary works draw attention to the relationship between child soldiers and trauma as well as to the difficult relationship between trauma and representability in this context. This analysis attempts to contribute to the literary research of how trauma is represented in child soldier literature and to increase awareness of this topic on an academic level. As this analysis is meant to make a small contribution to the literary research on child soldier literature, it merely focuses on two narrations: Uzodinma Iweala's Beasts of No Nation (2006) and Emmanuel Jal's Warchild (2009). These two books were chosen based on the great differences of both the narrations and the authors'background. Beasts of No Nation (BoNN) tells a fictional story, whereas Warchild is an autobiography. Uzodinma Iweala is an African American writer with Nigerian roots and BoNN can be seen as a postmodern novel as it uses various postmodern and experimental narrative techniques. Emmanuel Jal (Jal), in contrast, was born and raised in Sudan and fought as a child soldier. Warchild is an autobiography about his life as a child soldier, before and afterwards. It mostly uses traditional narrative forms to recount Jal's experiences. Based on these differences, the two books can serve as good examples of how trauma can be represented in child soldier literature...
In-between Fact and Fiction. Representing the Traumatization of Child Soldiers in Uzodinma Iweala's "Beasts of No Nation" and Emmanuel "Jal's Warchild"
Author: Anne-Karen Fischer
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3668595305
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 82
Book Description
Examination Thesis from the year 2017 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Literature, Works, grade: 1,0, University of Constance (Anglistik/Amerikanistik), language: English, abstract: Although the use of children in warfare is not a recent issue, child soldiering has received increasing attention throughout the past two decades. This trend led to a rapid increase of literary works that deal with the topic of child soldiers, both fictional and autobiographical. The topic of child soldiers often goes hand in hand with the topic of trauma and traumatization. Repeated exposure to overwhelming danger and life-threatening experiences can leave children with severe mental ill-health such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and personality changes. Literary works draw attention to the relationship between child soldiers and trauma as well as to the difficult relationship between trauma and representability in this context. This analysis attempts to contribute to the literary research of how trauma is represented in child soldier literature and to increase awareness of this topic on an academic level. As this analysis is meant to make a small contribution to the literary research on child soldier literature, it merely focuses on two narrations: Uzodinma Iweala's Beasts of No Nation (2006) and Emmanuel Jal's Warchild (2009). These two books were chosen based on the great differences of both the narrations and the authors'background. Beasts of No Nation (BoNN) tells a fictional story, whereas Warchild is an autobiography. Uzodinma Iweala is an African American writer with Nigerian roots and BoNN can be seen as a postmodern novel as it uses various postmodern and experimental narrative techniques. Emmanuel Jal (Jal), in contrast, was born and raised in Sudan and fought as a child soldier. Warchild is an autobiography about his life as a child soldier, before and afterwards. It mostly uses traditional narrative forms to recount Jal's experiences. Based on these differences, the two books can serve as good examples of how trauma can be represented in child soldier literature...
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3668595305
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 82
Book Description
Examination Thesis from the year 2017 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Literature, Works, grade: 1,0, University of Constance (Anglistik/Amerikanistik), language: English, abstract: Although the use of children in warfare is not a recent issue, child soldiering has received increasing attention throughout the past two decades. This trend led to a rapid increase of literary works that deal with the topic of child soldiers, both fictional and autobiographical. The topic of child soldiers often goes hand in hand with the topic of trauma and traumatization. Repeated exposure to overwhelming danger and life-threatening experiences can leave children with severe mental ill-health such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and personality changes. Literary works draw attention to the relationship between child soldiers and trauma as well as to the difficult relationship between trauma and representability in this context. This analysis attempts to contribute to the literary research of how trauma is represented in child soldier literature and to increase awareness of this topic on an academic level. As this analysis is meant to make a small contribution to the literary research on child soldier literature, it merely focuses on two narrations: Uzodinma Iweala's Beasts of No Nation (2006) and Emmanuel Jal's Warchild (2009). These two books were chosen based on the great differences of both the narrations and the authors'background. Beasts of No Nation (BoNN) tells a fictional story, whereas Warchild is an autobiography. Uzodinma Iweala is an African American writer with Nigerian roots and BoNN can be seen as a postmodern novel as it uses various postmodern and experimental narrative techniques. Emmanuel Jal (Jal), in contrast, was born and raised in Sudan and fought as a child soldier. Warchild is an autobiography about his life as a child soldier, before and afterwards. It mostly uses traditional narrative forms to recount Jal's experiences. Based on these differences, the two books can serve as good examples of how trauma can be represented in child soldier literature...
Beasts of No Nation
Author: Uzodinma Iweala
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061844543
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 178
Book Description
“Remarkable. . . . Iweala never wavers from a gripping, pulsing narrative voice. . . . He captures the horror of ethnic violence in all its brutality and the vulnerability of youth in all its innocence.” —Entertainment Weekly (A) The harrowing, utterly original debut novel by Uzodinma Iweala about the life of a child soldier in a war-torn African country As civil war rages in an unnamed West-African nation, Agu, the school-aged protagonist of this stunning novel, is recruited into a unit of guerilla fighters. Haunted by his father’s own death at the hands of militants, which he fled just before witnessing, Agu is vulnerable to the dangerous yet paternal nature of his new commander. While the war rages on, Agu becomes increasingly divorced from the life he had known before the conflict started—a life of school friends, church services, and time with his family, still intact. As he vividly recalls these sunnier times, his daily reality continues to spin further downward into inexplicable brutality, primal fear, and loss of selfhood. In a powerful, strikingly original voice, Uzodinma Iweala leads the reader through the random travels, betrayals, and violence that mark Agu’s new community. Electrifying and engrossing, Beasts of No Nation announces the arrival of an extraordinary writer.
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061844543
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 178
Book Description
“Remarkable. . . . Iweala never wavers from a gripping, pulsing narrative voice. . . . He captures the horror of ethnic violence in all its brutality and the vulnerability of youth in all its innocence.” —Entertainment Weekly (A) The harrowing, utterly original debut novel by Uzodinma Iweala about the life of a child soldier in a war-torn African country As civil war rages in an unnamed West-African nation, Agu, the school-aged protagonist of this stunning novel, is recruited into a unit of guerilla fighters. Haunted by his father’s own death at the hands of militants, which he fled just before witnessing, Agu is vulnerable to the dangerous yet paternal nature of his new commander. While the war rages on, Agu becomes increasingly divorced from the life he had known before the conflict started—a life of school friends, church services, and time with his family, still intact. As he vividly recalls these sunnier times, his daily reality continues to spin further downward into inexplicable brutality, primal fear, and loss of selfhood. In a powerful, strikingly original voice, Uzodinma Iweala leads the reader through the random travels, betrayals, and violence that mark Agu’s new community. Electrifying and engrossing, Beasts of No Nation announces the arrival of an extraordinary writer.
Burma Boy
Author: Biyi Bandele
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1446419193
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 226
Book Description
A few months ago fourteen-year-old Ali Banana was apprenticed to a whip-wielding blacksmith in his rural hometown. Now its winter 1944, the war is entering its most crucial stage and Ali is a private in Thunder Brigade. His unit has been given orders to go behind enemy lines and wreak havoc. But the Burmese jungle is a mud-riven, treacherous place, riddled with Japanese snipers, insanity and disease. Burma Boy is a horrific, vividly realised account of the madness, the sacrifice and the dark humour of the Second World War's most vicious battleground. It's also the moving story of a boy trying to live long enough to become a man.
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1446419193
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 226
Book Description
A few months ago fourteen-year-old Ali Banana was apprenticed to a whip-wielding blacksmith in his rural hometown. Now its winter 1944, the war is entering its most crucial stage and Ali is a private in Thunder Brigade. His unit has been given orders to go behind enemy lines and wreak havoc. But the Burmese jungle is a mud-riven, treacherous place, riddled with Japanese snipers, insanity and disease. Burma Boy is a horrific, vividly realised account of the madness, the sacrifice and the dark humour of the Second World War's most vicious battleground. It's also the moving story of a boy trying to live long enough to become a man.
Song for Night
Author: Chris Abani
Publisher: Akashic Books
ISBN: 1933354313
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 171
Book Description
My Luck, a West African boy solider who has not spoken for three years, fights in a senseless war and embarks on a terrifying yet beautiful journey to find his lost platoon.
Publisher: Akashic Books
ISBN: 1933354313
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 171
Book Description
My Luck, a West African boy solider who has not spoken for three years, fights in a senseless war and embarks on a terrifying yet beautiful journey to find his lost platoon.
A History of the Bildungsroman
Author: Sarah Graham
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107136539
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 363
Book Description
This detailed analysis of the evolution of the Bildungsroman genre is unprecedented in its historical and geographical range.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107136539
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 363
Book Description
This detailed analysis of the evolution of the Bildungsroman genre is unprecedented in its historical and geographical range.
Trauma Fiction
Author: Anne Whitehead
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 074866601X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 192
Book Description
The literary potential of trauma is examined in this book, bringing trauma theory and literary texts together for the first time. Trauma Fiction focuses on the ways in which contemporary novelists explore the theme of trauma and incorporate its structures into their writing. It provides innovative readings of texts by Pat Barker, Jackie Kay, Anne Michaels, Toni Morrison, Caryl Phillips, W. G. Sebald and Binjamin Wilkomirski. It also considers the ways in which trauma has affected fictional form, exploring how novelists have responded to the challenge of writing traumatic narratives, and identifying the key stylistic features associated with the genre. In addition, the book introduces the reader to key critics in the field of trauma theory such as Cathy Caruth, Shoshana Felman and Geoffrey Hartman. The linking of trauma theory and literary texts not only sheds light on works of contemporary fiction, it also points to the inherent connections between trauma theory and the literary which have often been overlooked. The distinction between literary theme and style in the book opens up major questions regarding the nature of trauma itself. Trauma, like the novels discussed, is shown to take an uncertain but productive place between content and form.Key Features*Idenitifes and explores a new and evolving genre in contemporary fiction*Thinks through the relation between trauma and literature*Produces innovative readings of key works of contemporary fiction *Provides an introduction to key ideas in trauma theory
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 074866601X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 192
Book Description
The literary potential of trauma is examined in this book, bringing trauma theory and literary texts together for the first time. Trauma Fiction focuses on the ways in which contemporary novelists explore the theme of trauma and incorporate its structures into their writing. It provides innovative readings of texts by Pat Barker, Jackie Kay, Anne Michaels, Toni Morrison, Caryl Phillips, W. G. Sebald and Binjamin Wilkomirski. It also considers the ways in which trauma has affected fictional form, exploring how novelists have responded to the challenge of writing traumatic narratives, and identifying the key stylistic features associated with the genre. In addition, the book introduces the reader to key critics in the field of trauma theory such as Cathy Caruth, Shoshana Felman and Geoffrey Hartman. The linking of trauma theory and literary texts not only sheds light on works of contemporary fiction, it also points to the inherent connections between trauma theory and the literary which have often been overlooked. The distinction between literary theme and style in the book opens up major questions regarding the nature of trauma itself. Trauma, like the novels discussed, is shown to take an uncertain but productive place between content and form.Key Features*Idenitifes and explores a new and evolving genre in contemporary fiction*Thinks through the relation between trauma and literature*Produces innovative readings of key works of contemporary fiction *Provides an introduction to key ideas in trauma theory
Gendered Violence and Human Rights in Black World Literature and Film
Author: Naomi Nkealah
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000367770
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 255
Book Description
This book investigates how the intersection between gendered violence and human rights is depicted and engaged with in Africana literature and films. The rich and multifarious range of film and literature emanating from Africa and the diaspora provides a fascinating lens through which we can understand the complex consequences of gendered violence on the lives of women, children and minorities. Contributors to this volume examine the many ways in which gendered violence mirrors, expresses, projects and articulates the larger phenomenon of human rights violations in Africa and the African diaspora and how, in turn, the discourse of human rights informs the ways in which we articulate, interrogate, conceptualise and interpret gendered violence in literature and film. The book also shines a light on the linguistic contradictions and ambiguities in the articulation of gendered violence in private spaces and war. This book will be essential reading for scholars, critics, feminists, teachers and students seeking solid grounding in exploring gendered violence and human rights in theory and practice.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000367770
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 255
Book Description
This book investigates how the intersection between gendered violence and human rights is depicted and engaged with in Africana literature and films. The rich and multifarious range of film and literature emanating from Africa and the diaspora provides a fascinating lens through which we can understand the complex consequences of gendered violence on the lives of women, children and minorities. Contributors to this volume examine the many ways in which gendered violence mirrors, expresses, projects and articulates the larger phenomenon of human rights violations in Africa and the African diaspora and how, in turn, the discourse of human rights informs the ways in which we articulate, interrogate, conceptualise and interpret gendered violence in literature and film. The book also shines a light on the linguistic contradictions and ambiguities in the articulation of gendered violence in private spaces and war. This book will be essential reading for scholars, critics, feminists, teachers and students seeking solid grounding in exploring gendered violence and human rights in theory and practice.
Armies of the Young
Author: David M. Rosen
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 9780813535685
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 220
Book Description
Children have served as soldiers throughout history. They fought in the American Revolution, the Civil War, and in both world wars. They served as uniformed soldiers, camouflaged insurgents, and even suicide bombers. Indeed, the first U.S. soldier to be killed by hostile fire in the Afghanistan war was shot in ambush by a fourteen-year-old boy. Does this mean that child soldiers are aggressors? Or are they victims? It is a difficult question with no obvious answer, yet in recent years the acceptable answer among humanitarian organizations and contemporary scholars has been resoundingly the latter. These children are most often seen as especially hideous examples of adult criminal exploitation. In this provocative book, David M. Rosen argues that this response vastly oversimplifies the child soldier problem. Drawing on three dramatic examples-from Sierra Leone, Palestine, and Eastern Europe during the Holocaust-Rosen vividly illustrates this controversial view. In each case, he shows that children are not always passive victims, but often make the rational decision that not fighting is worse than fighting. With a critical eye to international law, Armies of the Young urges readers to reconsider the situation of child combatants in light of circumstance and history before adopting uninformed child protectionist views. In the process, Rosen paints a memorable and unsettling picture of the role of children in international conflicts.
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 9780813535685
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 220
Book Description
Children have served as soldiers throughout history. They fought in the American Revolution, the Civil War, and in both world wars. They served as uniformed soldiers, camouflaged insurgents, and even suicide bombers. Indeed, the first U.S. soldier to be killed by hostile fire in the Afghanistan war was shot in ambush by a fourteen-year-old boy. Does this mean that child soldiers are aggressors? Or are they victims? It is a difficult question with no obvious answer, yet in recent years the acceptable answer among humanitarian organizations and contemporary scholars has been resoundingly the latter. These children are most often seen as especially hideous examples of adult criminal exploitation. In this provocative book, David M. Rosen argues that this response vastly oversimplifies the child soldier problem. Drawing on three dramatic examples-from Sierra Leone, Palestine, and Eastern Europe during the Holocaust-Rosen vividly illustrates this controversial view. In each case, he shows that children are not always passive victims, but often make the rational decision that not fighting is worse than fighting. With a critical eye to international law, Armies of the Young urges readers to reconsider the situation of child combatants in light of circumstance and history before adopting uninformed child protectionist views. In the process, Rosen paints a memorable and unsettling picture of the role of children in international conflicts.
The Limits of Autobiography
Author: Leigh Gilmore
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501770780
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 277
Book Description
In The Limits of Autobiography, Leigh Gilmore analyzes texts that depict trauma by combining elements of autobiography, fiction, biography, history, and theory in ways that challenge the constraints of autobiography. Astute and compelling readings of works by Michel Foucault, Louis Althusser, Dorothy Allison, Mikal Gilmore, Jamaica Kincaid, and Jeanette Winterson explore how each poses the questions "How have I lived?" and "How will I live?" in relation to the social and psychic forms within which trauma emerges. First published in 2001, this new edition of one of the foundational texts in trauma studies includes a new preface by the author that assesses the gravitational pull between life writing and trauma in the twenty-first century, a tension that continues to produce innovative and artful means of confronting kinship, violence, and self-representation.
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501770780
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 277
Book Description
In The Limits of Autobiography, Leigh Gilmore analyzes texts that depict trauma by combining elements of autobiography, fiction, biography, history, and theory in ways that challenge the constraints of autobiography. Astute and compelling readings of works by Michel Foucault, Louis Althusser, Dorothy Allison, Mikal Gilmore, Jamaica Kincaid, and Jeanette Winterson explore how each poses the questions "How have I lived?" and "How will I live?" in relation to the social and psychic forms within which trauma emerges. First published in 2001, this new edition of one of the foundational texts in trauma studies includes a new preface by the author that assesses the gravitational pull between life writing and trauma in the twenty-first century, a tension that continues to produce innovative and artful means of confronting kinship, violence, and self-representation.
The Icarus Girl
Author: Helen Oyeyemi
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0307428737
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 354
Book Description
The audacious first novel from the award-winning and bestselling author of Boy, Snow, Bird and What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours • “Oyeyemi brilliantly conjures up the raw emotions and playground banter of childhood. . . . A masterly first novel.”–The New York Times Book Review "Remarkable. . . . As original as it is unsettling, The Icarus Girl runs straight at the heart of what it means to belong."– O, The Oprah Magazine Jessamy “Jess” Harrison, age eight, is the child of an English father and a Nigerian mother. Possessed of an extraordinary imagination, she has a hard time fitting in at school. It is only when she visits Nigeria for the first time that she makes a friend who understands her: a ragged little girl named TillyTilly. But soon TillyTilly’s visits become more disturbing, until Jess realizes she doesn’t actually know who her friend is at all. Drawing on Nigerian mythology, Helen Oyeyemi presents a striking variation on the classic literary theme of doubles — both real and spiritual — in this lyrical and bold debut.
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0307428737
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 354
Book Description
The audacious first novel from the award-winning and bestselling author of Boy, Snow, Bird and What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours • “Oyeyemi brilliantly conjures up the raw emotions and playground banter of childhood. . . . A masterly first novel.”–The New York Times Book Review "Remarkable. . . . As original as it is unsettling, The Icarus Girl runs straight at the heart of what it means to belong."– O, The Oprah Magazine Jessamy “Jess” Harrison, age eight, is the child of an English father and a Nigerian mother. Possessed of an extraordinary imagination, she has a hard time fitting in at school. It is only when she visits Nigeria for the first time that she makes a friend who understands her: a ragged little girl named TillyTilly. But soon TillyTilly’s visits become more disturbing, until Jess realizes she doesn’t actually know who her friend is at all. Drawing on Nigerian mythology, Helen Oyeyemi presents a striking variation on the classic literary theme of doubles — both real and spiritual — in this lyrical and bold debut.