Novel Ideas
Calibrations of Nostalgia in Mohsin Hamid’s "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" and "Exit West"
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Amanda Hodes
Nostalgia and longing for home figure prominently in Mohsin Hamid’s texts, "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" and "Exit West." However, nostalgia functions differently in each novel. "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" focuses on critiquing harmful modes of longing, whereas "Exit West" reclaims nostalgia in the immigrant narrative as a means for human connection and emotional healing. In analyzing the former text, this paper uses the theories of nostalgia scholar Svetlana Boym to unpack how Hamid portrays the dangers of both the absence of nostalgia and “restorative nostalgia”—a term for indulgent non-critical forms of longing. Hamid depicts this through the allegorical figures of Erica and Underwood Samson, while instead heralding the “reflective,” or critical, nostalgia of the protagonist Changez as a viable alternative. In the latter text, the paper analyzes how nostalgia imbricates Saeed’s relationship with religion, as well as how the loss of national home is succored through recourse to natural, eternal imagery of a planetary home. Likewise, the paper questions how Hamid’s intermingling of the past and present frames the nostalgic desire to re-access the past as productive. By examining these two texts, I aim to gain insight into nostalgia’s complex function in the contemporary global novel and human experience.
John Updike's "The Coup" : An Orientalist Discourse
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Asad Al Ghalith
"The Coup" is different from Updike’s other novels in that "The Coup" itself was a “coup” for Updike’s literature -- its language, subject matter, and style are all novel (Hunt 195). In contrast, however, Islam's treatment therein remains unchanged and conforms to the same tired stereotypes. This research explores how Islam is abused and misunderstood in the narrative. In "The Coup," Updike created a country; he created a people; he created a name (Greiner, 29), much like the imperialists who came to Kush from his country. Consequently, he offers the reader a governable imperialist construct in typical Orientalist fashion. In addition, he offers a geography in which to fit that construct. The protagonist stresses this when he says, “I say Kush is a fiction, an evil dream the white man had, and that those who profess to govern her are twisted and bent double." "The Coup" is a work to which all the dogmas or ideological positions that Edward Said mentioned in Orientalism apply. The first dogma is that the Orient represents what is irrational, undeveloped, inhumane, and inferior, whereas the West is the exact opposite. The second prevailing principle is that traditional texts about the Orient are preferred to realities. The third principle is that the Orient is static and does not change, and incapable of defining itself. The fourth dogma is that the Orient needs to be either feared or controlled (2003, 300-301). These dogmas are embodied in fixed images.
Understanding Healing Graphics through the Works of Jackie Schuld
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jing Zhang
Graphic narratives play an irreplaceable role in the study and delivery of healing and healthcare. They are a path toward gaining insight into the human condition. For healthcare practitioners, patients, families, and caregivers dealing with illness and disability, graphic narrative enlightens complicated or difficult experiences. For scholars in literacy, cultural, and comics studies, the genre articulates a complex and powerful analysis of illness, medicine, and disability and a rethinking of the boundaries of health. (Squier & Williams eds., 2015) Through humorous animal characters, Jackie Schuld (2015) shows that although there is no straightforward map through grief, there can be laughter and positive experiences amidst the mess. Going through chemotherapy can cause one to feel emotionally exhausted and mentally overwhelmed. Schuld (2017) provides hope and encouragement so that sanity and humanity can be restored. As a former schoolmate and English-Chinese translator of author Jackie Schuld and her two books, Grief Is a Mess and Making It through Chemotherapy’, as well as a professor in art, I analyze Schuld’s graphic style and creation perspectives applied in storytelling and final presentation in this paper. Furthermore, I discuss the concept of healing graphics and share my related course design and student projects.
