Enam's Scholarly Articles on English

Structuralism is an intellectual movement which began in France in the 1950s and is first seen in the work of the anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss (1908-?) and the literary critic Roland Barthes (1915-1980).    It is difficult to boil structuralism down to a single 'bottom-line' proposition, but if forced to do so I would say that its essence is the belief that “…things cannot be understood in isolation - they have to be seen in the context of the larger structures they are part of” Hence the term is described as ‘structuralism’. Structuralism was imported into Britain mainly in the 1970sand attained widespread influence, and even notoriety, throughout the 1980s. If we are confronted with Keats’Ode on a Grecian Urn, as structuralists we must claim that it can only be understood if we first have a clear notion of the genre which it parodies andsubverts. In the case of Keats’ poem the relevant genre is the ‘Ode’, one kind of lyric poem in which the speaker addresse...

Marxist criticism is an approach of literary criticism based on the political and economic theories of Karl Marx (1818-1883), a German philosopher, and his fellow-thinker Friedrich Engels (1820-1895), a German sociologist. It interprets literary work asboth a reflection and a product of economic conflict between the social classes. The basic assumption of this criticism is that those who control the economy of the society and also control and influence its culture and intellectual products. This  criticism roots in the analysis of Karl Marx’s Base Structure/ Superstructure Model, Materialistic interpretation of History (Dialectic Materialism), Ideology, Hegemony  etc . Now we will try to have a brief look at, how it develops, what is the basic concept of itand how it is related to literature in our following discussion.      To define the term “Marxist criticism” is very difficult as Marx and Engels themselves did not put forward any comprehensive theor...

Orientalism is a term used by the literary and cultural studies scholars for the study of the aspects of Middle Eastern and East Asian cultures by American and European writers, designers and artists. The term has largely come into use in postcolonial studies and other fields after the publication of Edward Said’s highly influential and controversial book ”Orientalism” in 1978   and   acquired a negative connotation. In the book, Said effectively redefined the term "Orientalism" to mean a constellation of false assumptions underlying Western attitudes toward the Middle East.    "Orientalism" refers to the Orient or East, in contrast to the Occident or West, and often , as seen by the West . "Orientalism" is widely used in art, to refer to the works of the many Western 19th century artists, who specialized in "Oriental" subjects, often drawing on their travels to Asia. Such artists and scholars were described as "Orientalists" in t...