Individualism in the Novels of Nuruddin Farah
The subject conceived as 'individual' is a sustained focus across the novels of Somali writer, Nuruddin Farah. This thesis locates a reading of individualism in Farah's novels in the context of the historical and philosophical development of modern identity in the societies of the Nor...
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Language: | English |
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University of Cape Town
2009
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8236 https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/11427/8236/1/thesis_hum_2009_moolla_f.pdf |
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ftunivcapetownir:oai:localhost:11427/8236 2023-05-15T17:36:02+02:00 Individualism in the Novels of Nuruddin Farah Moolla, Fatima Fiona Garuba, Harry 2009 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8236 https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/11427/8236/1/thesis_hum_2009_moolla_f.pdf eng eng University of Cape Town Faculty of Humanities Department of English Language and Literature http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8236 https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/11427/8236/1/thesis_hum_2009_moolla_f.pdf English Language and Literature Doctoral Thesis Doctoral PhD 2009 ftunivcapetownir 2022-09-13T05:55:59Z The subject conceived as 'individual' is a sustained focus across the novels of Somali writer, Nuruddin Farah. This thesis locates a reading of individualism in Farah's novels in the context of the historical and philosophical development of modern identity in the societies of the North-Atlantic. It relies primarily on the analysis of philosopher, Charles Taylor, who proposes that individualism makes modern identity an historically unprecedented mode of conceiving the person. By individualism, Taylor refers to the inward location of moral sources in orientation around which the self is constituted. Nonindividualist conceptions of the self locate moral horizons external to the subject thereby defined. The novel appears to be the most significant cultural form which mutually constitutes modern subjectivity. This is suggested by the centrality of the Bildungsroman sub-genre which fundamentally determines the form of the novel. Farah's work spans the historical development of the novel from the proto-realism of his first publication, through modernism and postmodernism, returning to the 'neo-realism' of his most recent novel. The representation of the subject in the novel suggests transformations in identity which belie the uniformity of the disengaged, autonomous self which is articulated in the novel as a genre. Tension thus is generated between the social commitment Farah expresses as a writer and the limitations of the form which deny representation to the heteronomous subjectivities who are the objects of Farah's concern. The introduction identifies the centrality of individualism to Farah's project. Chapter 1 explores the historical development of individualism and genealogies of alternative conceptions of self. Chapter 2 addresses the articulation of individualism in the classic Bildungsroman, the sub-genre which defines the novel. Chapter 3 interrogates Farah's use of the 'dissensual' Bildungsroman to escape the contradiction of the classic Bildungsroman. Chapter 4 focuses on how modernism in the novels ... Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis North Atlantic University of Cape Town: OpenUCT |
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University of Cape Town: OpenUCT |
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English |
topic |
English Language and Literature |
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English Language and Literature Moolla, Fatima Fiona Individualism in the Novels of Nuruddin Farah |
topic_facet |
English Language and Literature |
description |
The subject conceived as 'individual' is a sustained focus across the novels of Somali writer, Nuruddin Farah. This thesis locates a reading of individualism in Farah's novels in the context of the historical and philosophical development of modern identity in the societies of the North-Atlantic. It relies primarily on the analysis of philosopher, Charles Taylor, who proposes that individualism makes modern identity an historically unprecedented mode of conceiving the person. By individualism, Taylor refers to the inward location of moral sources in orientation around which the self is constituted. Nonindividualist conceptions of the self locate moral horizons external to the subject thereby defined. The novel appears to be the most significant cultural form which mutually constitutes modern subjectivity. This is suggested by the centrality of the Bildungsroman sub-genre which fundamentally determines the form of the novel. Farah's work spans the historical development of the novel from the proto-realism of his first publication, through modernism and postmodernism, returning to the 'neo-realism' of his most recent novel. The representation of the subject in the novel suggests transformations in identity which belie the uniformity of the disengaged, autonomous self which is articulated in the novel as a genre. Tension thus is generated between the social commitment Farah expresses as a writer and the limitations of the form which deny representation to the heteronomous subjectivities who are the objects of Farah's concern. The introduction identifies the centrality of individualism to Farah's project. Chapter 1 explores the historical development of individualism and genealogies of alternative conceptions of self. Chapter 2 addresses the articulation of individualism in the classic Bildungsroman, the sub-genre which defines the novel. Chapter 3 interrogates Farah's use of the 'dissensual' Bildungsroman to escape the contradiction of the classic Bildungsroman. Chapter 4 focuses on how modernism in the novels ... |
author2 |
Garuba, Harry |
format |
Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
author |
Moolla, Fatima Fiona |
author_facet |
Moolla, Fatima Fiona |
author_sort |
Moolla, Fatima Fiona |
title |
Individualism in the Novels of Nuruddin Farah |
title_short |
Individualism in the Novels of Nuruddin Farah |
title_full |
Individualism in the Novels of Nuruddin Farah |
title_fullStr |
Individualism in the Novels of Nuruddin Farah |
title_full_unstemmed |
Individualism in the Novels of Nuruddin Farah |
title_sort |
individualism in the novels of nuruddin farah |
publisher |
University of Cape Town |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8236 https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/11427/8236/1/thesis_hum_2009_moolla_f.pdf |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8236 https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/11427/8236/1/thesis_hum_2009_moolla_f.pdf |
_version_ |
1766135379458523136 |