Erasing the binary oppositions (?) : the position of women characters in Ishmael Reed's Japanese by Spring

Název: Erasing the binary oppositions (?) : the position of women characters in Ishmael Reed's Japanese by Spring
Zdrojový dokument: Theory and Practice in English Studies. 2012, roč. 5, č. 1, s. [1]-13
Rozsah
[1]-13
  • ISSN
    1805-0859
Type: Článek
Jazyk
Licence: Neurčená licence
 

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Abstrakt(y)
Ishmael Reed is known for writing original postmodern works which challenge white hegemony and control. His novels are praised not only for a mere deconstruction of such instances but also for erasure of the binary opposition of the oppressor/oppressed equation. However, although Reed uses his novels to deconstruct said instances of oppression, these attempts have been questioned by some critics who suggest that Reed not only does not deconstruct the opposition of male and female characters but also favours the position of male characters at the expense of female ones. This article then sets out to answer the question whether the position of women in Reed's latest novel, Japanese by Spring, is in alignment with his intent to deconstruct binary oppositions or not. The article concludes that, while Reed is susceptible to emphasising male roles over female roles in his early fiction, in order to promote deconstruction of white hegemony his latest novel is endowed with powerful female characters and successfully deconstructs said binary oppositions.
Reference
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[2] Fox, Robert Elliot (1987) Conscientious Sorcerers: The Black Postmodernist Fiction of LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka, Ishmael Reed, and Samuel R. Delany. New York: Greenwood Press.

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[4] Hogue, Lawrence W. (2009) Postmodern American Literature and Its Other. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

[5] Hurston, Zora Neale (1995) "Tell My Horse." In: Folklore, Memoirs, & Other Writings. New York: The Library of America.

[6] Hume, Kathryn (1993) "Ishmael Reed and the Problematics of Control." PMLA 108 (3): 506-518. | DOI 10.2307/462618

[7] McGee, Patrick (1997) Ishmael Reed and the Ends of Race. New York: St. Martin's Press.

[8] Reed, Ishmael (1972) Mumbo Jumbo. New York: Doubleday.

[9] Reed, Ishmael (1978) Shrovetide in Old New Orleans. New York: Doubleday.

[10] Reed, Ishmael (1986) Reckless Eyeballing. New York: St Martin's.

[11] Reed, Ishmael (1988) Writin' is Fightin': Thirty-seven Years of Boxing on Paper. New York: Athenaeum.

[12] Reed, Ishmael (1994) Japanese by Spring. London: Allison & Busby.

[13] Strombeck, Andrew (2006) "The Conspiracy of Masculinity in Ishmael Reed." African American Review 40 (2): 299-311.

[14] Swope, Richard (2002) "Crossing Western Space, or the HooDoo Detective on the Boundary in Ishmael Reed's Mumbo Jumbo." African American Review 36 (4): 611-628. | DOI 10.2307/1512421

[15] Womack, Kenneth (2001) "Campus Xenophobia and the Multicultural Project: Ethical Criticism and Ishmael Reed's Japanese by Spring." Melus 26 (4): 223-243. | DOI 10.2307/3185548