The Depiction Of Class And Self Created Identity In The Buddha Of Suburbia

Author : Robert Willrich
Publisher : GRIN Verlag
Page : 53 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2010-03
Category : Identity (Philosophical concept) in literature
ISBN : 9783640542932

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The Depiction of Class and Self-Created Identity in "The Buddha of Suburbia" by Robert Willrich Pdf

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3, University of Bamberg, course: London in Literature through the Ages, language: English, abstract: Being one of Hanif Kureishi's most famous works, The Buddha of Suburbia has been discussed numerously in academic writing. Up to now, most scholars have, unfortunately, only focussed on the most apparent topics of hybridity and racial as well as migrational identity. Although fairly striking, only few have paid attention to the British class system that is portrayed in the novel, and if they have, only in passing. This paper is not intended to be added to this long list. I rather want to concentrate on how diverse and comprehensively the topic of class is approached by Kureishi, how class is depicted. For this reason, I want start with some more general facts about lower middle class, but will try to directly compare them to the contents of The Buddha of Suburbia. Secondly, I aim to show how, especially, class is depicted and to describe what makes someone belong to a certain class. How is affiliation expressed and how can one distinguish from other social groups? What does influence our thoughts and beliefs, and why do people want to break out? In regard to this, I will pay special attention to how the suburbs are presented in the novel and to what extent they differ from London. Finally, I want to examine in how far London offers a chance to flee suburbia and lower middle class influences. Does the anonymity of England's capital provide the basis for a new self, to create something new, and leave the past behind? Do people have to surrender, not to say sacrifice, their old identities in order to make it in London? What is the price for climbing the social ladder, and can one find a new, but genuine, self after having left the old behind? My paper shall answer these questions, it seeks to unfold some of the complexity of Kureishi's début novel and to offe

Author : Hanif Kureishi
Publisher : Faber & Faber
Page : 354 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2009-01-08
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780571249398

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The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi Pdf

Winner of the Whitbread First Novel Award 'A wonderful novel. I doubt I will read a funnier one, or one with more heart, this year, possibly this decade.' Angela Carter, Guardian The hero of Hanif Kureishi's first novel is Karim, a dreamy teenager, desperate to escape suburban South London and experience the forbidden fruits which the 1970s seem to offer. When the unlikely opportunity of a life in the theatre announces itself, Karim starts to win the sort of attention he has been craving - albeit with some rude and raucous results. 'One of the best comic novels of growing up, and one of the sharpest satires on race relations in this country that I've ever read.' Independent on Sunday 'Brilliantly funny. A fresh, anarchic and deliciously unrestrained novel.' Sunday Times 'A distinctive and talented voice, blithe, savvy, alive and kicking.' Hermione Lee, Independent

Author : Nahem Yousaf
Publisher : A&C Black
Page : 100 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2002-06-26
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 0826453244

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Hanif Kureishi's The Buddha of Suburbia by Nahem Yousaf Pdf

This is an excellent guide to Hanif Kureishi's ground-breaking novel. It features a biography of the author (including an in-depth interview with Kureishi), a full-length analysis of the novel, and a great deal more. If you're studying this novel, reading it for your book club, or if you simply want to know more about it, you'll find this guide informative and helpful. This is part of a new series of guides to contemporary novels. The aim of the series is to give readers accessible and informative introductions to some of the most popular, most acclaimed and most influential novels of recent years - from ‘The Remains of the Day' to ‘White Teeth'. A team of contemporary fiction scholars from both sides of the Atlantic has been assembled to provide a thorough and readable analysis of each of the novels in question.

Author : Marco Schmidbauer
Publisher : GRIN Verlag
Page : 10 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2018-01-23
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9783668619258

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The Search for Identity in "The Buddha of Suburbia" by Hanif Kureishi by Marco Schmidbauer Pdf

Essay from the year 2012 in the subject English - Literature, Works, grade: 2,3, University of Regensburg, language: English, abstract: The beginning of the novel "The Buddha of Suburbia" by Hanif Kureishi already reveals the struggle for identity. But what exactly is identity? No one can give a clear definition on what it is - we can only limit the factors that determine identity, such as class, gender, sexual preference, ethnic background and education. Moreover, identity is bound to social norms. A boy for example is expected to like football or cars, whereas girls are expected to be interested in fashion and shoes. If a person fails to fulfill his gender role, he/she is automatically seen as different and not normal. This way stereotypes are formed. Stereotypes are fixed notions of racial identities, developed over the years. Even though often unconsciously: every person generalizes - this is just how the human mind works. When we see a person for the first time, we immediately tend to put the other into certain categories. Fortunately, identity is not fixed but a malleable entity constructed through social performance. Social performance includes your way of clothing, behavior, accent and much more. In general, it is your outer appearance combined with your gestures and facial expressions, as well as your way of speaking. To my mind, every single person creates their own identity unconsciously. On top of that, nobody can judge his or her identity by himself - it is judged by others.

Author : Marita Mehnert
Publisher : GRIN Verlag
Page : 18 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2021-04-09
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9783346384065

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Space and Cultural Identity in Hanif Kureishi's "The Buddha of Suburbia" by Marita Mehnert Pdf

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2019 im Fachbereich Anglistik - Literatur, Note: 1,3, Universität Bielefeld, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: This term paper uses a postcolonial approach to analyse Karim's movement between the city centre and the suburbs in "The Buddha of Suburbia". These spatial relations reflect on his development of a culturally hybrid identity that goes beyond the simple British-Indian dichotomy. It moves on from a binary view of belonging either to the one or the other to a more differentiated understanding of the fluid, fragmentary and hybrid nature of the protagonist’s postcolonial identity. The novel follows the journey of the protagonist, Karim, as he navigates through different spaces in London, ranging from the suburbs, the home of his biracial family, to the inner city. All while grappling with his quest for a 'true' identity. Set in the 1970s, just after the post-World War II influx of immigrants from former British colonies. The narrative is shaped by the socio-political backdrop of the time, marked by the Commonwealth Immigrants Acts of 1962 and 1968, which restricted the entry of Commonwealth citizens. The spatial relations in the novel mirror a center-periphery dynamic akin to colonial British-Indian relations. The suburbs symbolize the diaspora and marginalized regions and populations, while inner London represents the epitome of power, wealth, and social and cultural achievements. Karim's movement between these spaces parallels his cultural identity's evolution, transcending the simplistic British-Indian dichotomy. The narrative progresses beyond a binary view of belonging to either one culture or the other, illustrating a more nuanced understanding of the fluid, fragmentary, and hybrid nature of the protagonist’s postcolonial identity. Informed by Stuart Hall's cultural studies, the novel rejects the concept of distinct, complete, and coherent identities. Instead, identity is portrayed as fluid, a work in progress marked by fragmentation and defined by differences from other identities. These differences are shaped by the characteristic binaries of dominant and subordinate identities, reflecting the complexities of Karim's journey towards a multifaceted and evolving sense of self.

Author : Christin Hoene
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 168 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 2014-08-27
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781317679165

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Music and Identity in Postcolonial British South-Asian Literature by Christin Hoene Pdf

This book examines the role of music in British-South Asian postcolonial literature, asking how music relates to the construction of postcolonial identity. It focuses on novels that explore the postcolonial condition in India, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom: Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy, Amit Chaudhuri's Afternoon Raag, Suhayl Saadi's Psychoraag, Hanif Kureishi's The Buddha of Suburbia and The Black Album, and Salman Rushdie's The Ground Beneath Her Feet, with reference to other texts, such as E.M. Forster's A Passage to India and Vikram Seth's An Equal Music. The analyzed novels feature different kinds of music, from Indian classical to non-classical traditions, and from Western classical music to pop music and rock 'n' roll. Music is depicted as a cultural artifact and as a purely aestheticized art form at the same time. As a cultural artifact, music derives meaning from its socio-cultural context of production and serves as a frame of reference to explore postcolonial identities on their own terms. As purely aesthetic art, music escapes its contextual meaning. The transgressive qualities of music render it capable of expressing identities irrespective of origin and politics of location. Thereby, music in the novels marks a very productive space to imagine the postcolonial nation and to rewrite imperial history, to express the cultural hybridity of characters in-between nations, to analyze the state of the nation and life in the multicultural diaspora of contemporary Great Britain, and to explore the ramifications of cultural globalization versus cultural imperialism. It will be a useful research and teaching tool for those interested in postcolonial literature, music studies, cultural studies, contemporary literature and South-Asian literature.

Author : Alaa Alghamdi
Publisher : iUniverse
Page : 258 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2011-08-18
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781462044894

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Transformations of the Liminal Self by Alaa Alghamdi Pdf

The concept of home has been changing for more than a century. This change began with colonialism and the movement of people across the globe, often within a set power dynamic. Since people now move with greater frequency, the question of where home is and what home means is more relevant than ever before. Meticulously researched, Transformations of the Liminal Self addresses the formation of home and identity and the ways in which the latter depends on the former. Using the postcolonial Muslim characters in the literary works of British authors Salman Rushdie, Hanif Kureishi, Zadie Smith, Monica Ali, and Fadia Faqir, author Alaa Alghamdi shows how home and identity are profoundly impacted by the power dynamics of the colonial relationship, the individual immigrants experience, and the subjects multicultural setting. Drawing upon the theoretical work of Homi Bhabha, Rosemary Marangoly George, Gayatri Chakrovorty Spivak, and Edward Said, the conception of home and the formation of hybrid identities is examined and connected to larger cultural manifestations of MuslimWestern relationships. More specifically, Alghamdi explores how these characters define their home. Bold and challenging, Alghamdis work offers a rigorous and well-articulated contribution to the ongoing academic conversation about identity and postcolonial literature.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 368 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2021-11-29
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9789004500686

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Popular Music and the Poetics of Self in Fiction by Anonim Pdf

The volume explores the various intersections and interconnections of the self and popular music in fiction; it examines questions of musical taste and identity construction across decades, spaces, social groups, and cultural contexts, covering a wide range of literary and musical genres.

Author : Graham Huggan
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2002-09-26
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781134576975

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The Postcolonial Exotic by Graham Huggan Pdf

Travel writing, it has been said, helped produce the rest of the world for a Western audience. Could the same be said more recently of postcolonial writing? In The Postcolonial Exotic, Graham Huggan examines some of the processes by which value is attributed to postcolonial works within their cultural field. Using varied methods of analysis, Huggan discusses both the exoticist discourses that run through postcolonial studies, and the means by which postcolonial products are marketed and domesticated for Western consumption. Global in scope, the book takes in everything from: * the latest 'Indo-chic' to the history of the Heinemann African Writers series * from the celebrity stakes of the Booker Prize to those of the US academic star-system *from Canadian multicultural anthologies to Australian 'tourist novels'. This timely and challenging volume points to the urgent need for a more carefully grounded understanding of the processes of production, dissemination and consumption that have surrounded the rapid development of the postcolonial field.

Author : David Bell,Azzedine Haddour
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 331 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2018-10-08
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781317881568

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City Visions by David Bell,Azzedine Haddour Pdf

A collection of the latest work on the city, presenting contemporary theories, methods and perspectives in an accessible format for upper-level undergraduates and postgraduates in geography, cultural studies and sociology.

Author : S. Groes
Publisher : Springer
Page : 309 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2011-08-09
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780230306011

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The Making of London by S. Groes Pdf

London has become the focus of a ferocious imaginative energy since the rise of Thatcher. The Making of London analyses the body of work by writers who have committed their writing to the many lives of a city undergoing complex transformations, tracing a major shift in the representation of the capital city.

Author : Nick Bentley
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 232 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2017-11-15
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781350309029

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Contemporary British Fiction by Nick Bentley Pdf

This essential guide provides a comprehensive survey of the most important debates in the criticism and research of contemporary British fiction. Nick Bentley analyses the criticism surrounding a range of British novelists including Monica Ali, Martin Amis, Pat Barker, Alan Hollinghurst, Kazuo Ishiguro, Ian McEwan, David Mitchell, Ali Smith, Zadie Smith, Sarah Waters and Jeanette Winterson. Exploring experiments with literary form, this authoritative book considers cutting-edge concerns relating to the neo-historical novel, the relationship between literature and science, literary geographies, and trauma narratives. Engaging with key literary theories, and identifying present trends and future directions in the literary criticism of contemporary British fiction, this is an invaluable resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students of English literature, teachers, researchers and scholars.

Author : Nick Bentley
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 257 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2007-05-07
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781134292509

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British Fiction of the 1990s by Nick Bentley Pdf

The 1990s proved to be a particularly rich and fascinating period for British fiction. This book presents a fresh perspective on the diverse writings that appeared over the decade, bringing together leading academics in the field. British Fiction of the 1990s: traces the concerns that emerged as central to 1990s fiction, in sections on millennial anxieties, identity politics, the relationship between the contemporary and the historical, and representations of contemporary space offers distinctive new readings of the most important novelists of the period, including Martin Amis, Beryl Bainbridge, Pat Barker, Julian Barnes, A.S. Byatt, Hanif Kureishi, Ian McEwan, Iain Sinclair, Zadie Smith and Jeanette Winterson shows how British fiction engages with major cultural debates of the time, such as the concern with representing various identities and cultural groups, or theories of ‘the end of history’ discusses 1990s fiction in relation to broader literary and critical theories, including postmodernism, post-feminism and postcolonialism. Together the essays highlight the ways in which the writing of the 1990s represents a development of the themes and styles of the post-war novel generally, yet displays a range of characteristics distinct to the decade.

Author : Mehmet Ali Çelikel,Baysar Taniyan
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Page : 375 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2015-09-18
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781443883184

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English Studies by Mehmet Ali Çelikel,Baysar Taniyan Pdf

This volume offers a selection of revised versions of the papers presented at the 7th International IDEA Conference held at Pamukkale University in Denizli, Turkey, organised by the Association of English Language and Literary Studies in Turkey. The contributions to this book offer a wide range of research from scholars on a variety of topics in English literature, including Shakespearean studies, Victorian, colonial, and postcolonial literature, poetry, and drama studies. The volume also includes a number of informative research articles on comparative and translation studies which will offer assistance to young scholars in their academic studies. In addition to acting as a guide to young academics, the book will also function as a fruitful reference book in a wide range of English literary studies.

Author : Marc Porée
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 180 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 1997
Category : Electronic
ISBN : NYPL:33433050082357

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Hanif Kureishi, "The Buddha of Suburbia" by Marc Porée Pdf