Language of conciliation: A reading of Joseph O’ Neill’s Netherland
Abstract
The present paper analyzes Joseph O’Neill’s
Netherland as a narrative of conciliatory engagement with the Other despite the
presence of an Orientalist discourse in the post- September 11 world. This
novel depicts a Western society disoriented by the anxiety generated by the
intensified phenomenon of terrorism after September 11. Mostly Western
characters find themselves anxious, fearful and discomforted due to the
ubiquitous presence of individual and collective anxiety. The manifest intent
in the novel is to bring these characters out from their pre-September 11
spaces of comfort into a post-September 11 world of discomfort in order to
confront, engage and reconcile with people, events and phenomenon that have
contributed to those discomforts. These undertakings force the characters to
explore a whole plethora of strategies, some escapist and irrational, others
more meaningful and productive. Like the conflict between the self and the other,
and the West and Islam in most September 11 novels, Netherland too recognizes
those differences. However, the distinct approach here is not to avoid, ignore
or escape from those differences, but to look for a middle ground based on the
principles of peaceful co-existence, mutual understanding, conciliation,
forgiveness, humanism, tolerance and multiculturalism. The other is accorded
recognition in an international and cosmopolitan space of less divisiveness as
the new discourse discourages the binary divisions of nations, ethnicities,
cultures and religions.
Keywords
Kaynakça
- Alam, Shahid. (2006) Challenging the New Orientalism: Dissenting Essays on the “War against Islam.” North Haledon, NJ: Islamic. Appiah, Kwame Anthony. (2006) Introduction. Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers. New York: Norton. xi-xxi. Bradley, Arthur, and Andrew Tate.(2010) The New Atheist Novel: Fiction, Philosophy and Polemics after 9/11. New York: Continuum. Brown, Jeffrey. “Joseph O’Neill, Author of Netherland.” YouTube. YouTube, 23 Nov. 2010. Web. 16 May 2013. Butler, Judith P. (2006)Precarious Life: The Powers of Mourning and Violence. London: Verso. Derrida, Jacques. (2001) On Cosmopolitanism and Forgiveness. London: Routledge. Gilroy, Paul. (2005) Postcolonial Melancholia. New York: Columbia UP. Gray, Richard J. (2011) After the Fall: American Literature since 9/11. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley. Head, Dominic.(2008) The State of the Novel: Britain and Beyond. Chichester, U.K.: Wiley. Hill, Jeffrey.(2010) “The American Dream of Chuck Ramkissoon: Cricket in Joseph O’Neil’s Netherland.” Journal of Sport History 37.2: 219-34. Houen, Alex. (2004) “Novel Spaces and Taking Place(s) in the Wake of September 11.” Studies in the Novel 36.3 (2004): 419-437. Huntington, Samuel P.(1996) The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order. New York: Touchstone, 1996. Lazarus, Neil.(1995) “Cricket and National Culture in the Writings of C.L.R. James.” Liberation Cricket: West Indies Cricket Culture. Ed. Hilary Beckles and Brian Stoddart. Manchester, England: Manchester UP. 342-355. O’Neill, Joseph.(2008) Netherland. New York: Pantheon. Said, Edward. (2003)Orientalism. New York: Vintage. Versluys, Kristiaan. (2009) Out of the Blue: September 11 and the Novel. New York: Columbia UP. Zizek, Slavoj. (2002)Welcome to the Desert of the Real! Five Essays on September 11 and Related Dates. New York: Verso.
Ayrıntılar
Birincil Dil
İngilizce
Konular
Sanat ve Edebiyat
Bölüm
Araştırma Makalesi
Yazarlar
Fikret Güven
*
0000-0002-9313-7166
Türkiye
Yayımlanma Tarihi
21 Mart 2019
Gönderilme Tarihi
8 Mayıs 2018
Kabul Tarihi
17 Şubat 2019
Yayımlandığı Sayı
Yıl 2019 Sayı: 14