CRITICAL LANGUAGE & LITERARY STUDIES
Year:2019 | Volume:16 | Issue:22|Papers Count:12

Introduction: Stories reflect the intellectual and cultural foundations of society and the discovering the infrastructural elements and underlying layers of story, with the aim of representing social specifications of each nation. Methodology and Argument: This research tries to apply semiotic approach and pattern of Greimas actors in analyzing Tajiki children and adolescences stories and find out the covert cultural and social underlying in this stories and its relation with basics and general frameworks of culture and education in the given country. For this purpose, 5 stories from 100 Tajik children and adolescences story books as targeted sampling have been chosen. Background Studies: Mohammadi and Abbasi (1380) in their study" Samad: the structure of a myth" proved the applicability of the theory in the stories by studying eight stories by Samad Behrangi according to the Greimas actors, model and providing the plots. Shairi (1381) in the book basics of modern semantics introduces various chains to account for surface structure of discourse and uses these chains in the analysis of the narration. He also by translating books such as D l imperfection and writing various articles from the point of view of the structuralism semanticians in semeiotics analysis of the discourse to liquid semiotics in books in this field tries to introduce theoretical frameworks of narrative analysis. Rahman and Karimi Ghare Baba (1387) in the article "Narratology of Short Stories of Mohammad Ali JamalZade" concluded that short stories of Jamalzade are formed in the boundary of tradition and modernism. Although Jamalzade later in1 his career was no longer an innovator and became a routine writer. Pashaii (1388) in a research "Meta-story, the Language of Thought Stimulation in Iranian Children’ s Literature: a Study of Three Works by Hassan Farhad" came to this conclusion that meta-story literature by special techniques in composing the story such as inter-textuality, creating conversation among children, writer and fictional characters and funny imitation, far better than realist literature is able to motivate child thought. Hoseinzade Khozani(1389) in a research " Structural Criticism of 20 Adolescent Short Stories" tried to introduce some famous writers of children’ s literature and study their works by analyzing four main elements of stories, plot, characters, sign and narrative dimensions to discover and give accounts of them. Kiani et al (1391) in a research "Theory of Reader Covert in Children’ s Literature, A Case Study of the Works of Lina Kiani" Concluded that the writer’ s style in short stories is better than long stories and in longer stories better than the collections. The language, scientific and literal levels of the reader improve from story collections and not from long stories or novels. On this ground, we can assume that children are the addressee of the collection of tales and short stories, while adolescents may be the addressee of long stories and novels. Nabiloo (1392) in a research "A Structural Narrative Study of Children’ s Stories "and Roghayye Hemmati (1396) in the article" A Structural Study of Fairy Tales for Children" deals with narrative analysis of children's stories and tries to show the dimensions of these stories, indices and content messages of them (even with using meta-human/fairy indices) and finds that Iranian children’ s stories have fixed narrative plot and patterns and organized narrative structure. Conclusion: The findings of this research show that these stories in the underlying layers try to infuse addressee to approach some notions and messages and distance the addressee from some ideas: The story of the "Brave Girl" suggests the addressee that by correct advice and self-esteem, girls like boys have this ability to play their roles in the family and society. The story of "Stork" seeks to transfer the feeling of the help to the oppressed and regain the right of the oppressed. The story of "Devil-fighting Iraj" implicates the idea that the state of the oppressor does not last for a long time and the next generations with stronger motivation will take revenge. The story of "Devil-binding Ahmad" encourages the reader to welcome and accept any accident as having good reasons and finally, the endurance of the story of "Soghdi Narration" and willingness of her love force conveys the addressee the feelings that one can reach one’ s goals by practice.

Introduction: Foreign languages are taught and learned worldwide today, but with great differences in intensity, levels of education, motivations, goals, and teaching methods. However, the reason for the worldwide quantitative or even qualitative development of languages in any country is not the result of a random principle. Any language that is to be learned and introduced in a foreign country inevitably needs a corresponding language planning against the background of the language policy of the respective country (Krumm, 2003: 35). Especially because foreign languages are offered to both Iranian schools and universities, the question arises: What is the purpose of foreign languages in the practice of the Iranian higher education landscape? Which, in turn, raises the question of what language policy concepts exist for teaching foreign Languages in Iran. 1 Background Study: This paper presents a brief introduction to the approaches and frameworks in recent research in Language policy and planning. In the 1990s, a review of books and articles on Language policy and planning was carried out, many of which have demanded and suggesting new theoretical paths in this direction. Cooper (1989) and Tolefson (1991) are among the pioneers of this field. Even before, Haugen (1983, p. 276) suggested that an explanatory theory of language planning should definitely be determined by a single theory or model for judgment. Nowadays, after studying many of the available papers, one can find the balance between the theories and the proposed practical methods. The Integrative Framework Language policy and planning created in the early 1990s (Hornberger, 2006, p. 28) in the paper Frameworks and Models in LPP, is a framework for defining objectives and language options as well as its various applications. Policies and language planning are very diverse, which Hornberger provided to explore and combine them in an Integrative framework. She portrays language framework policy and planning goals as an Integrative framework. Methodology and argument: The situation of foreign languages in Iran was illustrated by Hornberger’ s integrative framework. In the present work, the basis of the comparison is laid down between differently used language policy in Hornberger’ s framework and Iran. The aim of this work is to provide an overview of language policy and language planning in Iran, to describe their use or use in the structure of language in different areas of society, and to show their intentions, and to compare these various language policy decisions with documentary research. Based on this, it will be determined in the course of the work whether and to what extent Iran’ s language planning is to be assigned to the Hornberger framework. In this context, the following main and research question arises: Does a coherent overall concept of language policy and planning exist in relation to foreign languages in Iran? It is hypothesized that there is a coherent overall approach to language policy and planning in relation to the foreign languages that are appointed in Iran. In order to answer these questions, the current position of foreign languages in Iran in the academic and academic field is determined. 4. Conclusion: As the study has shown, based on comparison with Hornberger’ s integrative framework, there are no obvious plans, targeted uses and targeted language users for imported foreign languages in Iranian society. Although Iranian foreign language policy and planning has shown no logical and convincing concept, the added value of the present work lies primarily in the fact that a study was carried out on the various state documents and parallelized in an integrative framework, as well as the gaps in Iran’ s language policy measures have been found.

Introduction: A study of V. S. Naipaul’ s narratives particularly in A House for Mr. Biswas and In the Free State reveals how the conspiracy between the Althusserian ‘ ideology’ and the Derridean ‘ trace’ spawn an illusion which masks the real/objective situation in narrative and thus creates a false consciousness in an attempt to perpetuate the ideological drive. Background Studies: Apart from Paul Theroux’ s Sir Vidia’ s Shadow and his attempts to castigate Naipaul’ s biased outlook in his works, Selwyn R. Cudjoe’ s response has been more relevant to the study. In her V. S. Naipaul: A Materialist Reading, she detects an ideological matrix at work in Naipaul’ s narratives that propels the plot onward. Cudjoe justifies Naipaul’ s negative ideological posture towards the colonized subject through internalizing a different set of ideologies. Bruce King’ s V. S. Naipaul is a critical source since it builds up to the same line of thought as to locate Naipaul’ s ideology at work. Meenakshi Mukheijee’ s The Twice Born Fiction: Themes and Techniques of the Indian Novels in English and Derek Wright’ s Autonomy and Autocracy in V. S. Naipaul’ s In a Free State directly question the propensity of the colonial narratives on ideology and tracing back the consequences of such tendency. Methodology and Argument: Though re-considering significant works of Louis Althusser on ideology and ideological interpellation and those of Jacque Derrida on the notion of trace, the present study attempts to implicitly define subjectivity and identity in relation to and perhaps against the normative image of ‘ the white man, ’ in spite of the explicit criticism of imperialist practices in the narratives of A House for Mr. Biswas and In the Free State. The initial challenge, however, which might hinder the examination of the possible interactions between narrative and alterity, is the difficulty of locating the term itself. Naipaul’ s given narratives employ class and race differences to ‘ naturalize’ and to regard as a norm the identity of the subject. The Narrative Construction of Alterity, in a way, reconciles the self and the other through the images it attributes to the manipulation of each entity. Alterity stands after the narrative as a way to polarize and differentiate the ‘ Self’ with ‘ Other’ , yet its representation within narrative serves to endorse the operation of ideology in the colonial text which at the same time legitimizes the existence of ‘ the Other’ mainly through interpellation. In a Free State shares a familiar theme of the individuals being culturally lost. Upon closer inspection, the narrative of the first two short stories namely "One, Out of Many" and "Tell Me Who to Kill" reveals that the firstperson point of view is dominantly employed in the stories. Active reading of the narration, however, foregrounds an artificiality of the selected viewpoint through its stylistic and narratological peculiarities, which is significantly different from the perspectival point of view adopted in the narration of A House for Mr. Biswas with its hyper-sensitive autobiographical narrator. Conclusion: Through submerging the theoretical notion of trace in the narrative with the Althusserian notion of ideology, the study concludes that Naipaul’ s sense of duality and that of ‘ becoming’ is foregrounded in the selected narratives where he attempts to chronicle the dream of independence and self-realization. It further concludes how Naipaul’ s narrative is structured around a duality of the textual, spatial alterity and narrative characterization of the ‘ other’ as opposed to the heroism of Naipaulian characters. It is thereby attempted to sketch how narrative functions as a local enactment of the process of constructing a logic that legitimizes ‘ othering’ process.

Introduction: Cyberpunk is one of the latest genres in the development of science fiction. In it, characters deal with various cybernetic and technological advancements with futuristic affinities. In this genre, characters experience such futuristic advancements through a series of images and surface values. Background Studies: Alongside Garfield Benjamin’ s The Cyborg Subject: Reality, Consciousness and Parallax, and William Haney’ s Cyberculture, Cyborgs and Science Fiction: Consciousness and the Posthuman as the two key critical sources of the study, it considers David Bell’ s Cyberculture Theorists, Larry McCaffery’ s Storming the Reality Studio and Graham Murphy’ s Beyond Cyberpunk so that the position of the utilized critical premises within the historical development of cyberpunk fiction can be determined. Next, to these sources which have critically discussed cyberpunk fiction, the study also considers sources such as Adam Robert’ s Science Fiction and Larry McCaffery’ s Across the Wounded Galaxies so that cyberpunk fiction’ s position in the overall development of science fiction as a literary genre can be understood. After reviewing the critical position of cyberpunk fiction in the development of science fiction, the study searches for the sources which have directly discussed cyberpunk fiction as a genre in itself. In this search, Dani Cavallero’ s Cyberpunk and Cyberculture: Science Fiction and the Work of William Gibson and Nader Elhefnawy’ s Cyberpunk, Steampunk and Wizardry: Science Fiction since 1980 are two of the sources which have been engaged directly with the genre and its various aspects. Methodology and Argument: Through reviewing works of key writers in the genre-including Bruce Sterling’ s Schismatrix Plus (1985), Greg Egan’ s Permutation City (1994), William Gibson’ s Idoru (1996), and Richard Morgan’ s Altered Carbon (2002) – the present study asks what the status of characters’ knowledge and identity is in the cyberpunk world. This general research question is parsed into two minor questions, creating the final structure of the article: First, what are the repercussions for citizens who are involved with superficial values both in the physical and virtual aspects of the cyberpunk world? Second, can citizens gain any knowledge in regards to their identity status in the cyberpunk world? In answering the first question, the key features of the posthuman identity of cyberpunk citizens are enumerated. Being incapable of referring to a fixed identity center, being incapable of acquiring redemption or absolution, identity multiplicities, and knowledge through identity as the only means of knowledge acquisition are the four features of the posthuman identity of cyberpunk citizens. In answering the second question, the features of knowledge through identity as the only means of acquiring knowledge are enumerated. Being in initial deterrence and oblivion regarding the hollowness of identity, partial and temporary realization of identity hollowness, remaining fluid among identity multiplicities, strengthening of a non-nihilistic and non-religious urge to return to nothingness, embracing one’ s basest and vulnerable identity aspects, and embracing the partial and temporary nature of all knowledge acquisition processes are the six features which knowledge through identity has in the cyberpunk world. Conclusion: Through the utilization of ideas of Garfield Benjamin and William Haney, two well-known critics in Cyberculture and Posthuman/Cyborg Identity, the study concludes that cyberpunk citizens’ knowledge and definition from their identities are shattered and nonessential. Cyberpunk citizens have fluid movement between their various identities and have a simultaneous sense of belonging and non-belonging to all of them. All these identities are formed around the hollowness and emptiness of the citizens’ identity core, which is the only essence of posthuman subjects. These identities only create deterrence in citizens’ paths to realize their emptiness. Only a few of the citizens manage to understand temporarily their identity hollowness and their fluidity among their exchangeable identities.

Introduction: Ana Lily Amirpour was born in 1980 from Iranian Parents in England, and moved to Miami, Florida with her family when she was young. She attended San Francisco State University as an art major for her undergraduate degree, and then graduated from UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television. Although she has experienced a few short movies, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) is her first long movie. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night happens in an imaginative city named Bad City. A lawless city which its location is not specified, but surrounded with industrial ugly oil companies. The time and place of this movie are not recognizable and although it has both Iranian and American signs you cannot certainly say whether it is Iran or America. In this movie, Amirpour integrates the cultural signs of both countries (America as a host and Iran as an immigrant). Background Studies: According to Nojoumian, identity is always under construction and reconstruction, he defines it from semiotics perspective "as a signifier between an individual and his community". On the one hand, in order to relate himself to his community, an individual should construct an identity; on the other hand, each community should have a specific identity to accept individuals as its members. Nojoumian believes that understanding the sign system is related to the identity and that like any other sign system is based on "differences". The second identity theory believes in "identity theme" rather than one single identity. Each individual by the help of his identity theme represents different aspects of his identity in different situations. The third identity theory is "the identity process". Nojoumian states that identities are always in a neverending process of change and evolution. Identities also have a kind of signifier/ signified relationship in each sign system; however, the signs are constantly shaped and reshaped. Method and Discussion: Immigration experience is always accompanied by tension and conflict. In other words, the immigrant is always under a double paradoxical command. The host asks the immigrant to assimilate into its culture, yet simultaneously it orders him to keep a distance which results in the "paradox of assimilation and difference". Therefore, the immigrant will be in an impossible situation: on the one hand he has to actively participate in the assimilation process; on the other hand, he should keep his distance from the host culture. The immigrant artist is not allowed to create a kind of art which is completely related to his culture because it is not readable and understandable in the host country, neither is he allowed to create some kind of art which is completely related to the host culture since that place is reserved for the artists of the host country. The aim of this article is to show how her shattered identity as an immigrant artist is represented in her art. Conclusion: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night portrays the impossible situation of an immigrant artist since she is always under a double command of the host culture (American). This double command asks Amripoure to assimilate with American culture yet warns her at the same time to keep her distance from the host culture. On the one hand, as an immigrant artist, she is not allowed to create a movie which is completely according to Western-Vampire genre. On the other hand, she is not also allowed to produce something which is in complete accordance with her native Iranian culture since in that case, it is not understandable and attractive for American audiences. Although this impossible situation seems very painful at first glance, it is beneficial for the immigrant artist. In this hybridized space, she creates a kind of art which is innovative and unique, because she is not completely preoccupied with the Hollywoodian cliché s imposed by the host culture.

Introduction: Environment and its problems is the subject of study for many contemporary thinkers. Indeed, an environmental study is a field where humane and natural sciences, in the shape of man and nature, are combined. Ecocriticism is a branch of literary criticism which deals with the relationship between literary work and its natural surroundings. One of the most important branches of ecocriticism is deep ecology. Of eight major principles defined by its prophet Arne Naess, the first and the most important one is the equality between human and nonhuman animals. This means they believe each species, big or small, has its own innate value and importance apart from being in contact with human or not. Therefore, an animal should be evaluated as a human character. Background Studies: The voices of many critics are heard who claim that Pnin is the ‘ warmest’ , the ‘ most approachable’ , and ‘ the most gentle and humane of all Nabokov’ s novels’ (qt. in Barabtarlo 40), or ‘ most amusing’ , ‘ most poignant’ , ‘ most straightforward’ (Boyd 271). What all these critics have in common is the part they have dealt with the appearance of squirrel, so that Leona Toker calls squirrel as ‘ "one of the most striking of these is that of the squirrels" (27). Boyd believes that Pnin, as its name suggests, is the story of pain and squirrel ‘ Seems to intimate a number of possible metaphysical answers to the problem of human pain: a patterner of human lives, a designer of fate’ (282). W. W. Rowe comments that squirrel is a symbol for Mira’ s soul who is flying in the novel and sojourns with Pnin, that is why it is represented everywhere through the animal or the connotations. Paul Grams suggests that the ‘ reddish object’ might be ‘ symbolically’ Pnin’ s suffering heart (201). To Eric Naiman, the squirrel is another means for depicting perversion, ‘ the fundamental principle of poetic perversity so dear to Nabokov’ (89). Siggy Frank claims that this animal’ s appearance in the novel is the remembrance of the Nazi concentration camp which he believes also ‘ recur unexpectedly in Lolita’ (12). Martha Pellardy comments on the Pnin’ s identification with squirrel in two aspects, Pnin’ s first love’ s cruel murder in Nazi concentration camp many years ago whose dead soul still sojourns with Pnin in the shape of the squirrel as mentioned by Boyd, and Pnin’ s similarity with Van Eyck’ s painting. Methodology and Design: Of the eight principles Arne Naess, the founder of deep ecology, has defined for deep ecology, the equality between human and animal is the most important one which overshadows the rest. The research in hand has criticized this novel based on ecocriticism and particularly deep ecology. Pnin, the protagonist of the story, is an exiled Russian professor of an American university and the only benign living creature that comes to his life now and then is a squirrel. The presence of squirrel is so recurring and significant that it tacitly represents the author’ s special purpose in making such vicinity. Beside similarities between the main character of the novel and the squirrel, the novel, in general, has a similar structure to the shape and life of the animal. In this article, first the theoretical framework of the study including ecocriticism and deep ecology are defined, then squirrel’ s life-style, in the city and in the jungle, are depicted scientifically. The last part of the study includes the analysis of the researcher on the novel to investigate the complicated structural, as well as characterization, similarities between Pnin and squirrel. Conclusion: This article shows how Nabokov has selected a structure based on a character whose most distinguished vicinity is to a squirrel, although this nearness does not mean being the same with a squirrel or using the animal at the service of human character. Rather, it means how they are presented equally and for their own innate values. The article comes to the ultimate conclusion that Pnin is an example of Nabokov’ s respect to nature and equality, he believed, between human and animal which is also seen in his letters and interviews. This is similar to the principle deep ecology penned down during the same years Nabokov was handling Pnin.

Introduction: September 11th (9/11) has proved to be among the most crucial events which have altered not only the political direction taken in the West but also the cultural and ethical discourses which have come alive after long efforts in the postcolonial West. Besides the triggering of "the war against terror, " 9/11 broke out major controversies over concepts such as "identity, " "American superiority, " and "American exceptionalism" to such extent that some critics, including Ž iž ek, described it as a cultural and psychological act of terror against American society. However, the most considerable after-effect could be the unleashing of a new wave of Islamophobia in the West and, thus, an unprecedented rise in the books, films, and works which were concerned with Islam and Islamic fundamentalism, which was not far from the expectation at the time when the West was propagandizing its "war against terror. " Background Studies: Gillian Whitlock’ s Soft Weapons: Autobiography in Transit and her seminal article, "The Skin of the Burqa: Recent Life Narratives from Afghanistan" are considered like two major sources used in this research to discuss the emergence of Veiled Best-seller, as the new kind of Harem Literature. Furthermore, Judith Butler’ s Precarious Life: The Powers of Mourning and Violence and Catherine Burwell’ s "A Too-Quick Enthusiasm for the Other: North American Women’ s Book Clubs and the Politics of Reading" have been two other sources deployed to discuss how "gender" has been abused by Oriental feminists to further neoliberal humanism in recent decades. To explore such conception further, this research has considered Emmanuel Levinas’ s conception of "the other, " as it has been discussed in Ethics and Infinity and Totality and Infinity. Methodology and Argument: Jean Sasson’ s Mayada: The Daughter of Iraq (2003), subtitled as One Woman Survival under Sadam Hussein, was among those works grabbing attention of a considerable number of readers. As a Veiled Best-seller, a kind of Harem Literature, Mayada proved to be in line with the emergence of the neo-liberal imperialism. Following a cliché d pattern, Sasson, thus, like the Orientalist writers of early 19th century adopts the perspective of a western traveler trusted by Mayada to listen to her and to save her and her sisters from the "suppression" of Islamic Shariah. This article, through a post-colonial feministic approach and the deployment of ideas by Gillian Whitlock, Judith Butler, and Emanuel Levinas attempts to focus on the re-emergence of "Harem literature" through the new genre of Veiled Best-sellers which has been popularized since the September-eleventh terrorist attack. It is discussed how such works have been abused to endorse neo-liberal policies and to justify the West’ s attack on Afghanistan and Iraq. It, also, reveals how such works have been in line with the western policies of "war against terror" and the new phase of civilizing missions on the part of the West. In fact, it exposes how the West has abused the current social and philosophical movements, including Feminism and postmodern concept of ethics, especially the Levinasian theory of "the other, " to justify its acts. Conclusion: The study concludes that, despite the West’ s attempt to attribute the popularity of such post-ninth-eleventh works to the "white man’ s burden" towards his "oriental sister" at that time, such an "other-oriented" ethical discourse brings about no end to the liberal conception of subjectivity (as defined by modernist binary oppositions of the self/other). On the other hand, it once more pushes the liberal humanism’ s discourse of western racial supremacy and consequently justifies the neo-colonial wave in the West. In other words, the West’ s attempt to impose its own standards of civilization on its oriental counterparts has just led to the disappearance of "the other" and the re-emergence of the so-called colonial regime of homogeneity and control, which has put the notion of civilization into question and resulted in the formation of military regimes here and there.

Introduction: This article aims to investigate the different aspects of the concept of the subaltern in the major characters of Lahiri’ s The Namesake in terms of Gayatri Spivak and Homi Bhabha’ s theories. One of the important and central issues in cultural studies and postcolonial literature, which has received much attention in the recent decades, is the notion of the subaltern. It has been extensively discussed and debated by such postcolonial theorists as Spivak and Bhabha. Spivak believes that the subaltern cannot speak since the oppressor, one way or another, silences any voice that belongs to ‘ the other. ’ On the contrary, Bhabha adopts a rather optimistic view and proclaims that a hybrid and ambivalent identity can provide a space for the subaltern to speak and to be heard. The central questions of the article are: Can the components associated with the concept of the subaltern be traced in The Namesake? How do the main characters react to their portrayal as ‘ the other’ and ‘ the inferior’ ? Do they manage to ‘ speak’ and construct an identity that negates ‘ otherness’ and ‘ inferiority’ ? Background Studies: Most of the previous studies on Lahiri’ s The Namesake have focused mainly on immigration, diaspora and immigrant women’ s identity. For instance, in his doctoral dissertation titled Indian Americans as Native Informants: Transnationalism in Bharati Mukherjee’ s Jasmine, Jhumpa Lahiri’ s The Namesake, and Kirin Narayan’ s Love, Stars and All That (2006), Ghaitree Aubeeluck analyses post-1965 Indian immigrant communities. He shows that these new groups differ from other ethnic immigrant groups as they seek and endeavour for certain rights that were denied to their predecessors. As another example, in a feminist study on The Namesake, titled "Immigrant Motherhood and Transnationality in Jhumpa Lahiri’ s Fiction" (2007), Ann Marie Alfonso-Forero shows how traditional gender roles can be read as a source of empowerment when translated into the context of the middle class immigrant life in America. The article concludes that immigrant women need to be understood not only in the context of their particular national histories, but also in their appreciation of these histories in forging individual identities in America. Also, a large number of studies have examined the diasporic identities in Lahiri’ s The Namesake. For instance, Lekha Roy and Khushu Lahiri’ s article, "Forging Transnational Identities: A Postethnic Diasporic Re-imagining of ‘ Home’ in Jhumpa Lahiri’ s the Namesake" (2015), and Binod Paudyal’ s article, "Reimagining Transnational Identities in Lahiri’ s The Namesake" (2015), indicate how the South Asian diaspora participates in transnational networks, shaping and transforming the notion of American identity in the contemporary global era. Materials and Methods: To answer the research questions, manifestations of the concept of the subaltern are analysed in the demeanour, identity and social interactions of Ashima (the main character of the first generation) and Gogol (the main character of the second generation). Ashima and Gogol’ s conscious and unconscious strategies for liberation from subalternity and creation of a socially equal identity are also explored in this Cultural Studies research. Results and Discussion: The article shows that in The Namesake, immigration affects not only the identity of the first generation immigrants but also the identity of their children. Subalternity is discernible in Ashima’ s arranged marriage, her sheer dependence on her family and husband, pregnancy, immigration and also in Gogol’ s name and his relationships with white Americans. Ashima, who initially rejects the Western culture, gradually comes to embrace it and adapt herself to it. Also, Gogol who always shunned his true identity and cultural roots, in time takes interest in Indian culture. The article also indicates that hybrid and ambivalent identities create a voice for subalterns and give them a sense of power and belonging, so much so that they become ‘ the self’ (in contrast with ‘ the other’ ) in the new cultural context. This implies that in The Namesake, Bhabha’ s conception of the subaltern and the possibility of his/her speaking is more pertinent than Spivak’ s.

Introduction: Since the late 1960s, Howard Barker’ s theatre has occupied a significant position in British drama. During these years he has developed his own aesthetics in writing and performing his plays; naming it "the theatre of catastrophe". According to Barker "what lies behind the idea of catastrophe is the sense of other varieties of the self, repressed or obscured by politics, social convention or fear" (The Arguments 194). Accordingly, in his mature plays, including Victory, his oppressed characters try to (con)figure their "desire as an overwhelming impetus to action" for groping, "blindly but determinedly, towards self-reconstruction" (Megson 494). Background Studies: Among the researchers who have had sociopolitical look at Barker’ s plays, Weissengruber has studied the concept of dystopia in the Western polity, especially on The Castle (1988). Hammond, also, has pointed to the notion of moving from socialism towards individualism in Victory, but he does not consider Foucault’ s ideas about power and resistance (18-20). Moreover, Pennino highlights the impressions of staging Thatcher’ s age in victory. He, also, touches slightly the concept of resistance in Victory without bringing Foucault’ s ideas to the fore (110-115). Accordingly, the writer of the article tries to study the mechanism of power and resistance in the political behavior of characters in Barker’ s Victory (1983) based on Foucault’ s theories of power and resistance. Methodology and Argument: Foucault’ s theories of power/resistance can be, more or less, summarized around the two concepts of "co-extensiveness of power and resistance" and "subjectivization". Foucault emphasizes that during his career as a sociologist he has occupied himself with the ways western citizens have constituted "themselves as subjects under fixed and determinate condition" (Remarks 70). According to him, subjectivization is not the subjugation of the subject. Therefore, Foucauldian subjectivization refers to the subjects’ constitution of themselves in an active process of self-fashioning "even if this constitution is not possible in practice without also being constituted as a passive subject" (Kelly 88). Foucault also believes that "where there is power, there is resistance", but "this resistance is never in a position of exteriority in relations of power (The Will 95). In Victory, Susan Bradshaw’ s attempts for collecting her puritan husband’ s bones who is killed by Charles II’ s soldiers is a symbol of resistance. Such endeavor while is seemingly useless represents the "co-extensiveness of power and resistance" in Victory. In this play, although Susan accepts that the period of her relieved reign is over, she continues to regain her new self while ignoring and welcoming all abuses. Susan, indeed, struggles for redefining her lost identity. Her strategies of resistance are, however, incorporated in power and make a new Susan out of her. Conclusion: In this article, it was clarified that the Barkerian characters in Victory have to find their way towards redefining their subjectivities. A process which is named, in Foucauldian parlance, "subjectivzation", and emerges only in the "co-extensiveness of power and resistance". Such selffashioning, being passive and active at the same time, is a form of Foucauldian subjectivization. While Susan is successful in gathering her husband’ s remnants, or perhaps parts of her identity, she enters the process of subjectivization and a new Susan is born. In contrast to Susan, Scrope and Ball decided not to resist but to fight against the system and ended in physically or mentally annihilation.

Background Studies: Although Shakespeare Studies began in the early decades of the seventeenth century shortly after the Bard’ s death, the comparative criticism of his dramatic art enjoyed systematic attention centuries later, in the mid-twentieth century. One of the earliest contrastive researches seems to be Mary Weaver Sweet’ s thesis entitled "The Influence of Shakespeare upon Wordsworth" (1950) which examines the poetical influence Shakespeare left upon Wordsworth’ s literary career. Offering a wide range of examples, the author’ s remark leads to the conclusive defence that "ln Wordsworth’ s poetry there are many verbal echoes of Shakespeare, which indicate that he had studied the language of the dramatist until it had perhaps unconsciously become a part of his own" (82). A substantial part of the research has been dedicated to the formalistic and textual resonance of Shakespeare’ s dramatic work in Wordsworth’ s poetry. The most obvious problem with this research is its failure of providing sufficient evidence for the unconsciousness of the effects Shakespeare left on Wordsworth. Donald Hayden’ s 1951 article, "Towards an Understanding of Wordsworth’ s Borderers" investigates the philosophical grounds of Wordsworth’ s play. The article’ s main focus opens up the discussion of the ways in which Wordsworth’ s characters were constructed, on the one hand, under the influence of his psychological circumstances, and on the other, in light of William Godwin’ s utilitarian view of vice and virtue. The author also postulates that Wordsworth’ s ambivalent use of some concepts such as "evil" and "good" intensifies the convolution of those concepts, paving the way for the reader’ s multiple interpretations (4). Charles J. Smith, in 1953, in "The Effect of Shakespeare on Wordsworth’ s The Borderers" investigates a variety of formalist and textual influences of Shakespeare on Wordsworth’ s play, discussing that that Wordsworth adopted his characterization technique from Shakespeare’ s Hamlet and Othello. The article does not go beyond this stance which combines form and character. Frederick Burwick’ s more recent Romantic Drama: Actin and Reacting (2009) turned out to be an exhaustive initiative in the field of the Romantic Studies, generally focusing on the ways in which drama in the early decades of the nineteenth century flourished alongside the period’ s poetry. The book investigates the structural and generic aspects of Romantic drama, including Wordsworth’ s Borderers. The inclusion of a range of such subjects as realism, fantasy, nationalism, historical representation, sexuality, love, and morality, has made the work an invaluable monograph. In this book, Burwick defends that The Borderers was written under the influence of Schiller’ s philosophy and dramatic style, especially his play "Die Rä uber" (156). This implies that Wordsworth was impressed by continental philosophy rather than Shakespeare. Method and Material: The current research is predicated upon a comparative and intertextual approach to the examination of Wordsworth’ s the direct and indirect stylistic and textual adoptions from Shakespeare’ s plays in his play The Borderers. In doing so, some of the most important similarities between Shakespeare’ s plays and Wordsworth’ s text have been unravelled and explained. The materials employed to realise this research entail a variety of library and archival resources in tandem with a handful of critical books and articles. Conclusion: Wordsworth’ s undeniable contribution to the enrichment of Romantic poetry might have highly been inspired by his precursor poet John Milton, but the path he took in drama was utterly different. Wordsworth’ s play, The Borderers is freighted with Shakespeare’ s voice, tone, style, and poetics. However, it is worth mentioning that Shakespeare was not the sole figure who inspired Wordsworth in his dramatic attempt. The meticulous scrutiny of the play demonstrates that German idealism, which led to the emergence of a different version of Romanticism, the French Revolution, Godwin’ s utilitarian philosophy, among other agents, were the morphing, persuasive conditions and elements that strengthened Wordsworth’ s determination for trying his hand at the genre of drama; a creative commitment that consciously led him to a pragmatic adoption of Shakespearean style and theatre.

Introduction: Cognitive education is an approach to education based on the findings of cognitive science (mind and brain research); it is focused on the learning, development, and application of cognitive trends in order to achieve desirable learning (Telekabi and Nouri 2012). Sternberg (2013) states that cognitive education is a form of education that seeks to improve cognitive (mental) skills of the learners in order to empower them and lead them towards a constructive and satisfying way of life. One of the main assumptions of this approach is that the brain is basically involved in everything that educators and learners do during the educational process (Jensen 2008). Therefore, if we know the brain structure and its learning mechanism, we can then expect that the methods which are based on this knowledge would produce better learning outcomes in educational contexts. Despite the increasing number of studies in the field of brainbased learning and education in our country, Iran, research in this area is still insufficient. Background Studies: The approach in most studies examining the effect of applying brain-based learning principles in education has in general been to implement them in designing instructional content and environment. Research has also indicated that the individual or collective application of these principles is expected to lead to tangible results in learning a second language (e. g., Lago & Seepho, 2012; Newton, 2010; Pica, 2008). Despite advances in the field of second language teaching, vocabulary learning is still approached by learners as a task which entails reading bilingual vocabulary lists and repeating them as many times as needed to learn the words (Oxford & Crookal, 1990). Reviewing the existent literature and realizing that previous research on the effect of applying brain-based learning principles to teach language skills has produced positive results (Tü fekç i & Demirel., 2009; Haghighi, 2013), the researchers decided to build on that assumption and conduct this study by applying some of the brain-based learning principles to teaching vocabulary to EFL learners. Methodology and Argument: The purpose of this study was, therefore, to investigate the effect of two of those principles, namely the application of different sensory inputs to a learner during the learning process and the brain is social, on the learning and retention of vocabulary of 60 of EFL learners at an English language institute. The effect of the combined application of these two principles was also investigated in this study. This experiment employed a pre-test, post-test design using a control group and three experimental groups. Two post-tests, immediate and delayed, were administered to measure the effect of the brain-based instruction. In order to verify the results, all the steps were repeated three times but due to lack of space, the results of one of the trials have been reported in this study. Discussion: The results indicated better performance by learners in all the three experimental conditions when they (i. e. the results) were compared with those obtained in the control condition. However, no significant difference was reported among the three experimental conditions. Moreover, there was no significant difference in the results of the immediate post-tests of the four groups, meaning that the traditional and experimental methods produced similar learning immediately after The results obtained from this study are in line with those. the treatment of previous research that show the application of the brain-compatible activities positively impacted the learning and recalling of the vocabulary in English as a second language (Haghighi 2013, Lago and Seepho 2012). It is suggested that the addition of other principles from the brain-based learning principles may help second language teachers design richer and more engaging activities, which can, in turn, lead to better learning outcomes. Furthermore, researchers can investigate considering other factors not were included in this study (e. g. intelligence and particularly linguistic intelligence, gender, different learning styles, teacher’ s role, and learner motivation). Each of these factors can and contribute to or hinder EFL learners’ achievement on vocabulary tests.

Introduction: The interconnectedness between music and translation has not been well-studied in the field of translation studies (Sarajeva, 2008). Music plays a pivotal role in musical animations. Some songs are inextricably related to the plot and leaving them untranslated damages the comprehension of the original product (Di Giovanni, 2008). The aim of this study is to examine the translation and singability of songs in Persian dubbed animated feature films. Methodology: For this study, eleven musical animations were selected to examine the singability of the songs in Persian dubbed animations. A new model, which is a hybrid of two previous models on singability of songs by Low (2003, 2005, 2008) and Franzon (2008), proposed by Khoshligheh and Ameri (2016), consists of the pre-existing music, prosodic match, poetic match, semantic– reflexive match, sense, naturalness, lip-synchronization. This model was applied to the corpus of the study. The Persian and English lyrics were extracted and compared based on this model. Results: Of the seventy-seven songs in the eleven musical animations dubbed into Persian, forty-six songs were dubbed, so the audience can hear the English songs; in other words, the original music and the English lyrics. According to the first method, forty-six songs were not translated. In some songs, completely new lyrics were written, sometimes the lyrics did not have any meaningful relation to the source lyrics, but they were easily read on the original music. In other songs, the lyrics were rewritten or translated to adapt to the original music. As Franzon (2008) pointed out, due to the complexity and difficulty of song translating various methods in the practical translation might combine. Conclusion: The results suggest that, despite the difficulty of song translation, Glory Entertainment, the company dubbed the programs, has exhibited an increasing tendency toward dubbing songs in recent years. According to the model, it can be said that the dubbing group has moved on to preserve the original music. Importantly, the loyalty of the song translation should be assessed based on the contextual appropriations and purpose of the translation. Due to the complexity of song translation, especially the dubbing of the songs, there is a real need for a group of translators, linguists and musicians together.