Representation of the Other in A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini from a New Orientalist Perspective

نوع المستند : العلوم الانسانیة الأدبیة واللغات

المؤلف

جامعة المنصورة - كلية الآداب

المستخلص

Hosseini develops A Thousand Splendid Suns, concentrating on issues of terrorism and women’s rights and freedom in Afghanistan. Writer Khaled Hosseini is semi-native of the country he depicts, a condition which, to a Western reader, grants authority to his views and opinions about political issues and women’s rights. Nevertheless, Hosseini fails to objectively represent religious, political, and social circumstances due to the authors’ biases towards Americanized and Eurocentric frameworks. This absence of neutrality transforms Hosseini into a ‘native informant,’ whom Hosseini proves to be a dedicated advocate of what some post-colonial theorists (principally Hamid Dabashi and Fatemeh Keshavarz) call New-Orientalist discourse. Hosseini clearly expresses his repugnance towards his country, and constantly sees himself as an outsider. In addition, Hosseini’s denunciative voice of anything Afghan is dispersed in the novel and is easily detectable. Indeed, by repeatedly debating issues having to do with Afghan backwardness, Western superiority, women’s oppression, Islamic misogyny, and irrationality, as well as by implicitly soliciting a foreign intervention or occupation, A Thousand Splendid Suns can serve as a highly appropriate example of new Orientalist narratives.

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