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| Selected Publications |
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| Author: |
Sarala Krishnamurthy, Polytechnic of Namibia |
| Title: |
The Chutnification of English: An examination of the lexis of Salman Rushdie's Midnight Children |
| Journal: |
CONTEXT: Journal of Social & Cultural Studies, Volume 13, Number 1, March 2010, Pp 11 – 28. |
| Abstract: |
Midnight’s Children has been variously described as a Postmodern novel, Post colonial novel, and a novel which uses techniques of magic realism, metafiction and historiography. Having won the Booker Prize, the novel has attracted the attention of many critics for its remarkable use of language and the blending of history and story, fact and fiction and, reality and sur-reality. While the novel has been acclaimed as one of the most ingenious and fascinating piece of writing in the modern age and Rushdie has been described as a “juggler of words” (Narasimhaiah:1995), not many critics have focused on the use of lexical items in the novel. It is my argument that an examination of the lexis of Midnight’s Children within the ambit of Stylistics, will yield a rich dividend, and an analysis and a study of this kind will add new insights not just to the novel but also to the field of lexicology. Lexicologists are mainly concerned with word-formation and multi word expressions in natural language processing. While the analysis and application of lexicology studies tend to revolve around teaching and transfer of culture, an analysis of the kind suggested above would not only extend the field of Stylistics, but also lexicology as well. Salman Rushdie?s use of the expression 'chutnification' epitomizes his use of language in the novel. “Chutney” is an Indian dish, which is a side dish and tangy, adding flavour to the main course of any meal. “Chutney” is a noun form and is understood as such in English. By adding “-fication”, Rushdie changes an Indian word into an English one to stand for transformation. Therefore “Chutnification” in the novel means transformation of English having an additional connotation of making the language used in the novel tangy and more flavoursome and exciting. An examination of the lexis of Midnight’s Children will, therefore, be a useful exercise in comprehending Rushdie?s inimitable style, as well as understanding the ways by which a language grows. The study, in other words, will contribute to, in particular, a critique of Midnight’s Children, and also to the fields of lexicology and morphology. Read More |
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| Author: |
Sarala Krishnamurthy, Polytechnic of Namibia |
| Title: |
The centre does hold: Focalization and Narration in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart”. |
| Journal: |
Reading African Literatures: Critical Perspectives on Stylistics, Thematics & Language Use Eds. Chirambo, R. Makokha, J. K. S. & West-Pavlov, R. |
| Abstract: |
The article examines the narrative technique of Things Fall Apart, a novel by Chinua Achebe with a particular focus on ‘point of view’. The framework of analysis derives from narratological studies and functional grammar. Narrative technique is studied under focalization and narration. Focalization is defined in a specific way drawing upon insights gained from narratologists like Genette, Bal, Berendesen and Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan. The paper sets forth a thesis that it is possible to settle many contentious issues that unresolvable through literary criticism and illustrates this argument by analyzing a African novel which can truly be called a modern classic. |
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| Author: |
Sarala Krishnamurthy, Polytechnic of Namibia |
| Title: |
Cause and effect: A stylistic analysis of the story in Ngugi's "A Grain of Wheat". |
| Journal: |
Reuben Chirambo and JKS Makokha (Eds.) Reading Contemporary African Literature: Critical Perspectives on Fiction, Poetry and Drama. Amsterdam: Rodopi, forthcoming mid 2011. |
| Abstract: |
This article is an attempt to develop a methodology for the analysis of the story of a novel drawing upon insights gained from Narratology and Stylistics. Narratologists describe the deep narrative structure or surface narrative structure of different kinds of narrative forms such as: folk tale, fairy tale, epic, myths, short stories etc. Stylistics, on the other hand, focuses on the linguistic elements of a text which get foregrounded. By combining the two, it is possible to isolate elements that build up the story in a novel at the macro-level and at the same time, subject those elements to micro-linguistic analysis. Through this methodology I hope to prove that it is possible to examine the story of a novel thereby emphasizing textual analysis and empiricism as a rationale for stylistic inquiry. For purposes of illustration, I examine A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi Wa Thiong’O, Kenya’s foremost novelist and one of Africa’s greatest intellectuals. Read More |
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| Author: |
Sarala Krishnamurthy, Polytechnic of Namibia |
| Title: |
Inner landscapes: An examination of mind style and ambivalence in "The Poisoned Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver. |
| Journal: |
JKS Makokha, Remmy Barasa and Adeyemi Daramola (Eds.) Tales, Tellers and Tale-Making: Critical Studies on Literary Stylistics and Narrative Styles in Contemporary African Literature. Saarbrucken: VDM Verlag, 2010. pp. 102-111. |
| Abstract: |
Set against the back drop of the Belgian Congo made famous by Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible depicts the trial and tribulation of a missionary's family and the inner lives of its five women protagonists who travel to Belgian Congo in the wake of the family patriarch, Mr. Price. By presenting the story through the narrative voices of Orleanna Price, the wife of the missionary and her four daughters, Kingsolver explores issues of "double colonisation" of women through colonial and post-colonial times. Western women traveling to Africa during colonization find themselves in a problematic position insofar as they consider themselves superior to the natives or colonized and yet are disempowered within Western patriarchy. In order to cope with the contradictory position in which they find themselves they employ different strategies for survival. The intersection of colonial and feminist discourses in the novel creates ambivalence which is the subject of this paper.
Through my analysis of mind style, I hope to reveal the ambivalence in The Poisonwood Bible. I examine the language of the 5 narrators because each one of them has a unique and distinctive voice, thereby creating inner landscapes for each which are as divergent as they are varied. Through this analysis I would like to argue that a woman's position in the colonial and post-colonial world can only be ambivalent and since The Poisonwood Bible depicts this uncertainty, Barbara Kingsolver succeeds as a novelist. Read More
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| Author: |
Alexander Brewis, Polytechnic of Namibia |
| Title: |
Mission Impossible - The pentangle breaks |
| Journal: |
NAWA, December 2009, Vol. 3 Issue 2, p32-43, 12p |
| Abstract: |
The poet's complex and ambiguous treatments of Gawain's adventure |
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leaves the
nature of the heroic role continually in doubt, and the ending |
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of the peom is designed to make us wonder whether Gawain has fulfilled such a role or
not. |
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This article attempts to advocate a sympathetic reading of Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight, |
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hereafter referred to as SGGK. I propose to show that
Gawain...read more |
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| Author: |
Jairos Kangira, Polytechnic of Namibia
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| Title: |
The girl-child is not a 'hen that wants to be a cock': A short survey of |
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the portrayal of the girl-child in Alumenda's selected children's books |
| Journal: |
NAWA, December 2009, Vol. 3 Issue 2, p187-192, 6p |
| Abstract: |
This paper illustrates that Stephen Alumenda represents the girl-child in a
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positive way in four of his children's books. The girl-child is portrayed as active,
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assertive, wise and independent. Alumenda satirises the patriarchal
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belief system that discriminates against and demeans the |
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this important subject of HIV
and AIDS by focusing specifically on the |
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girl-child in society.
Alumenda's
girl-child emerges dignified, |
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proving that girls can do what boys do
equally well if given the |
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same opportunities. Through carefully crafted plots......read more |
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| Authors: |
Sarala Krishnamurthy, Elina Ithindi, Alec Brewis and Juliet Eiseb -
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Polytechnic of Namibia |
| Title: |
Pragmatic analysis of students' performance at the Polytechnic of
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Namibia |
| Journal: |
NAWA, December 2009, Vol. 3 Issue 2, p206-221, 16p |
| Abstract: |
Pragmatics has been described as the analysis of language taking into |
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account the socio-cultural context in which it is used. In other words, |
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it is the study
of
language of a particular region which reveals |
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the influence of the
mother tongue and other cultural aspects. |
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While pragmatic analysis can be done in many
ways,
this paper |
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focuses on discussions that take place in the class room.
Our subjects |
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are students of the Polytechnic of Namibia who are expected to |
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participate... read more |
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| Author: |
Fred Opali, Polytechnic of Namibia |
| Title: |
Okot p'Bitek's revision of aspects of Percy Bysshe Shelley's /The Mask
|
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of Anarchy |
| Journal: |
NAWA, December 2009, Vol. 3 Issue 2, p245-260, 16p |
| Abstract: |
This paper examines the extent to which Okot p'Bitek revises aspects of |
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Shelley's The Mast of Anarchy. It begins by establishing the theoretical |
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background
to revisionism and takes as its working statement a |
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key passage from
Wordsworth. The substance of this passage is |
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pursued and related to Johnsonian
newness which, implicitly, is a |
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neo-classical revision of the
Wordsworthian stance. This position is
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pursued further in twentieth-century theoretical
views as
espoused by... |
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...read more |
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