Otherness and Pathology : The Fragmented Self and Madness in Contemporary African Fiction.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nyongesa, Andrew Wafula, 1980-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Self in literature.

Other (Philosophy) in literature.

Mental illness in literature.

Difference (Psychology) in literature.

African fiction.

African fiction--History and criticism.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (161 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Mwanaka Media and Publishing Pvt Limited, 2021.

Summary:

Scholars have problematized otherness and madness in diverse ways. There are those who hold that otherness is madness in itself of which leading voices are Michel Foucault and Gregory Reid. Other scholars contradict these voices and single out madness as a clinical condition that arises from strands of othering such as political, gender, class, age and racial. Frantz Fanon is the leading voice of this school of thought that demonstrates how othering destroys the psyche of the marginalised groups. This book extends Fanon's thesis with regard to madness in selected works of African fiction. Whereas Fanon stops at conceptualisation of the nexus between othering and madness, in this book, the authors incorporate the fragmented self, which is equally disabling.

Contents:

Cover

Title page

Copyright page

Contents

Introduction

Otherness and Madness: Psychological and Post-colonial Reading of Selected Works of African Fiction

Chapter One - Otherness and the Fragmented Self in Contemporary African Fiction

1.1 The Non-Self in Alex la Guma's A Walk in the Night

Synopsis of La Guma's A Walk in the Night

Otherness and the Fragmented Selves in La Guma's A Walk in the Night

The Non-self Self and the Mental: the Body as the Other in A Walk in the Night

Conclusion

1.2 The Shattered Self and Wanner's London, Cape Town, Joburg

1.3 Suicide and the Fragmented Self and Farah's Close Sesame

Annihilation of the other Self: Suicide and the Detestable "other" in Self

Demolition of Love Object: Suicide and Intimate "other" in Self

Chapter Two - Fragmented Natures in Selected works of African Drama

Othering and the Fragmented Self in John Ruganda's Shreds of Tenderness

Otherness and the Fragmented characters in Shreds of Tenderness

Political Otherness and the Fragmented Self: Shattered and Multiple Selves

Othering and the Fragmented Self: Ideological Relegation and Pathology in David Mulwa's Inheritance

Synopsis of Mulwa's Inheritance

Age Othering and Pathology: Fragmented Antagonist in Mulwa's Inheritance

Political Othering and the Shattered Self: Disorders of the Self at the Marginal Space

Chapter Three - Otherness and Madness in African Fiction

Gender Othering and Schizophrenia in Farah's Gifts and El Saadawi's God Dies by the Nile

Synopsis of Farah's Gifts and El Saadawi's God Dies by the Nile

Gender Othering and Pathology: multiple Selves and Madness in Gifts and God Dies by the Nile

Conclusion.

Madness and the Other in Farah's Close Sesame and Matar's The Return

3.3 Political Otherness and Psychopathy in Close Sesame and The Return

3.4 Racial Otherness and Pathology in The Return and Close Sesame

Chapter Four - Otherness and Madness in African Drama

3.5 Political Otherness and Psychopathy in Three Works of Drama

Othering Conditions and Pathology: Schizophrenic Characters in the Three Selected Plays

Chapter Five - SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Works Cited

Back cover.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Other Format:

Print version: Nyongesa, Andrew Otherness and Pathology

ISBN:

9781779272645

1779272642

OCLC:

1346364652