The House of Origins and the House of Transition: the Process of Identity Cosntruction Through the Representation...Amaya Fernández Menicucci
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The house of origins and the house of transition: The process of identity cosntruction through the representation...Amaya Fernández Menicucci. Tesis doctoral de la Universidad de Alicante. Tesi doctoral de la Universitat d'Alacant. 2007 The house of origins and the house of transition: The process of identity cosntruction through the representation...Amaya Fernández Menicucci. UNIVERSIDAD DE ALICANTE Facultad de Filosofía y Letras Departamento de Filología Inglesa UNIVERSITAT Ü'ALACANT C E D I P 2 9 MI 2007 I ENTTNAD A j blXh Núm The House ofOrigins and the House ofTransition: The process ofidentity construction through the representation ofdomestic space in Sunetra Gupta's novéis. DOCTORAL THESIS Supervisor: Author: Dr Silvia Caporale Bizzini Amaya Fernández Menicucci Vo B° Dr Silvia Caporale Bizzini Alicante 2007 Tesis doctoral de la Universidad de Alicante. Tesi doctoral de la Universitat d'Alacant. 2007 The house of origins and the house of transition: The process of identity cosntruction through the representation...Amaya Fernández Menicucci. 2 Tesis doctoral de la Universidad de Alicante. Tesi doctoral de la Universitat d'Alacant. 2007 The house of origins and the house of transition: The process of identity cosntruction through the representation...Amaya Fernández Menicucci. L'infinito. Sempre caro mi fu quest'ermo colle, e questa siepe, che da tanta parte deH'ultimo orizzonte il guardo eselude. Ma sedendo e mirando, interminati spazi di la da quella, e sovrumani silenzi, e profondissima quiete io nel pensier mi fingo, ove per poco il cor non si spaura. E come il vento odo stormir tra queste piante, io quello infinito silenzio a questa voce vo comparando: e mi sovvien l'eterno, e le morte stagioni, e la presente e viva, e il suon di lei. Cosi tra questa immensitá s'annega il pensier mió: e il naufragar m'é dolce in questo mare. Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837). 3 Tesis doctoral de la Universidad de Alicante. Tesi doctoral de la Universitat d'Alacant. 2007 The house of origins and the house of transition: The process of identity cosntruction through the representation...Amaya Fernández Menicucci. 4 Tesis doctoral de la Universidad de Alicante. Tesi doctoral de la Universitat d'Alacant. 2007 The house of origins and the house of transition: The process of identity cosntruction through the representation...Amaya Fernández Menicucci. Index of Contents Acknowledgements 13 Introduction 15 CHAPTER 1: CONTEXTUALISING THE NARRATIVE EXPERIENCE 21 1.1 The fiction of Sunetra Gupta 21 1.1.1 Critical Reception 21 1.2 Autobiography and fiction. 22 1.3 Between cultures 24 1.4 The language of science and the language of art 26 1.5 Literary style(s) 27 1.6 Transtextual discourses 28 . 1.7 Questioning labels 31 1.2 Identity, space, Postcolonialism, and diaspora 32 1.2.1 Imaging identities, representing identities 32 1.2.2 Categorising identities 33 1.2.3 Fictional identities 34 1.2.4 Defining identities 35 1.2.5 Perception and perspective 37 1.2.6 Imagining space 38 1.2.7 Locating the self 40 1.2.8 Frontiers 41 1.3 'Paradise Lost', 'Paradise Regained': Gothic and diaspora literatures_ 43 1.3.1 «Imagined homelands» and domestic heavens 43 1.3.2 Transgressing the 'sepárate spheres' 45 1.4 Gothic conventions with a twist 47 1.4.1 Gothicised experiences 47 1.4.2 Haunting the haunted house 49 1.4.3 The monstrous house 50 1.4.4 Excess and transgression 51 5 Tesis doctoral de la Universidad de Alicante. Tesi doctoral de la Universitat d'Alacant. 2007 The house of origins and the house of transition: The process of identity cosntruction through the representation...Amaya Fernández Menicucci. PART I: THE HOUSE OF ORIGINS CHAPTER 2: THE HOUSE OF THE PAST: THE HAUNTED HOUSE IN CALCUTTA 57 2.1 A faded space 57 2.1.1 Intertextual continuity through domestic space 57 2.1.2 Grandeur in decay 58 2.1.3 Ghosts, failure, and death 62 2.1.4 Past, present, and future: the time space continuum 65 2.2 Trapped in the past 69 2.2.1 Exploring time through space 69 2.2.2 The space of the past 70 2.2.3 Eluding, confronting, exceeding the past 74 2.3 The symbolic function of the past 77 2.3.1 The quest for the past 77 2.3.2 Ambiguity in the representation of the house of the past 79 2.3.3 The ambiguity of memory 83 2.3.4 The past as a space of encounter 84 CHAPTER 3: THE HOUSE OF DEATH: AN AGONISING SPACE 87 3.1. The agony of the house 87 3.1.1 A deadly, dying, resurrecting monster 87 3.1.2 Insularity and impenetrability 88 3.1.3 External forces 89 3.1.4 Internal forces 91 3.1.5 The zombified house 93 3.1.6 The outsider penetrates the 'sepárate sphere' 94 3.1.7 The insider transgresses the boundaries of domestic space 96 3.1.8 Different experiences of loss 98 3.2 The fortress-house 99 3.2.1 A prívate sphere 99 3.2.2 An imprisoning space 101 3.2.3 At one with the house; imposed identification with domestic space_ 103 6 Tesis doctoral de la Universidad de Alicante. Tesi doctoral de la Universitat d'Alacant. 2007 The house of origins and the house of transition: The process of identity cosntruction through the representation...Amaya Fernández Menicucci. CHAPTER 4: THE HOUSE OF DEATH: A DEADLY SPACE_ 107 4.1 Death by nullification 107 4.1.1 Imposed roles 107 4.1.2 An alienating space 108 4.1.3 Stolen identities 110 4.1.4 Imposed identities 111 4.2 Death by dislocation 114 4.2.1 Reclaiming the Garden of Edén 114 4.2.2 Inverting/subverting the distinction between outsiders and insiders_ 115 4.2.3 Exile and imprisonment 119 4.2.4 Buried alive 121 4.3 Subverting a deadly space 123 4.3.1 The subversión of the 'woman's place' 123 4.3.2 The subversión of the feminine ideal 125 4.3.3 Defeat 126 4.4 Digging one's own grave 128 4.4.1 The vampire house 128 4.4.2 Designing the 'sepárate sphere' 129 4.5 The spiral of death 132 4.5.1 The victims of the house of death 132 4.5.2 The evolution of the house of death 136 Tesis doctoral de la Universidad de Alicante. Tesi doctoral de la Universitat d'Alacant. 2007 The house of origins and the house of transition: The process of identity cosntruction through the representation...Amaya Fernández Menicucci. CHAPTER 5: THE HOUSE OF RESURRECTION: RESURRECTING THE CALCUTTA HOUSE 139 5.1 Three generations 139 5.1.1 Distinguishing between generations 139 5.1.2 Defining 'resurrection' 141 5.1.3 The undead house 143 5.1.4 Individuality, personal identity, and collective identity 145 5.1.5 Opposing the Calcutta house 148 5.2 Resurrecting family space: the father in The Glassblower's Breath 150 5.2.1 'Dreamlands': imagining an alternative reality 150 5.2.2 Identification with the first generation 152 5.2.3 Return to collective space 156 5.2.4 Loss, regret, and the resurrection of the 'sepárate sphere' 159 5.3 Resurrecting a refuge: Promotesh in Moonlight into Marzipan 162 5.3.1 Resurrection and reconstruction 162 5.3.2 The outsiders conquer the 'sepárate sphere' 164 5.3.3 The materialisation of the intellectual 'sepárate sphere' 165 5.3.4 The outsider usurps the insider's identity 166 5.3.5 Resurrecting a space of protection from the outer world 170 5.3.6 Resurrection through identification. 173 5.4 Resurrecting the 'sepárate sphere': Debendranath in A Sin ofColour 175 5.4.1 Recognition and projection: return to the space of origins 175 5.4.2 Resurrection through transgression 177 5.4.3 From subordination to domination: inverting the domestic power structure 179 5.4.4 Re-designing the 'sepárate sphere' 180 Tesis doctoral de la Universidad de Alicante. Tesi doctoral de la Universitat d'Alacant. 2007 The house of origins and the house of transition: The process of identity cosntruction through the representation...Amaya Fernández Menicucci. CHAPTER 6: THE HOUSE OF RESURRECTION: RESURRECTING THE SELF 185 6.1 Possession vs. belongingness 185 6.1.1 Resurrecting a feudal past 185 6.1.2 The contested house 187 6.1.3 Self-identification through space 189 6.1.4 Recognition and misrecognition 191 6.2 The in-betweenness of the self: Moni in Mentones ofRain 192 6.2.1 The evolution of the third generation characters 192 6.2.2 The first phase in the evolution of the third generation characters 193 6.2.3 The beginning of the quest: the Gothic labyrinth 194 6.2.4 Memory as the path of the ontological quest 199 6.2.5 Dependence and independence 201 6.3 From domestic space to family space and beyond: the protagonist in The Glassblower's Breath 203 6.3.1 Resurrecting an intangible house 203 6.3.2 Resurrecting a Gothic space 204 6.3.3 Exploring outer space 205 6.3.4 The resurrection of a space of belongingness 207 6.3.5 Domestic space and family space 208 6.4 Resurrecting family space, reconstructing the Calcutta house: Anya in Moonlight Into Marzipan 209 6.4.1 The nomadic orphan 209 6.4.2 The experience of the 'sepárate sphere' 211 6.4.3 Escaping from the resurrected house 212 6.4.4 Homeward bound 215 6.5 Resurrecting a space of belongingness: Niharika in A Sin ofColours_ 216 6.5.1 Resurrecting a common space 216 6.5.2 Resurrection through matter 217 6.5.3 Resurrection through language 219 9 Tesis doctoral de la Universidad de Alicante.