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British Political Scene in Jonathan Coe's the Closed Circle

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British Political Scene in Jonathan Coe's the Closed Circle ISSN : REVUE INTER-TEXTUAL Revue semestrielle en ligne des Lettres et Sciences Humaines du Département d’Anglais adossée au Groupe de recherches en Littérature et Linguistique anglaise (GRELLA) Université Alassane Ouattara République de Côte d’Ivoire Directeur de Publication: M. Pierre KRAMOKO, Maitre de Conférences Adresse postale: 01 BP V 18 Bouaké 01 Téléphone: (225) 01782284/(225) 01018143 Courriel: [email protected] Numéro ISSN: Lien de la Revue: http://inter-textual.univ-ao.edu.ci ADMINISTRATION DE LA REVUE DIRECTEUR DE PUBLICATION M. Pierre KRAMOKO, Maître de Conférences COMITÉ DE RÉDACTION - Professeur Guézé Habraham Aimé DAHIGO, Professeur Titulaire - Dr Vamara KONÉ, Maître de Conférences - Dr Kouamé ADOU, Maître de Conférences - Dr Kouamé SAYNI, Maître de Conférences - Dr Koffi Eugène N’GUESSAN, Maître de Conférences - Dr Gossouhon SÉKONGO, Maître de Conférences - Dr Philippe Zorobi TOH, Maître de Conférences - Dr Jérome Koffi KRA, Maître de Conférences COMITÉ SCIENTIFIQUE Prof. Azoumana Ouattara, Université Alassane Ouattara, Côte d’Ivoire Prof. Coulibaly Daouda, PhD,Université Alassane Ouattara, Côte d’Ivoire Prof. Djako Arsène, Université Alassane Ouattara, Côte d’Ivoire Prof. Francis Akindès, Université Alassane Ouattara, Côte d’Ivoire Prof. Lawrence P. Jackson, Johns Hopkins University, USA Prof. Léa N’Goran-Poamé, Université Alassane Ouattara, Côte d’Ivoire Prof. Mamadou Kandji, Université Ckeick Anta Diop, Sénégal Prof. Margaret Wright-Cleveland, Florida State University, USA Prof. Kenneth Cohen, St Mary’s College of Maryland, USA Prof. Nubukpo Komlan Messan, Université de Lomé, Togo Prof. Séry Bailly, Université Félix Houphouët Boigny, Abidjan Prof. Zigui Koléa Paulin, Université Alassane Ouattara, Côte d’Ivoire TABLE OF CONTENTS/ TABLE DES MATIÈRES 1. Kouadio Germain N’GUESSAN, GENDER HIERARCHY AND THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF FEMININITY: THE IMPOSED MASK.…………1 - 19 2. Goh Théodore TRA BI, HISTORIOGRAPHY OF NARRATIVE THEORIES IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.…………………………………………20 - 37 3. Ezoulé Miézan Isaac KANGAH, BRITISH POLITICAL SCENE IN JONATHAN COE’S THE CLOSED CIRCLE.……………………………38 - 56 4. Gabrielle KEITA, UNCOMPLETED ASPECT MARKING FROM STANDARD ENGLISH TO NIGERIAN PIDGIN: A COMPARATIVE STUDY.…………………………………………………………………………57 - 68 5. Constant Ané KONÉ, REMEMBERING SLAVERY MEMORY IN GAYL JONES’ CORREGIDORA.…………………………………………………….69 - 88 6. Germain ASSAMOI, MODALITY IN SCIENTIFIC DISCOURSE, BETWEEN RADICAL AND EPISTEMIC.………………………………89 - 105 7. Koffi Eugène N’GUESSAN, BRIDGING THE VALLEY OF NIHILISM IN AUGUST WILSON’S FENCES.…………………………………………106 - 121 8. Souleymane TUO, SLAVE REBELLION IN ANDRE PHILIPPUS BRINK’S AN INSTANT IN THE WIND.……………………………………………122 - 139 9. Dolourou SORO, A MARXIST READING OF ERNEST GAINES’ A LESSON BEFORE DYING.……………………………………………………………140 - 156 10. Tié Emmanuel TOH BI, POÉTIQUE TRAGIQUE ET TRAGÉDIE, POUR L’ESQUISSE D’UNE POÉTIQUE DU TRAGIQUE DANS LA POÉSIE NÉGRO-AFRICAINE; UNE ILLUSTRATION DU MICROCOSME IVOIRIEN DANS LA MÈRE ROUGE DE CEDRIC MARSHALL KISSY.…………157 - 178 11. Paul KOUABENAN, THE SOCIAL FUNCTION OF ART: A STUDY OF CHINUA ACHEBE’S NO LONGER AT EASE, A MAN OF THE PEOPLE AND ANTHILLS OF THE SAVANNAH.………………………………………178 - 192 12. Renais Ulrich KACOU, COLONIALISM AND RACISM IN TSITSI DANGAREMBGA’S THE BOOK OF NOT.………………………………193 - 203 13. Adiele Kilanko ZANNOU, THE AMERICAN DREAM IN LANGSTON HUGHES’ SELECTED POEMS.…………………………………………204 - 226 14. Jean Jacques Gnahoua SABLÉ, LA LITTERATURE COMME UN EXAMEN DE MEMOIRE, D’OUBLI ET DE RECONCILIATION.……………….227 - 235 15. Aliou Badara KANDJI, VIOLENCE, INCEST AND DELAYED DECODING IN THE SCOTTISH BALLAD, “EDWARD, EDWARD” (CHILD 13)...236 - 244 16. Pierre KRAMOKO, THE HOMELESS HOUSEHOLD: A REFLECTION ON THE FAMILY IN TONI MORRISON’S SULA AND SONG OF SOLOMON.…………………………………………………………………245 - 259 17. Désiré Yssa KOFFI, THE VOICE IN THE PERIPHERY: BLACK CULTURE IN TONI MORRISON’S TAR BABY.………………………260 - 272 18. Minata KONÉ, THE NGURARIO OR MARRIAGE IN FICTION AND REAL LIFE.……………………………………………………………….273 - 285 19. Daouda COULIBALY, THE DRAMATIZATION OF THE FEMALE BODY: DISCOURSES OF RESISTANCE AND POWER IN OF EVE ENSLER’S THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES.……………………………………………286 - 298 BRITISH POLITICAL SCENE IN JONATHAN COE’S THE CLOSED CIRCLE Ezoulé Miézan Isaac KANGAH Université Alassane Ouattara Abstract: Jonathan Coe’s The Closed Circle gives full vent to the disappointment and disenchantment of a middle age lived in a time of New Labour. This article sheds a critical light on the representations of the British political history in the works of Jonathan Coe. Specifically, it discusses how the transition from the post-war consensus politics and the welfare state to neoliberalism is represented, and how these transformations that British society has undergone in Mrs Thatcher and Mr Blair’s era are the subject of political analysis and criticism in the works of Coe. Keywords: New Labour, discusses, politics, political analysis, political criticism, political history. Résumé : The Closed Circle de Jonathan Coe donne la pleine mesure de la déception et du désenchantement qu’une classe moyenne a vécus pendant la gouvernance du New Labour. Cet article jette un regard critique sur la peinture de l’histoire politique britannique dans les travaux de Jonathan Coe. En particulier, il examine comment l’on est passé de la transition de la politique du consensus d'après-guerre et de l'état providence au néolibéralisme, et comment ces transformations que la société britannique a subies à l’époque de Mme Thatcher et de M. Blair sont sujettes à des analyses politique et critique dans les travaux de Coe. Mots clé : Nouveau Parti Travailliste, examine, la politique, analyse politique, critique politique, histoire politique. 38 Introduction One of the main questions developed in The Closed Circle1 is the influence of Politics in society. We refer to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary to define Politics as “the activities involved in getting and using power in public life, and being able to influence decisions that affect a country or a society”2. In his novel, Jonathan Coe seems to be exposing a critique, if not a parody of politics in the United Kingdom3. Thus, the question that could be raised is: Why is Politics presented as a social fact based on uncertainty, insincerity, and decadence? As a matter of fact, that insincerity can be perceived through the following description of the character Paul Trotter: Paul had already acquired a reputation as someone who would talk and more often than not say something quotable. (...) He knew that journalists would like nothing better than to catch him off his guard. He knew that the people who had voted him had certain expectation of a Labour administration, and that many of his own personal convictions, if he were to state them frankly and publicly, would have shocked them, inspired them with a profound sense of disquiet and betrayal (C.C.: 42-43) C. C introduces a lot of characters who reveal lack of stability as far as their feelings are concerned. The consequences of those unstable feelings are visible upon their inner conditions and even their ambitions. Political ideologies are represented in the behaviour of the characters of the novel. Jonathan Coe tries to illustrate the current evolution of the world. His novel mirrors the contemporary society by sometimes going back to the past decades. Joy Press, In his article “Fooled Britannia” published on the weekly newspaper Village Voice supports this point of view: “In The Closed Circle, his new sequel to The Rotters’ Club, Coe brings his characters right up to the present day and sees them look back on their childhood with puzzlement and shock at how thoroughly their universe has changed”4. After The Rotters’ Club where the events take place in a Great Britain led by the Labour Government of Harold Wilson5, and then James Callaghan6, Jonathan Coe, in C. C transports the readers to a country governed by the New Labour of Prime Minister Tony Blair7. He presents “unrest” both in the social situation and in people’s mind. That situation is also 1 From this page on, The Closed Circle will stand for (C.C.). Further references to this novel will appear under this abbreviation in the body of this work followed by the quotation page number between parentheses. 2 Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, New York, Oxford University Press, p. 1122 3 From this page on, the United Kingdom may appear under the abbreviation UK. 4 Joy Press. “Fooled Britannia.” Village Voice. New York 17 May 2005. 5 Harold Wilson (1916 – 1995): British Prime Minister from 1964 to 1970, and from 1974 to 1976 6 James Callaghan (1912 – 2005): British Prime Minister from 1976 to 1979 7 Tony Blair, born in 1953 British Prime Minister from 1997 to 2007 39 perceived by Jenny Turner as she writes in The New York Times: “Sometimes, the characters meet up to discuss Tony Blair, suicide bombers, the invasion of Iraq in 2003; more often, they just worry about Benjamin”8. The constant worrying and instability people seem to be in, and the political and military conflicts that occurred in the novel could be compared with George Orwell’s dystopian novel, 1984 presenting Winston Smith like C. C’s Paul Trotter, working for the party but not always looking to the same way, concerning its policy. There are also wars without concrete reasons; (war against Eurasia, or Eastasia in 1984, and war in Iraq in C. C). But the social condition and repression differs from a novel to the other. In his novel, Jonathan Coe seems to be mixing the British society with politics; in other words, he depicts British socio-political reality. Talking about this fact, he says: As the book grew bigger, and more ambitious, the situations in question sometimes became political ones, and so it became necessary to start painting in the social background on a scale which eventually became panoramic. It seems to me that you have to write a novel on a very small, intimate scale for it not to become political. As soon as you start writing about how human beings interact with each other socially, you’re into politics, aren’t you?9 That increasing influence of politics in the novel is what we go through in two main steps.
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