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AWEJ for Translation & Literary Studies, Volume 7, Number 1. February 2023 Pp.284-300
English Language Studies Section, School of Humanities
Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Penang, Malaysia
English Language Department, College of Arts and Humanities
Hadhramout University, Al-Mukalla, Hadhramout,Yemen
The present paper attempts to deconstruct two postmodern Australian Jewish novels to examine the chief social-psychological dimensions of the main characters: David, in Besser’s Man in the Corner (2016) and Otis, in Birman’s How to Walk Away (2015) and thus investigate their implications about contemporary Jewish identity within the ethnoreligious Australian Jewish context. The previous analyses of the texts have only been internet reviews focusing on the psychological dimension on its own. These reviews have not linked the texts to current Jewish identity, as attempted in this article. In addition, these attempts’ focus has been on several perspectives, not deconstructive. Therefore, this paper delves into the mystic depths of these novels inferring, through deconstruction, the Jewish Identity in the postmodern era. The analyses have been conducted in light of Breakwell’s Identity Process Theory (1986) and Derrida’s Différance through textual analysis that elicits the traces beyond binaries, rhetoric expressions, and semantic and morphosyntactic tell-tale textual moments. David and Otis pass different experiences and personal traumas that primarily influence their ability to decisions making and thus initially increasingly shrink inward. However, the later awakening by confessing the existing problems, renewal and pleading to God provides ways to walk away from these traumas. These solutions reflect the overall diverse attempts of the Australian Jews today to overcome their traumatic past by universalizing the experiences of suffering, by attempts to communicate with the self and the other and to -sometimes- return to God.
Badurais, R.S.A., Abdullah, N.F.L., & Pakri, M.R. (2023). How to Walk Away from the Trauma Corner:
A Deconstructive Analysis of Besser’s Man in the Corner and Birman’s How To Walk Away. Arab World English Journal for
Translation & Literary Studies 7 (1): 284-300.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awejtls/vol7no1.21
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Rasha Saeed Abdullah Badurais has been a lecturer in the English department, of the College of Arts, Hadramout University for more than 12 years. Currently, she is a Ph.D. candidate in the USM (in the last stages). Her academic fields of interest are identity studies and contemporary literary theory. She published some articles on Jewish identity, Palestinian identity, and Hadrami identity, especially from a deconstructive perspective. Also, she has some attempts to provide neoreadings of Derrida’s deconstruction.
ORCid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4336-0597
Dr. Nurul Farhana Low Binti Abdullah is a Senior Lecturer of English literature at the School of Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Malaya and an MPhil from the University of Birmingham, UK. Her main research interest is in Shakespeare studies and she has published not only in this area but also in drama and other studies in postcolonial/diasporic fiction. Another area she publishes in involves the field of local knowledge within the Malaysian context. Besides publishing, Nurul is also an active peer reviewer for several indexed journals not only for articles on Literature and drama as well as local/indigenous wisdom. She can be reached at nflow@usm.my.
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9670-5256
Dr. Mohamad Rashidi Pakri is an Associate Professor of English in the School of Humanities, University Sains Malaysia. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Malaya, Malaysia. His research interests include colonial literature and history, postcolonial criticism, biographical writing, and Malaysian English Literature.
ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2083-7775
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