Class notes
ENG220 LECTURE NOTES KUREISHI SHORT STORIES
- Course
- ENG210 (ENG220)
- Institution
- University Of Pretoria (UP)
THESE NOTES HELPED ME SUCCEED IN ENGLISH LITERATURE. A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO NAVIGATING ENG220.
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English 220Kureishi’s short stories
Lecture 1:
Hanif Kureishi:
- First generation British-born of dual heritage
- Pioneer of field of British Asian writing
- Drew on racism from being only part-Pakistani student @ his school
- Displays no nostalgia for his life in his family’s ancestral homeland (Pakistan)
- His life in England is plagued by rootlessness, which implies that he is rejected by both sides
- His depiction of English life involves blurring of class boundaries, rise of feminism, emergence
of gay & lesbian groups, youth culture & popular music
- His characters present radically deconstructive presence
1. With Your Tongue Down My Throat:
- Nina in London
- British mother: Deborah
- Father in Pakistan
- Story told in Nina’s diary: first person narrative
- Starts with abortion
- After abortion she returns to live with her mother in council flat after having been thrown out of
“squat”
- Howard = mother’s boyfriend who told her to start diary, he believes he is highly intellectual
- Nadia = Nina’s half sister from Pakistan
- Nina is from poverty, Nadia from wealth (opposite ends of social & cultural spectrum)
Nina: embodies decadent west
Abortion
Unemployed
Prostitution
Drugs
Attempted suicide
Nadia: embodies selfless east
Studying to be doctor
Wears western clothing
Has an affair with Howard
THIS IS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF JENNA ROSE LOPES- DO NOT ILLEGALLY DISTRIBUTE.
(SUMMARIES MADE USING ENG 120 LECTURES FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA)
, - “they’re practically on each other’s laps (I almost wrote lips)”
- Nina goes to Pakistan to live with her father’s family
- Despite her Pakistani blood Nina doesn’t fit in
- Half sisters = Gloomie & Moonie
- Nina gets on with another hybrid character = Billy
Themes of story:
- Finding home as dual heritage character
- Integenrational conflict
- Parents’ home v children
- Intercultural theme: mixed parentage
How does Nina’s father treat her?
- “stupid-mistake-mongrel dog”
- Her dad represents negative side of mixed identity
What type of story is this?
- Typical inverse immigration
Turning point in story:
- First person narration has actually been made up by Howard
- He employs mocking tone towards Nina, he doesn’t believe that she has a very goof level of
education
- Narrator intruding into story: telling us what reading to this point has been lies
Metafictional texts:
- Works are explicitly aware of own status as texts
- Self-reflective or self-conscious
- These works comment on creation or process of creation
- Howard is character in story & narrator who breaks into text in metafictional way
- Text like this becomes borderline case between fiction & criticism
- When text is metafictional it refers to itself
Does Howard’s intrusion change meaning of story?
- Howard’s story
- We don’t know what is true & therefore distrusting
- Howard written lengthy part of story about Nina & Nadia’s experience in Pakistan
THIS IS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF JENNA ROSE LOPES- DO NOT ILLEGALLY DISTRIBUTE.
(SUMMARIES MADE USING ENG 120 LECTURES FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA)
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