American Writers Research Articles

“Other” and Nature: A Postcolonial Ecocritical Reading of “Yoneko’s Earthquake”

“Yoneko’s Earthquake” is a masterpiece among the short stories by Japanese American writer Hisaye Yamamoto, and it reflects the plight and tragedy of Japanese American women. The plot of the short story is seemingly simple but profound, especially the design of the underlying text, which is full of ingenuity. From the perspective of postcolonial ecocriticism, Hisaye Yamamoto’s “Yoneko’s Earthquake” reflects the complicity of colonialism and ecologism in many aspects. Take a close look at the natural images (the dog, the field and the earthquake) in the short story. This paper tries to find an interconnected identity between the “other” and nature. The dog and the animalized human are both put in the position of the “other” under the colonial discourse; the field as a domain of colonization also nurtures the power of resistance from the “other”,; and the subversive nature of the earthquake makes the identity of “self” and “other” briefly displaced. The theory of postcolonial ecocriticism injects new vitality into this short story; meanwhile, it helps to provoke new thinking about racism and speciesism.

A Comparative Analysis of the Novel and the Film of the Joy Luck Club from the Perspective of Postcolonial Feminism

The Chinese American female writer Amy Tan published the autobiographical novel The Joy Luck Club in 1989. After four years, the story was adapted into a film of the same name, written by Amy Tan and directed by Chinese American Wayne Wang. Afterward, Chinese and foreign scholars studied from the perspectives of feminism, Chinese identity, Chinese and Western cultural conflict and the mother-daughter relationship. In China, few scholars combine the theories of post-colonialism and feminism to study the original work and film adaptation of The Joy Luck Club. The research finds that although the film successfully restores the main plot and retains the spirit core of the novel, it also has the following problems: strong orientalist overtones, de-emphasizing female narrative voices, and ignoring Asian marginalization. Through a close reading of the novel and a deep interpretation of the film, this article makes a comparative study of the two from the perspective of Spivak's postcolonial feminist theory and explores the deficiencies after the film adaptation. It is found that these deficiencies occur because the director is influenced by postcolonial cultural background and traditional patriarchy. He falsifies the women's right to discourse in the third world, making them unable to speak for themselves independently.

PHRASEOLOGICAL AND NON-PHRASEOLOGICAL METHODS OF TRANSLATING IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS WITH A COLOR COMPONENT

The main purpose of the article is to study ways of translation of English idioms with a color component into Ukrainian. Idiomatic units make up a significant part of the vocabulary of both Ukrainian and English, therefore, they are of great interest to scientists. In addition, it is important to choose the correct ways to translate such units, in particular with a color component. Two major methods of translation of English idiomatic constructions with coloronyms into Ukrainian are analysed: phraseological method with the selection of a full or partial equivalent, as well as non-phraseological, that is, descriptive translation, which is resorted to when it is impossible to find equivalents. When choosing a translation strategy, the translator should pay attention not only to the literal, but also to the figurative component of the idiom. The translator should take into account the fact that idiomatic constructions and colored elements can have different meanings in different cultures. Color units in idiomatic constructions can be used to indicate the real color or to convey certain symbols as well as add expressiveness into the speech. Using the novel “11/22/63” by American writer Stephen King and its Ukrainian translation, phraseological and non-phraseological methods of translating idioms with a color name in the composition are analyzed. As a result of the analysis, it has been revealed that the translator resorts more to the phraseological method of giving color idioms, but if necessary, does not neglect the non-phraseological method of translation for better reproduction of the figurative component.

The Immigrant Critic as a Writer: Spirituality in Mikhail Nu’ayma’s Ayoub (1967)

In the early twentieth century, many Arab American writers who were recent immigrants to the United States considered themselves pioneers with a global vision. Many of them were suffering from feelings of alienation because they came from poor backgrounds and escaped to find that capitalism governs everyday living. Therefore, the main interest of the leading writers was promoting more spirituality in their literary works, especially by those who were writing primarily in Arabic. Nu'ayma who wrote in Arabic wanted to emphasize the importance of following a spiritual path in life in modern-day living in his play Ayoub. As a writer and a critic, Nu’ayma believed in the mystical aspects of literature, the power of language, and the importance of literary works in imparting spirituality in society. Living in the United States, he knew many Arab American, Russian, and American critics and writers with whom he shared literary interests and critical thoughts. In Nu’ayma’s book The Ghirbal, he put forth critical ideas that he believed should govern literary composition. His mystical play, Ayoub (1967), was constructed as a literary model that illustrated the importance of rejuvenation in the Arabic language, the significance of mysticism in drama, and the role of literature in transforming society. The following paper traces Mikhail Nu’ayma’s critical views in his play, Ayoub (1967) and discusses the theme of alienation in relations to Nu’ayma’s spiritual outlook.

The reception of "Sketchers of a hunter" in USA, or I.S. Turgenev against slavery

The following article contains a research of the reasons for Turgenev's "Sketches of a hunter" popularity in XIXth century USA. It is considered the general reasons for the interest of Russia and the United States in each other, and the immediate reasons for Turgenev's popularity in America in the 1850s. The author analyses early American reviews on this book and finds out that the cause for such popularity was the common social problem of slavery in the USA and serfdom in Russia. The first few reviews of Americans on Turgenev's book indicate that the author of "Sketches of a hunter" was initially perceived in the New World as a writer who raises only social problems. Some of Turgenev's texts were compared with the works of American writers, for example, with Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe's “Uncle Tom's Cabin”. The aesthetic meaning of "Sketches of a hunter" became clear to American critics only in the late 19th century due to some Turgenev-influenced American writers, such as George Cable, Hamlin Garland, Sherwood Anderson. At this time, the first complete English translation of "Sketches of a hunter" was made by Constance Garnet.

PROSPECT OF ASIAN AMERICAN BOOK TO MOVIE ADAPTATIONS IN THE HOLLYWOOD ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY

This paper explores the prospects of Asian American book-to-movie adaptations in the Hollywood industry. There have been a large number of book-to-movie adaptations in the history of the American film industry, such as Great Expectation (1946), The Silence of the Lamb (1991), and The Great Gatsby (2013) to mention just a few. Some have also been reported to gain fame and economic success in the global film market. The mentioned book-to-movie adaptations were based on Western authors. Meanwhile, history has witnessed the emergence of Asian American writers such as: Bharati Mukherjee, Amy Tan, Khaled Hosseini, Anchee Min, among others who have played an essential role in the field of American literature. This paper uses a qualitative method by analyzing data from selected Book-to movie adaptations. It is evident that some of them received prestigious awards. Tan’s book-to-movie adaptation The Joy Luck Club (1993), Hosseini’s book-to-movie adaptation The Kite Runner (2007) and Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians (2018) have entered Hollywood to participate in the extremely competitive film market. The study results show that Asian American writers have emerged recently. Second, Asian American book-to-movie adaptations offer unique narratives to American audiences, although only a handful of Asian American book-to-movie adaptations have been produced. In conclusion, despite the promising growth of Asian American literature, readers can realize that Asian American book-to-movie adaptations have to struggle to be able to tap into the Hollywood industry.

XVIAmerican Literature: The Twentieth Century

Abstract This chapter has eight sections: 1. Poetry; 2. Fiction 1900–1945; 3. Fiction since 1945; 4. Genre Fiction; 5. Drama; 6. Comics; 7. African American Writing; 8. Native Writing; 9. Latino/a, Asian American, and General Ethnic Writing. Section 1 is by James Gifford; section 2 will resume next year; section 3 will resume next year; section 4 is by James Gifford; section 5 will resume next year; section 6 will resume next year; section 7 is by Adam Rudder; section 8 will resume next year; section 9 is by Antonio Velásquez.

Teaching Language and Cultural Creativity through the Textual Composition of the Hispanic American Tale: Epistemological Reasoning and Subjective Imagination

Currently, the search for alternatives that allow the teaching of creativity is subject of discussion in the scientific research community. Due to the attention that this is having in the educational field, including the discipline of Spanish as foreign language (ELE), it is necessary to provide new approaches and possible solutions that cope with this view. The objective of this research is to present a manuscript that serves as a reference for the teaching Spanish language and cultural creativity through the textual composition of the Hispanic American Tale. To achieve this objective, an analysis of this theme has been carried out in juxtaposition with the hypothesis that the research presents. The result of which, straits the acquisition of cognitive and affective domains of the target language. The research has used a combined qualitative and quantitative method for the collection and analysis of literary materials from the hand and work of prominent Hispanic American writers, scientific and academic publications, and accredited websites. This documentation is in absolute correspondence with the objective presented in this research study.

Women’s Shared Traumas in Khalid Khalid Hosseini’s Selected Novels: A Thousand Splendid Suns, the Mountains Echoed, and The Kite Runner

This study looks at some of the novels by Khalid Hosseini, an American writer of Afghan descent. Khalid Hosseini's novels chiefly, “A Thousand Splendid Suns, And The Mountains Echoed, and The Kite Runner” were a huge success, becoming international best-sellers. What distinguishes these novels is that their main ideas address some of the challenges and difficulties that Afghan women face in a patriarchal society. Women face severe dilemmas and trials as a result of exclusion, inequality, violence, discrimination, and a negative perception of women. The study will also look at Spivak's concept of subalternity and how it has come to be associated with women in societies where there is no true equality among its members. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that in societies experiencing violent and persistent internal conflicts and challenges, women are always the main victims and the biggest losers.

Unveiling the tapestry of Arab American writings

Arab Americans living in the United States are represented in the intriguing and varied body of Arab American Literature. It is a diverse and significant body of writing that reflects the experiences and perspectives of Arab Americans in the United States. It explores powerful examples of how difficult it is to deal with identity, heritage, and belonging concerns in a diverse community. Arab American writers, from Ameen Rihani to Naomi Shihab Nye, have made creative contributions with their viewpoints, illuminating the rich tapestry of life in Arab America in everything from provocative novels to tender poetry and perceptive essays. However, Arab American authors have faced numerous challenges, including prejudice, stereotypes, language barriers, and limited publishing opportunities. Despite these obstacles, they have persisted in using their literary works as a means of self-expression, cultural preservation, and empowerment. To promote the visibility and acknowledgment of Arab American voices, readers, institutions, and literary communities must actively support and endorse Arab American authors and their work. Arab American Literature contributes to a more inclusive and interconnected society, dispelling myths and fostering empathy and understanding across cultural divides.

Empathy and Sympathy Learned from British and American Novels and Short Stories

Foreign literature courses, including both British and American literature, serve as compulsory and core courses for Chinese English Majors (CEMs). Literature courses make CEMs grasp aesthetic meanings as well as immerses themselves in a literary world, most importantly empower them to access different cultural experiences, and experience ups and downs of fictional characters. This article mainly delineates empathetic and sympathetic factors inherent in English novels and short stories included in literary textbooks used in foreign literature classes, such as A Guide to History and Anthology of American Literature, A Guide to History and Anthology of British Literature, Selected Readings in American Literature, and Selected Readings in British Literature. Some novice teaching staff usually find that the assiduous efforts they have to put into the teaching of foreign literature class is due to limited academic duration, numerous writers, countless literary works, difficult literary languages, complicated character maps, exotic life experiences, as well as a range variety of students’ demands and interests. This article aims to find out empathy- and sympathy-themed excerpts from the above-mentioned textbooks to help novice literature teachers to accustom themselves to the teaching of the courses, and even to realize a favorable teaching result. The effective pedagogy includes pre-teaching, during-teaching and after-teaching. The examples of literary texts contain both American and British writers. The exemplified text genre includes novels and short stories. The academics in literature courses can follow the suggestions and endeavors mentioned in this paper to better guide their teaching activities.

COHESION IN THE CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN SHORT STORIES AS A DEVICE OF FOREGROUNDING

The article considers the role of cohesion in the creation of the stylistic device of foregrounding. The quantitative and qualitative aspects of foregrounding (G. Leech) are characterized in the contemporary short stories of the American writers in the genre of flash fiction. In these texts the connection of stylistic devices in strong positions such as the beginning and the ending of the stories is observed. The language means of creating lexical, image-making and phonetic cohesion are determined. Especially explicit technique is the use of extended metaphor (the stories by R. Carney, D. Newkirk, G. Evary) which gives a considerable emotional effect to the narration. The extended metaphors in the texts are a component of the quantitative aspect of foregrounding and at the same time they actualize image-making cohesion. 10 stories out of the analyzed 15 texts are united by the identical lexical cohesion of the strong positions. Five works contain antonymic cohesion of the text parts where the device of foregrounding is realized with the help of antithesis. Thus, the text endings become something like happy end in the characters' lives, therefore it is possible to speak about emotional gradation (the stories by J. Updike, D. Shea). The highest frequency of lexical repetitions is present in the story by A. Guendron where the title word "scarves" is used 16 times and acquires a symbolic character, becomes an artistic detail in the memory about the mother. The image-making cohesion in a new flash fiction story by D. Newkirk "Whispers" in combination with phonetic cohesion expressed by alliterations provides the foregrounding of prose poeticalness. It is proved that the suggested notion by G. Leech and M. Short "cohesion of foregrounding" reveals a significant semantic and pragmatic role of cohesion as a device of realizing qualitative and especially quantitative aspects of foregrounding the text components in the contemporary short stories as well as actualizes the effect of prose poeticalness.

The Issue of woman-man Equality from the Perspective of American Writer Robert Spencer " A Critical Study"

The Issue of woman-man Equality from the Perspective of American Writer Robert Spencer " A Critical Study"

PECULIARITIES OF SLANGISMS TRANSLATION IN ANNA TODD’S NOVEL «AFTER»

Background. The article is devoted to the study of the peculiarities of the translation of slangisms in Anna Todd’s novel After. The authors define slang as fragile, unstable, non-codified, and often completely random collections of lexemes that exist in the colloquial sphere, reflecting the public consciousness of people belonging to a certain social or professional environment. Slangisms are units of the lexical and phraseological system of slang used in popular oral and written speech. This article compares the translations of the novel After by the modern American writer A. Todd into Russian.
 Purpose. The purpose of the article is to study the features of the translation of slangisms on the example of official and unofficial (amateur) translations of A. Todd’s novel After.
 Materials and methods. The material of the study is A. Todd’s novel After, its official translation by M. Belyakov and an unofficial translation taken from the Ficbook.com website, performed by an amateur translator. During the study, a set of complementary research methods was used: theoretical analysis of scientific research on the problem, continuous sampling method, analysis and interpretation of the results obtained.
 Results. Based on the analysis of the corpus of examples, it was revealed that when translating slangisms in A. Todd’s novel After, such translation techniques as variant correspondence, semantic development, and contextual translation were most often used. When translating slangisms, translators considered such factors as the age, social and personal qualities of the characters, as well as the unique style of the author’s language.

MAXINE HONG KINGSTON’S THE WOMAN WARRIOR: SPEAKING FOR SILENCED

The present research paper discusses Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior. Kingston being a Chinese American writer touches upon the predicaments of silenced women and her selected novel advocates for these silenced characters. The study investigates that where doe lie silence of chines-American immigrant and secondly silence of Chinese women in traditional Chinese society. Although there is the taboo “not tell” but Kingston manages to break the silence. She re-writes with the help of her experience and imaginative power and articulates the voiceless thoughts. The most important form of voice is speaking. In this respect Kingston herself realizes the importance of articulation from her own experience, besides “no name woman” she presents those characters who are capable to express their thoughts by articulation and among them brave orchid represents the strongest voice as her name itself suggests. This qualitative study implies feministic model of Madson and content analysis content technique and interprets data accordingly. Keywords: Silence, femininity, marginalization, Chinese, American

MAXINE HONG KINGSTON’S THE WOMAN WARRIOR: SPEAKING FOR SILENCED

The present research paper discusses Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior. Kingston being a Chinese American writer touches upon the predicaments of silenced women and her selected novel advocates for these silenced characters. The study investigates that where doe lie silence of chines-American immigrant and secondly silence of Chinese women in traditional Chinese society. Although there is the taboo “not tell” but Kingston manages to break the silence. She re-writes with the help of her experience and imaginative power and articulates the voiceless thoughts. The most important form of voice is speaking. In this respect Kingston herself realizes the importance of articulation from her own experience, besides “no name woman” she presents those characters who are capable to express their thoughts by articulation and among them brave orchid represents the strongest voice as her name itself suggests. This qualitative study implies feministic model of Madson and content analysis content technique and interprets data accordingly. Keywords: Silence, femininity, marginalization, Chinese, American

The Quest for Self-Expression: Anzia Yezierska’s Portrayal of America as a Fake Golden Country

The aim of this study is to show how the experience of Eastern European Jewish women in America challenged the discourse of the American Dream that they had previously fabricated in their homelands at the turn of the twentieth century. As portrayed by the Polish-born American writer Anzia Yezierska, whose family migrated to New York at the time, these women initially aim their efforts towards achieving happiness through their belief that America provides equal opportunities for upward mobility. However, they eventually question their prospects of improvement and progress by creating their own Jewish American experience. In two of her short stories, “How I Found America” and “The Miracle,” Yezierska reproduces the hopelessness of her Jewish characters after they have faced the burdens of social exclusion and the classist policies of philanthropic programs of integration. Rather than completely assimilating American standards, the protagonists seek to build their own American experience while maintaining their Jewish cultural background, which paradoxically finds expression through institutional courses designed for newcomers.

METAPHORS AND SIMILES IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN PROSE

The article presents a survey of the metaphor- and simile-related researches in modern linguistics and considers stylistic functions of metaphors and similes in contemporary fiction. It is based on the novel The Goldfinch (2013) written by the American writer D. Tartt, the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (2014). It proves that the tropes in question used in the book are unique and striking. They perform figurative and descriptive functions, contribute to the expressiveness and emotiveness of the text, help to convey the characters’ psychological frame of mind and produce a dramatic effect.

THE THEME OF MOTHERHOOD IN THE POETRY BY ANNE SEXTON, SYLVIA PLATH AND ADRIENNE RICH

The article deals with the theme of motherhood in the poetry of the twentieth-century American writers Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath, and Adrienne Rich. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of images that reveal various aspects of motherhood: a pregnant woman, an infertile woman, a mother and her child, a woman after a miscarriage or abortion, a creative woman, a woman poet, etc. The theme of motherhood in the poetry of A. Sexton, S. Plath, A. Rich is considered in close connection with the theme of creativity and marriage.The theoretical basis of the study is the works of Y. Kristeva, Diane Wood Middlebrook, Marilyn Yalom, Wendy Martin, Sandra M. Gilbert, Susan Gubar, which made it possible to define the concepts of women's writing and text, female subject, and female creativity. The analysis focuses on the reflection of the theme of motherhood by a creative personality, as well as on the unveiling of some gender stereotypes regarding the motif of maternal love, a happy family and marriage. The paper considers contemporary works of feminist studies and developments in the field of gender studies.

Internalized Racial Oppression in Teresa Ann Willis’ Like A Tree Without Roots

Internalized racial oppression is a multi-dimensional interdisciplinary phenomenon that plagues many ethnic groups in America. However, little attention has been given to this race-based issue. The aim of this research paper is to highlight internalized racial oppression as a socio-psychological phenomenon in the novel of the African American writer Teresa Ann Willis’ Like A Tree Without Roots which is a story of suffering as well as of healing. In this young adult fiction, the protagonist is subjected to an internalized set of values that creates its own cycle of victimization leading to feelings of self-hatred, self-doubt and disrespect for her race and herself. An integral part of this culture is the White standards of beauty. The paper unravels the severe psychological effects of the internalization of Western beauty standards on the identity formation of African American teen girls. The paper focuses on oppression theory in relation to sociology and psychology to analyze the novel understudy. In addition, Liberatory/critical consciousness will be tackled as a concept in the educational system that proves to be highly important to fully comprehend this phenomenon of internalized racial oppression.