Julia Kristeva Research Articles

Love for God: Intertextuality in Nizami Ganjavi's Leyli o Majnun and the Quran

Objectives: This study aimed to show the threads of the intertextuality that bind texts of Nizam Ganjavi’s Leyli o Majnun and the Quran together. Methods: This study used the qualitative approach. The study’s data was collected via identifying and categorizing the texts related to Allah’s love in Leyli o Majnun. Data was analyzed relying on the poetics of Julia Kristeva’s theory of intertextuality. Results: The study results showed that the Islamic values discussed in Leyli o Majnun fall into three different categories: Shari’a, ethics and doctrine. The results also showed that those Islamic values are derived from the Quranic verses. Conclusions: This study implicitly alludes to the notion that the Islamic values integrated in the body of the text are meant to show the greatness of Allah’s love. The study also recommends that the kind of love among humans portrayed in the text is nothing compared to the love that Allah reciprocates with His worshippers

Identity politics and the politics of difference: critical transformations in contemporary thought

This article explores the relationship between identity politics and the politics of difference, focusing especially on the tensions that characterise this relationship within progressive theories and political discourses, and on their implications. The development of the concepts of identity and difference, as well as their limits and possibilities, are examined in relation to several theorists: Slavoj Žižek, Jacques Derrida, Jacques Lacan, Julia Kristeva, Michel Foucault, Cornel West and Judith Butler. This is followed by a discussion of Fromm’s social psychology insofar as it anticipates the growing importance of the concepts of identity and difference within late modern culture, and insofar as it identifies a number of critical concerns around these concepts which remain relevant today.

마가렛 앳우드의 초기 시에 나타난 유령과 타자성

This paper explores how ghosts in Margaret Atwood's early poetry represent otherness, specifically the division of the self or the repressed heterogeneous elements. Drawing on the similarity between Atwood's ghost imagery and the way hysteria and the unconscious enter the symbolic world of consciousness or language, this paper interprets ghosts as representing the other that exists either externally in nature or internally within the self, following Julia Kristeva's concept of the abject. In Atwood's poetry, white explorers, settlers, and Susanna Moodie as colonial pioneers are positioned as subjects, while the indigenous peoples, wilderness, and animals they displace occupy the position of the other. These others, as abject beings, experience death and resurrection, disturbing the settlers' identity by inhabiting their space as ghosts. This aligns with Kristeva's explanation of the abject as the essential precondition for the emergence of the self; the subject must continually expel the abject to establish its own identity, even as the abject remains a fundamental condition of existence. Atwood's ghosts, therefore, signify her unique sense of otherness, traversing the boundaries between human and animal, life and death, and seeking to dismantle otherness.

Heterogeneous Sex Dolls: Outlining a Sociology of Knowledge Approach to the Abject

AbstractThis paper explores the integration of Julia Kristeva’s concept of abjection into the sociology of knowledge, with a particular focus on the cultural phenomenon of hyperrealistic sex dolls. Employing a unique methodological approach, this paper interprets Kristeva’s Powers of Horror through Berger and Luckmann’s The Social Construction of Reality by utilizing two observation-based vignettes. It proposes a novel translation of the abject, typically a psychoanalytic concept, into empirical research frameworks that traditionally emphasize everyday reality. This synthesis extends the boundaries of a sociology of knowledge by incorporating affective responses to transgressive phenomena. The findings suggest that pre-recognition psychoanalytic concepts can significantly broaden the theoretical scope of sociology, offering new lenses to examine events and affects that lie beyond conventional sociological analysis.

Childhood Trauma and Remembrance: Weaponised PTSD in Glaydah Namukasa’s The Deadly Ambition

ABSTRACT Defining crime within the prism of personal responsibility without recourse to its triggers engenders post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in victims of unfair hearings. While literary studies interrogating blame for traumatic reactions on the basis of personal responsibility or choice abound, studies tracing traumatic misdemeanour to a first-cause threshold of vulnerability remain scarce. Relying on the intersection of cause-effect reactions, this study identifies unresolved childhood trauma as the cause of the weaponised PTSD in Glaydah Namukasa’s The Deadly Ambition (2006). Evan Busagwa is identified as a victim of an inerasable childhood trauma which develops gradually into PTSD and unfortunately gets weaponised against the society he believes deprives him of love as a child. Julia Kristeva’s Abjection Theory, which accounts for human reaction to the dysfunctionality of meaning in relational difference, is used to justify the repercussions of a tormented childhood on Busagwa’s adulthood. Namukasa engages the transmogrification of a personal ambition from its benign state to an awful deadly state. Having deferred to his parents as a young boy, Busagwa forces deference on the vulnerable as an adult. Through Busagwa’s characterisation, the writer suggests that a good ambition could mutate into something awfully negative if its formative stage is distorted beyond a person’s control.

Abjection and Exclusion in Doris Lessing’s The Fifth Child

Doris Lessing’s 1988 novella The Fifth Child tells the story of Ben Lovatt, a so-called “monstrous child” in the eyes of his family. In light of Julia Kristeva’s illustration of abjection, it can be seen that Ben’s otherness has unsettled the conventional assumption about children, and his physical and behavioral differences, viewed as a threat to the idealized family life, accounts for his fate of being excluded and rejected. In consideration of the contextualized descriptions in the book and the political background in which the story is set, it is reasonable to assume that what happens to Ben is indicative of what the non-European immigrants went through in the post-war Britian. The exclusive attitude of the Lovatts towards Ben bears much resemblance to the nationwide rejection of the “dark strangers” who brought with them different customs and values. In this sense, the story of Ben, a heterogenetic other who challenges the fixed perception of what British children should look like, can be taken as a mirror which reflects, in the time of social change, how the British society tackled difference in culture.

Intimate Language in Traditional Markets: Challenging Public Space Norms through Kristeva’s Intertextuality

The use of intimate language in public spaces is a phenomenon that emerges in the interactions of economic actors in traditional markets. Therefore, language intimacy deconstructs social norms that should not be displayed in public spaces. However, language intimacy has emerged in traditional markets for a long time in the interactions of economic actors, including sellers, buyers, porters, parking attendants, and the social gathering community. This research explores how intimate language is articulated in an economic space closely related to the ethnic identity of economic actors in traditional markets in the Jember region. The ethnic diversity in question includes Javanese, Madurese, Chinese/Chinese, and Arab. This phenomenon was researched qualitatively using a post-structuralist approach and applying Julia Kristeva's theory of intertextuality. Data analysis uses two Kristeva concepts, namely intertextuality and suprasegmental. The data is processed by looking at the text production process originating inside and outside the text. The research results show that the intimacy of language, usually used in the private sphere, has succeeded in breaking down the rigidity of language in the public sphere, besides dissolving social relations between economic actors with various ethnicities and social classes. Thus, the use of greetings in intimate language closely related to ethnic identity is experiencing development and merging with the space of familiarity and closeness built by economic actors in traditional markets.

Mudfog: Crabbe and Dickens, and the View from the Marshes

Abstract: This paper asks about the relationship of Crabbe's poetry (and his life) to Dickens, and pursues an interest in the marshy and muddy landscapes of David Copperfield, Bleak House , and Great Expectations , with attention also to Little Dorrit . I am interested in Dickens's neologism "mudfog," and how this extends through his fiction; in this specific case looking at Orlick in Great Expectations . I read him as deriving from Crabbe's Peter Grimes, and as an incarnation of the oozy stagnancy of the marshes in the novel. Here I draw on Julia Kristeva and Georges Bataille on the abject and the formless as a way of conceptualizing what Orlick, one of Dickens's more surprising characters, might represent. The whole paper is a continuation of interests discussed in an earlier paper on "Mudfog" ( Dickens Quarterly , June 2024).

Text and Intertextuality in Modern Arabic Poetry of Yoruba Scholars

Objectives: This paper examines Arabic poetic texts produced by modern Yoruba scholars, to study how they inter-textualize with poetic texts of classical and early modern poets in Arabic. It does a critical reading of select poems from the corpus of Isa Abu-Bakre (b.1953), and Afis Ayinde Oladosu (b.1967). Whereas the former follows the traditional system in the composition of his poems, the latter writes his collections in free verse. Methods: The paper adopts a method of historicizing the annals of intertextuality, before proceeding to exposit, closely read, and analyze intertextuality cues in the poetry of Yoruba scholars. It hinges its discussions on the works of Julia Kristeva, Roland Barthes, James Porter, Lev Vygotsky, Graham Allen, Ahmad Az-Zoubi, and Muhahammad Miftah among others. Conclusions: The study shows that Arabic poetical compositions of modern Yoruba scholars often intersect, not only with poetical texts of classical and early modern poets in Arabic, but also, they inter-textualize with texts from the primary sources of Arabic literary tradition- the Glorious Qur'an and Hadith.

Unveiling Body Politics: The Grotesque and Alienated Representation of the Monster in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein explores on the complexities of body politics and societal norms through the narrative of Victor Frankenstein and his creation, the monster. This research paper analyzes the novel through the lens of rejection, Otherness and the societal constructs of beauty and acceptance. The research investigates on the intricate intersections of various discourses in shaping the notion of “black body” throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Furthermore, it highlights on how Shelley’s portrayal of the hideous and marginalized body of the monster in her text aligns with the ideological constructions of black bodies. The monster, with his physical deformities and alien appearance, serves as a powerful symbol of the Other, highlighting society’s tendency to fear and ostracize those who are different. Drawing on Julia Kristeva’s concept of “the abject,” Michel Foucault’s notion of “biopower,” and Freud’s idea of “uncanny,” this paper searches how Shelly’s text reflects broader cultural anxieties and critiques societal norms. Through a detailed analysis of textual evidences, including direct quotes from the novel, this paper examines the implications of the monster’s rejection to socio-cultural norms and the societal forces that shape his identity. The paper concludes that exclusion of Frankenstein’s creation from the society directly stems from the societal constructs and responses towards bodies. Perception of bodies reflects more about the culture observing them than bodies themselves. In its essence, Frankenstein stands as a poignant narrative about the dangers of marginalization and the importance of empathy and acceptance in a diverse society. This paper underscores the critical need to understand how societal constructs shape perceptions of marginalized bodies, paving the way for future research to explore these dynamics in contemporary contexts and to develop strategies for fostering greater inclusion and acceptance.

Intertextuality Of The Story Of Prophet Ayub In The Qur'an And The Bible (Julia Kristeva Semiotic Approach)

The stories of the prophets narrated by the Qur'an have mostly been explained in the Bible. each holy book in narrating the story of the prophet has its own purpose in conveying messages to its followers. Therefore, the stories of the prophets are important to be studied more deeply. This paper aims to analyze the differences in the narration of the story of prophet Ayub in the Qur'an and the Bible. This research uses qualitative methodology through the intertextual approach pioneered by Julia Kristeva in finding a comparison of the two scriptural narratives. This study concludes through the story of prophet Job contained in the Qur'an and the Bible that there is a reduction of narrative by the Qur'an which creates elements of haplology in each fragment. The suffering of prophet Job narrated by the Qur'an is the work of the devil. While the narrative told in the Bible is the devil. However, the general difference between the narratives of the two books is in terms of the themes raised. The Qur'an raises the theme of faithfulness and patience of Prophet Job, while the Bible carries the theme of suffering and piety of Prophet Job.

Acercamiento a la obra musical Duelo de la Patria de Rafael Chávez Torres

The shared approach in this essay appeared in search of answers to questions about the most beloved funeral march in Costa Rica. Thosequestions were generated after reading the book on Rafael Chávez Torres by the researcher Ligia María Rosales Chacón. Some elements of Julia Kristeva about text theory are used, bringing us closer to thepyramidal structure of the sign ideologeme, from which we analyze the president of Costa Rica Tomás Guardia, we make a reading of the androcentric concept that he represents, and we approach it to concepts such as tonality. As music is a social text, we reviewed the musicaldrama using elements of the Western musical tradition, for which wepresented some musical signs and highlighted those that we consider reasons for pain that are used in the musical piece.

ANGUISH, TRAUMA AND RESPONSIBILITY: ETHICAL PERSPECTIVE ON ONTOLOGICAL NARRATIVE FORMATION

This article discusses the issue of anguish from a philosophical perspective combining it with the issues of trauma, responsibility and ethics. It is argued that anguish is a painful emotion that has ontological roots and can be etched into a positive form of either arts or writing, which helps to express this particular emotion, according to Maurice Blanchot’s philosophical viewpoint. Further, the article focuses on the ethical narrative formation regarding the victim and the nature of trauma. The paper refers to Julia Kristeva’s notion of the abject to explain that the abuser’s narrative is usually abjected by the society by excluding the abuser from the ethical narrative, while the victim is seen as deficient due to the trauma experience. The article suggests that the trauma narrative can be reformed and changed in such a way as to include both the victim and the abuser into it. The text argues that demystification and dialogical relationship between the victim and abuser, as well as the reduction of the role of narcissism in the abuser’s narrative, can help create an ethical narrative that allows to humanize both the victim and the abuser. The article further argues that the abuser has to take the responsibility for the wrongdoings, which usually falls too often on the victim. There is a further argument about a shift in narrative formation in the society which creates certain values, meanings and socially accepted emotions. The article also emphasizes that empathy and love are important for considering trauma narratives in order to learn to accept new accounts of trauma.

Relações parentais em Fruits Basket, de Natsuki Takaya

From a psychoanalytic perspective, this article seeks to understand demonstrations of melancholy experience in family relationships between parents and son in the manga Fruits Basket (2016), by Natsuki Takaya. The character Kyo and her parents exemplify what theorist Julia Kristeva develop in her work Black Sun (1989), particularly that literary creation as a materialization of bodies and signs, bears witness to sadness, as a mark of separation and as the beginning of the symbolic dimension. It will be discussed here the links between melancholy, love and losses inherent to family relationships in a sh?jo manga. Kyo Sohma belongs to a cursed family that reincarnates the Chinese zodiac animals, for this reason his mother commits suicide and his father rejects him. The character has her life marked by parental neglect during childhood, developing problems that are perpetuated throughout the narrative.

Re-visiting <i>Sophocles</i>’ <i>Antigone</i>: Dr. Dina Amin’s 2022 Egyptian Version <i>Antigone’s Law</i>

This paper attempts to compare <i>Sophocles’ Antigone</i> to the Egyptian adaptation <i>Antigone’s law</i> (2022), to highlight the significance of intertextuality. The study entails contributions to intertextuality that will be integrated in analyzing the adapted discourses. It will also capitalize on the political and social dimensions illustrated in the adapted play. The study aims to explore the oppressed female voices in the concerned texts and how the adapted work is appropriating to any oppressed culture that suffers from the same sense of oppression throughout the ages. In this respect, the paper reflects the oppressed female character who defies her uncle who embodies the tyrannical figure that does not want her to bury her brother. In this respect, the paper rests on Julia Kristeva’s and Mikhail Bakhtin’s development of intertextuality. It will also rely on Lorna Hardwick’s and Robert Fraser’s reference to the use of verbal and semiotic techniques which give the audiences a new comprehensive meaning that could be linked to their real life. This paper will also explain Susan Bassnett’s concept of polyphony or plurivocality that is set in contrast to the earlier model imposed by the colonial power of univocality. In other words, the other voices can be heard rather than the dominant single or monolithic voice. Plurivocality is capitalized on as it is at the heart of post-colonial thinking. Therefore, the study aims at proving that the experience was not only limited to the individual, but also to a whole community and humanity as well, and that reflects and highlights the power and the wisdom of women through the ages with different manifestations in the examined discourse. The study therefore, attempts to prove how the notion of intertextuality is found deeply in the Egyptian adapted work.

A Together Apart Corporeality: The Representation of the Female Body in Hanane El-Sheikh’s the Occasional Virgin and Sylvia Plath’s the Bell Jar

This paper is concerned with the conceptualization of the female body in samples from Arab and American literatures, by virtue of the analysis of Hanane El Sheikh’s The Occasional Virgin(2015), and Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar(1963) respectively. The present investigation relies on feminist criticism traced by Simone De Beauvoirand Julia Kristeva, in addition to Michel Foucault’s theory of docility.

Ripening and Rotting Heroes: Growth, Decay, and Narrative Abjection in Anthony Trollope's The Small House at Allington and The Last Chronicle of Barset

This essay argues that Anthony Trollope introduces a framework of character growth and decay, evinced through organic metaphors of ripening and rotting, to distinguish good and bad characters in The Small House at Allington and The Last Chronicle of Barset. By comparing a developing protagonist with a mature one who enters a phase of decline, we see how Trollope's commitment to nuanced characterisation is disrupted by his didactic aim of designating, and then torturing, patently bad figures. An analysis of the psychologies and aesthetics of character, framed around Julia Kristeva's theory of abjection, shows how Trollope figures two subtly paralleled protagonists as opposites, establishing one as a palatable figure and the other as a nauseating one. The isolation of a rotten character serves a dual purpose: Trollope teaches his moral lessons by subjecting the character to physical, psychological, and structural decay, while narrative progression, culminating in the imperative happy ending, is structured around the abjection of the bad object.

Beckett’s Not I as a Dramatic Rendition of Kristeva’s Notion of the Semiotic Chora

Samuel Beckett as a dramatist is well-known with his contributions to the landscape of British theatre. His plays reverberate with voices of traumatized, marginalized and war-stricken characters, which function as an implicit criticism of the turbulent atmosphere of the 1900s. When Beckett addresses the problems of his time in a covert way, the playwright deconstructs conventional elements of drama by specifying no plot, no setting or no theme. This Beckettian style also becomes manifest in his use of language which is characterized by the presence of segmented structures, pauses, ellipses and even silence. Considering these tenets of Beckettian drama, the thematic concerns of his theatrical productions are assumed to primarily revolve around the issues of nihilism, language, and ontology. Therefore, Beckett’s plays are thought to be read through the lenses of distinguished theorists such as Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Jacques Lacan and Julia Kristeva. From among these theorists, the concepts of the semiotic, the symbolic and the semiotic chora of Julia Kristeva as a poststructuralist thinker provide a fertile ground for a theoretical reading of Beckett’s play Not I (1972). Relevantly, this paper principally examines the applicability of Kristeva’s “semiotic chora” into Beckett’s Not I in all aspects.

The perverse mother. Update of the myth in the film Suspiria (2018) from Julia Kristeva's concept of the abject.

En el presente artículo se aborda el filme Suspiria (2018) con la finalidad de establecer la relación del personaje protagónico, Susie Bannion, con el mito de Lilith y las nociones de la maternidad como realización de la mujer. Por medio de un análisis semiótico al nivel del intentio operis (Eco, 2000), se pretende entender la significación que adquieren determinados elementos simbólicos que aparecen tanto en el filme como en el mito, empleando para ello el concepto de lo abyecto de Julia Kristeva (2004), así como las concepciones sobre la maternidad desde la postura de Lou Andreas-Salomé y Simone de Beauvoir.

Analisis Semiotika Kecurangan Pemilu dalam Film Dokumenter Dirty Vote

If we examine further, the democratic system in Indonesia is still very far from the dream, because it is far from the meaning of democracy. Especially in elections which determine the continuation of democracy from the people by the people and for the people. In fact, this is still very far from being implemented. This research uses a descriptive qualitative research method with Julia Kristeva's semiotic analysis because Kristeva combines structural analysis (focusing on the internal elements of the text) and contextual analysis (considering the social, cultural and historical context). This is relevant to "Dirty Vote" because it is important to understand the political and social context in conveying the film's message. The research results show that the meaning of the film's genotext shows election fraud, while the meaning of the phenotext is the visuals seen by the audience. while the idea of ​​abjection helps explain the feelings viewers have when viewing photos showing election fraud.