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"Identity (Philosophical concept) Fiction."
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Privy portrait
The narrator in Jean-Luc Benoziglio's Privy Portrait has fallen on hard times. His wife and young daughter have abandoned him, he has no work or prospects, he's blind in one eye, and he must move into a horribly tiny apartment with his only possession: a twenty-five-volume encyclopedia. His neighbors, the Shritzkys, are vulgar, narrow-minded, and racist. And because he has no space for his encyclopedia in his cramped room, he stores it in the communal bathroom, which becomes a major point of contention with his neighbors. The bathroom is also the only place he can find refuge from the Shritzkys' blaring television, and he barricades himself in it to read his encyclopedia, much to the chagrin of the rest of the residents of the building. Darkly amusing, Privy Portrait is the monologue of a man, disoriented by the gaping void of not knowing his own nationality, recounting the final remnants of his own sanity and his life. In this buffoonish, even grotesque, yet deeply pitiful man, Benoziglio explores, with a light yet profound touch, weighty themes such as the roles of family, history, one's moral responsibility toward others, and the fragility of personal identity.
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Menorahs and Minarets
After ten years in Paris, Galal returns to Cairo, where he finds a society in transformation. Egypt is Galal's home, but he feels he no longer belongs there. He is caught between his two identities: his Jewish mother's family are cosmopolitan business people, while his father's family are rural farmers from the Delta. Kamal Ruhayyim paints an uncompromising portrait of an older generation dictating how their children live and love. Menorahs and Minarets is the concluding part of Ruhayyim's compelling trilogy.
eBook
Elsewhere, home
\"Since her award-winning debut novel, Minaret, Leila Aboulela has been praised by J.M. Coetzee, Ali Smith, Aminatta Forna, and Anthony Marra among others for her rich and nuanced depictions of Islamic spiritual and political life. Her latest collection, Elsewhere, Home, draws us ineluctably into the lives of immigrants at home and abroad as they forge new identities and reshape old ones. A young woman's encounter with a former classmate elicits painful reminders of her former life in Khartoum. A wealthy young Sudanese woman studying in Aberdeen begins an unlikely friendship with one of her Scottish classmates. A woman experiences an evolving relationship to her favorite writer, whose portrait of their shared culture both reflects and conflicts with her own sense of identity. Shuttling between the dusty, sun-baked streets of Khartoum and the university halls and cramped apartments of Aberdeen and London, Elsewhere, Home explores, with subtlety and restraint, the profound feelings of yearning, loss, and alienation that come with leaving one's homeland in pursuit of a different life\" -- Provided by publisher.
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Signs of Identity
This volume conceives of identity constructs in a broader semiotic way, specifically within a communicational and comparative perspective. This implies a rethinking of \"identity\" in terms of the relationship between an individual's \"way of being\" and performativity.The contributions here cover a variety of pre-texts, texts and contexts, periods and genres, from Medieval clothing to multicultural discourse, and from modern poetry to postcolonial narratives, among others. Integrating research from Germany, Greece, Iraq and Romania, this collection of fifteen chapters will be of interest to all those involved in the reevaluation of identity - a central term in the social and cultural space.
eBook
Deus Ex Machina
On a distant island, reality show contestants battle for bragging rights and a slot on next week's episode. They've perfected their dramatic roles and are prepared to do whatever it takes to win. There's the take-no-prisoners Marine sergeant, the gay hairdresser, the ruthless lawyer, the brainy poet. But one player refuses to compete--Gloria Hamm, a sullen dental hygienist, voted least likely to win by the show's crew. The higher-ups are desperate for ratings and sensational twists to trump the plots of seasons past. But the producer--haunted by personal tragedies all too real--is losing control of the show and its crew. While he obsesses about Gloria, the crew plots mutiny, a contestant dances with insanity, and disease threatens to halt the show completely. When real catastrophes strike, the producer finds it harder and harder to navigate his surreal landscape, where boundaries of the real, imagined, and orchestrated have blurred beyond recognition. Deus Ex Machina deconstructs our notions of narrative, revealing how tricky it is for any auteur to disappear from his creation. In an age when people will seemingly do anything to be on television, it asks what is the true nature of \"reality,\" and what is its cost?.
eBook
Star
\"Being a star, constantly performing, being watched and scrutinized as if under a microscope, is often a drag. But so is life. Written shortly after Yukio Mishima himself had acted in the film 'Afraid to die,' this novella is a rich and unflinching psychological portrait of a celebrity coming apart at the seams. With exquisite, vivid prose, Star begs the question: is there any escape from how we are seen by others?\"-- Provided by publisher.
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Critical Identities in Contemporary Anglophone Diasporic Literature
The figure of the migrant has been celebrated by some as an icon of postmodernity, an emblematic figure in a world increasingly characterized by transnationalism, globalization and mass migrations. Kral takes issue with this view of the migrant experience through in-depth analyses of writers.
eBook
Denton Little's deathdate
\"In a world where everyone knows the day they will die, a teenage boy is determined to outlive his upcoming expiration date\"-- Provided by publisher.
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