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dc.contributor.advisorMilne, Lorma
dc.contributor.advisorHerbert, Michael
dc.contributor.authorTaylor, Laurel
dc.coverage.spatial171 p.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2016-11-16T11:36:05Z
dc.date.available2016-11-16T11:36:05Z
dc.date.issued2001
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10023/9825
dc.description.abstractThis thesis compares two novels each by Nigerian writer Ben Okri and Moroccan writer Tahar Ben Jelloun. By examining apparently transformative moments in the lives of each protagonist, Azaro and Zahra, its principal aim is to show how liminality characterises their identities, and is a source of personal and potentially political liberation, mirrored in the narrative techniques. The Introduction demonstrates the centrality of identity to these novels and the domain of postcolonial studies and defines the key concepts in relevant literary, theoretical and political contexts: identity, hybridity, liminality, magical realism and the postcolonial/postmodern debate. Chapter I establishes Azaro and Zahra as liminal beings from birth, whose childhood rituals are incomplete and who continually subvert parental and social expectation. This examination of liminality may be extended by reading the characters as emblems of their respective nations-in-waiting. Chapter II focuses on the tension between biology and culture within Zahra's gendered identity and demonstrates empowerment in her choice to remain liminal in a 'potential space'. Azaro's shifting sexual awareness is examined as a manifestation of his liminality. The allegorical reading of Zahra's life is continued, and a connection made between sexual and political corruption in the English texts. Chapter III centres on the fluidity of Azaro's boundaries and perception. Like Zahra's, his liminality is chosen, as he decides to live in a potential space between human and spirit. Zahra, too, has a special relationship with the spirit world; she and Azaro are shown to have revelatory visions of political significance. The Conclusion brings together the analysis of Azaro's and Zahra's identities before extending the liminal states of the protagonists to those of reader and artist. It concludes that these texts offer new opportunities for the understanding of postcolonial texts and moving beyond the duality of the postcolonial/postmodern debate.en_US
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of St Andrews
dc.subject.lccPN3503.T2
dc.subject.lcshOkri, Ben--Criticism and interpretation.en_US
dc.subject.lcshJelloun, Tahar Ben, 1944- --Criticism and interpretationen_US
dc.subject.lcshIdentity (Philosophical concept) in literatureen_US
dc.subject.lcshLiminality in literatureen_US
dc.titleLiminality as identity in four novels by Ben Okri and Tahar ben Jellounen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.contributor.sponsorCommittee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals of the Universities of the United Kingdomen_US
dc.contributor.sponsorUniversity of St Andrewsen_US
dc.contributor.sponsorUniversity of St Andrews. School of Englishen_US
dc.contributor.sponsorUniversity of St Andrews. School of Modern Languagesen_US
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoralen_US
dc.type.qualificationnamePhD Doctor of Philosophyen_US
dc.publisher.institutionThe University of St Andrewsen_US


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