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Titill: 
  • Titill er á ensku The Spark that Changes Colour. Identity, Crisis and Rebirth in Zoë Strachan’s Negative Space and Jackie Kay’s “Physics and Chemistry”
Námsstig: 
  • Bakkalár
Útdráttur: 
  • Útdráttur er á ensku

    Identity is a recurring theme in the works of authors Zoë Strachan and Jackie Kay. This essay examines Strachan’s novel Negative Space and Kay’s short story “Physics and Chemistry,” focusing on the two central characters’ journey through identity metamorphosis. Their experience is compared to the Rebirth plot, one of Christopher Booker’s seven archetypal narratives or “basic plots,” with reference to Swiss psychiatrist C. G. Jung’s writings on the process of individuation. The protagonists of the two works of fiction discussed here, Physics and Stella, move through four distinct phases on their journey toward self-realization. In phase one, as in the beginning of all Rebirth stories, a dark force of some kind has trapped them in a state of “living death,” and each woman is alienated from her own true self, instead seeking refuge in a false identity or “persona.” Physics, deeply in denial about essential aspects of her personal and sexual identity, constructs her persona around her role as a teacher, whereas Stella’s passivity and extreme dependence on her brother have brought her to a point of occupying the “negative space” in her own life. In phase two, the false selves begin to crumble, as each woman faces the sudden loss of that on which she had based her pseudo-identity, and thus the dark spell is lifted. This is followed by the third phase, a period of identity crisis, uncertainty and experimentation with new ways of being and relating. Lastly, the fourth and final phase constitutes a new beginning, as each woman emerges from the individuation process transformed, metaphorically reborn into a new sense of self. While this is not an endpoint in itself, as individuation is a continuous process of self-discovery, both Stella and Physics’ new identity is freer and more authentic than it was before.

Samþykkt: 
  • 3.5.2016
URI: 
  • http://hdl.handle.net/1946/24104


Skrár
Skráarnafn Stærð AðgangurLýsingSkráartegund 
the_spark_that_changes_colour.pdf236.92 kBOpinnHeildartextiPDFSkoða/Opna
Yfirlýsing_Anna.pdf303.89 kBLokaðurYfirlýsingPDF