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Title Navigating (A)Symmetrical Intimacy: A Magical Feminist/Postcolonial Reading of Isabel Allende, Laura Esquivel and Nafisa Rizvi's Fiction

Author(s) Zafar Iqbal

Abstract This research explores how magical feminist technique and postcolonial elements are intertwined in Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits, Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate, and Nafisa Rizvi’s The Blue Room. The research contends that the magical feminist and postcolonial texts contest hegemonic colonial/patriarchal discourses in (a)symmetrical modes. Their mutualism productively interrogates both heteronormative and Eurocentric assumptions to develop an epistemic position that is at once enabling and dismantling. Therefore, this research investigates how, through magical realist techniques in postcolonial feminist textual structures, the ordinary becomes extraordinary and the unbelievable becomes believable. I invoke Patricia Hart’s definition of magical feminism as a theoretical lens for analyzing primary texts. Stephen Slemon’s notion of “Magic Realism as Post-Colonial Discourse” supports Hart’s position in analyzing the selected texts. Moreover, I employ Wendy B. Faris’ definitions of magical realism as theoretical support that helps explore the nature and cultural work located in the global South. Since this project is qualitative in nature, I have used Catherine Belsey’s concept of textual analysis, and Celena Kusch’s “Comparative Analysis” are used as research methods for reading the selected fiction. The findings of this research vindicate that there is (a)symmetrical intimacy between the magical feminist and postcolonial texts selected for this study. The three women writers employ magical realist techniques in their feminocentric texts and resist patriarchal strategies. Moreover, the study also finds concerns regarding the underrepresentation of colonized people in general and women in particular. This research is likely to contribute to the production of knowledge in the magical feminist/postcolonial domains.

Type Thesis/Dissertation PhD

Faculty Languages

Department English

Language English

Publication Date 2023-12-19

Subject PhD English Literature

Publisher Department of English (GS)

Contributor(s) Dr. Sibghatullah Khan

Format As per departmental guidelines

Identifier Dr. Muhammad Haseeb Nasir (PhD English Program Coordinator)

Source PhD

Relation PhD

Coverage PhD

Rights PhD

Category PhD English Literature Thesis

Description Navigating (A)Symmetrical Intimacy: A Magical Feminist/Postcolonial Reading of Isabel Allende, Laura Esquivel, and Nafisa Rizvi’s Fictio