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Title SEEING WITHOUT SIGHT: PSYCHOGEOGRAPHY OF VISUALLY CHALLENGED SUBJECTIVITIES IN SELECTED WORKS OF DOERR, HINGSON AND PAMUK

Author(s) 131-Mphil/EngLit/S21

Abstract This research study attempts to discover dynamics of psychogeography as lived experience of people without sight by conducting a phenomenological study of blindness as experienced by characters in the following literary works: All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk, and Thunder Dog by Michael Hingson and Susie Flory. I have applied theoretical concepts from Marie’s Marlowe Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception such as, the definition of phenomena phenomenal field and transcendental phenomenological reduction along with sense, perception and proprioception. In addition to this, I have used definitions of psychogeography by Guy Debord and of sight, blindness and disability by Rod Michalko as a lens to analyze the persona of blindness as depicted in characters from selected works. The major dynamics of psychogeography as experienced in blindness found in these novels are as follows: The socio-psycho inequality experienced in an ocular-centric world is an inherent element of experiencing blindness but does not necessarily allude to its being a misfortune. The subsequent skillset required to mitigate the resultant situation constructs an alternative reality which centers on a vision created by interacting with respective surroundings via other sensory modalities. One of the core constituents which lends validity and stability to the resultant conception of people, places and things is the emotional responses they incur. While the core constituents of these experiences are similar, the constructed realities are as diverse as the emotions created by the subjects experiencing blindness, and the means with which they are experienced. Moreover, these three works explicitly describe the use of assistive devices coupled with imagination and habitual memory as methods of not only navigating their psychosocial environs in their respective geographies, but also of living the beauty experienced in art and existence alike. This research would provide literature students, along with students of sociology and psychology, a new lens to study and perceive people with blindness and other disabilities: not solely under the presumptuous edicts of mainstream narrative but rather as people with diverse abilities. It would also help them to critically analyze societal values, customs, and beliefs as represented in literature. This might prove to be a stepping stone towards a better future for the stereotypically portrayed and marginalized groups in a given societal structure.

Type Thesis/Dissertation

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Department English

Language English

Publication Date 2025-10-21

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