IS AMERICA A „SOW THAT EATS HER FARROW”: JOHN UPDIKEʼS TERRORIST AS A BILDUNGSROMAN

Authors

  • Magda G. Milikić Institute for Serbian Culture Priština/Leposavić

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21618/fil2022320m

Keywords:

John Updike, Terrorist, Bildungsroman, Islamic fundamentalism, Ahmad Ashmawi Mulloy, character development, epiphany

Abstract

In this paper we analysed John Updike’s 22nd novel, Terrorist, to ascertain whether this novel could be viewed as a Bildungsroman. Our investigation is based on theoretical insights that Hegel, Lukács and Bakhtin offered on this literary genre; furthermore, we acknowledged some contemporary theories regarding this issue as well. By analysing characters and relations among them, narrative layers of the text and intertextual dialogue in Updike’s Terrorist, we strove to point out how Updike deconstructs this literary genre by showing a young man, Ahmad, who – under the influence of an imam – considers and plans to become a suicide bomber. Also, we indicated how the author’s approach to this sensitive topic is a nuanced one: the novel is militant only on surface.

References

Apdajk, Džon (2006), Terorista, sa engleskog prevela Dušanka Vujić, Beograd: Izdavačko preduzeće „Filip Višnjić”.

Biblija (2018), Sveto pismo Staroga i Novog zavjeta, Beograd: Sveti arhijerejski sinod Srpske pravoslavne crkve.

Džojs, Džems (2015), Portret umetnika u mladosti, sa engleskog preveo Petar Ćurčija, Beograd: Lom.

Man, Tomas (1987), Čarobni breg, sa nemačkog preveli Miloš Đorđević i Nikola Polovina, Beograd: Prosveta.

Updike, John (2007), Terrorist, New York: Ballantine Books.

Updike, John (2002), „Varieties of Religious Experience”: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2002/11/varieties-of-religious-experience/302630/, pristupljeno 08.12. 2020.

References

Alghamdi, Alaa (2015), „Terrorism as a Gendered Familial Psychodrama in John Updike’s Terrorist”, Moderna språk – Upsala: Institutionen för moderna språk, Uppsala University, Vol. 109, No 1 (2015), 1–12.

Alosman, M. Ikbal M. (2018), „Differentiation and Imperfectionality in John Updike’s Terrorist”, The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, Vol. 24 (2), 58–70.

Bahtin, Mihail (2013), „Roman o vaspitanju i njegov značaj u istoriji realizma”, Estetika jezičkog stvaralaštva, Novi Sad: Izdavačka knjižarnica Zorana Stojanovića, 5–65.

Banerjee, Mita (2008), „’Whiteness of a different color’? Racial profiling in John Updike’s Terrorist”, Neohelicon, XXXV (2008), 13–28.

Batchelor, Bob (2009), Running Toward the Apocalipse: John Updike’s New America: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2844&context=etd&fbclid=IwAR3wSW9vUzjciEI52WuuRenG8SP5zjxFxiCwhZXDevhzcBYu9Q_DZCGe31o, pristupljeno 4. 9. 2020.

Bodrijar, Žan (2007), Duh terorizma, sa francuskog preveo Dejan Ilić, Beograd: Arhipelag.

Colgan, John-Paul (2009), „The Godless Democracy”: Terrorism, Multiculturalism, and American Self-Criticism in John Updike, in: American Multiculturalism after 9/11, edited by Derek Rubin and Jaap Verheul, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 119–131.

Diltaj, Vilhelm (2004), Doživljaj i pesništvo, sa nemačkog preveo Saša Radojčić, Novi Sad: Orpheus.

Dojčinović Nešić, Biljana (2007), Kartograf modernog sveta: romani Džona Apdajka, Beograd: Filološki fakultet.

Gallaher, Carolyn (2015), „Contemporary Domestic Terrorism in The United States”, in: The Routledge History of Terrorism, edited by Randall D. Law, London – New York: Routlegde, Taylor & Francis Group, 317–332.

Hegel, Georg Vilhelm Fridrih (1961), Estetika III, sa nemačkog preveo dr Nikola Popović, Beograd: Kultura.

Herman, Peter (2015), „Terrorism and the Critique of American Culture: John Updike’s Terrorist”, Modern Philology, Vol. 112, No. 4 (May 2015), 691–712.

Jakobs, Jirgen, Markus Krauze (2000), „Nemački obrazovni roman. Istorija žanra od XVIII do XX veka”, Reč: časopis za književnost i kulturu, sa nemačkog prevela Tijana Obradović, broj 60 (6), god. 2000, 379–398.

Japtok, Martin (2005), Growing Up Ethnic: Nationalism & the Bildungsroman in African American & Jewish American Fiction, Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.

Kriebernegg, Ulla (2011), „’Hey, Come On, We’Re All Americans Here’: The Representation of Muslim-American Identity in John Updike’s Terrorist”, Belgrade English Language and Literature Studies, Vol. 3 (2011), 215–228.

Lukač, Đerđ (1968), „Godine učenja Vilhelma Majstera kao pokušaj sinteze”, Teorija romana: jedan folozofskohistorijski pokušaj o formama velike epske literature, Sarajevo: Izdavačko preduzeće „Veselin Masleša”, 99–108.

Mahoney, Dennis F. (1991), „The Apprenticeship of the Reader: The Bildungsroman of the ’Age od Goethe’”, in: Reflection and Action: Essays on the Bildungsroman, edited by James Hardin, Chapel Hill: University of South Carolina Press, 97–117.

Mathé, Sylvie (2017), „Imagining the Perpetrator: Reflections on the Terrorist as Other in Updike, DeLillo, and Amis”, in: The John Updike Review, Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati, John Updike Society, volume 5, number 2, summer 2017, 13–30.

Mazzeno, Laurence W., Sue Norton (2017), „Old World Readings of a New World Novel: European Perspectives on John Updike’s Terrorist”, in: The John Updike Review, Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati, John Updike Society, volume 5, number 2, summer 2017, 1–12.

Mašović, Dragana (2018), „Proces radikalizacije ličnosti u pravcu oboženja ili razboženja samoubilačkog teroriste (istorija slučaja: Terorista Džona Apdajka)”, Društvene i humanističke studije 1, 7 (2018), 141–158.

Mc Greth, Charles (2006), „In Terorist A Cautious Novelist Takes On A New Fear”, interview with John Updike, https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/31/books/31updi.html, pristupljeno 4. 8. 2020.

Moreti, Franko (2000), „Bildungsroman kao simbolička forma”, Reč: časopis za književnost i kulturu, sa engleskog prevela Aleksandra Kostić, broj 60 (6), god. 2000, 417–452.

Said, Edvard (2008), Orijentаlizam, sa engleskog prevela Drinka Gojković, Beograd: Biblioteka XX vek.

Sammons, Jeffrey L. (1991), „The Bildungsroman for Nonspecialists: An Attempt at a Clarifcation”, in: Reflection and Action: Essays on the Bildungsroman, edited by James Hardin, Chapel Hill: University of South Carolina Press, 26–45.

Smit, Antoni D. (2010), Nacionalni identitet, sa engleskog preveo Slobodan Đorđević, Beograd: Biblioteka XX vek.

Updike, John (2005), „Books, Biography, Famous Works, Influences, Rabbit, Couples – Inteview (2005), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUFWyC1JIlU, pristupljeno 5. 12. 2020.

Downloads

Published

2020-12-31

How to Cite

G. Milikić, M. (2020). IS AMERICA A „SOW THAT EATS HER FARROW”: JOHN UPDIKEʼS TERRORIST AS A BILDUNGSROMAN . PHILOLOGIST – Journal of Language, Literature, and Cultural Studies, 11(22), 320–347. https://doi.org/10.21618/fil2022320m