The Predicament of The Diaspora as Reflected in The Texture of Dreams and the Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears
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2008-06
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Abstract
The research study has four major chapters. The first chapter shows that the
research sets out to fill the gap in the critical literatures of the country regarding
Diaspora or migrant literature through a thematic analysis of Fasil’s The
Texture of Dreams (2005) and Dinaw’s The Beautiful Things that Heaven
Bears (2007). The meaning and thematic preoccupations of migrant /Diaspora
literature are also described in the background to the study section of this
chapter. Chapter two reviews studies on Ethiopian English novels and relevant
theoretical issues relating to the Diaspora and its predicament. The third
chapter presents a thorough thematic analysis of the major themes in the two
novels under the sections woes of the homeland, woes in the host land, sub-
themes and divergent themes. These include economic and political woes of the
homeland, disillusionment, frustration, emptiness, homesickness, racism and
discriination, nostalgia, loss, acculturation and lust for love. The findings of the
study are the similarity, despite differences of approach, of the two novels in
revealing the overarching themes of displacement and emptiness in the lives of
the Ethiopian/African Diaspora sharing same concerns of racism and
discrimination with other black Diaspora writers.
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Texture of Dreams and the Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears