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

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