The Politics of Monologist Representation

This article proffers a deconstructionist reading of the dramatic monologue and examines its rhetorical strategies and the politics of monologic representation, by which the first-person speaker/monologist monopolizes discursive space and over-represents himself, while silencing other voices in the text and refusing them the freedom and space to express themselves. Through a close analysis of monologist representation of the Other in various texts, including “Mending Wall” by Robert Frost, “Devonshire Street W. 1” by John Betjeman, as well as Ron Carlson’s short story “Bigfoot Stole My Wife” (albeit a dramatic monologue in prose), this article seeks to expose the ways in which the poetic persona is always partial, interested, and subjective, with not-so-subtle an agenda, a speaker who passes value judgments on the human objects of his overbearing tone. By examining the politics of monologist representation against both Aristotelian ethos and Bakhtinian intonation, the article suggests that readers and critics can give voice to the voiceless in this elastic genre and abandon their sympathetic interpretations that practically absolve monologists of any bias towards their absent enemies or any politics of representation.</jats:p

Denys Johnson-Davies: The Translator Who Rushed in Where Angels Feared to Tread

The purpose of this article is to outline Denys Johnson-Davies's translation career as told in his autobiography, give a general appreciation of his unparalleled role in translating and promoting Arabic literature in the English-speaking world, shed light on his adapting numerous Arabic folktales for children, and touch upon his translations of canonical Islamic texts. However, it would not be possible to fully appreciate his monumental contributions in this intercultural dialogue without examining, albeit briefly, some of the intractable odds against which he strove. In other words, had he been a French- or German-English translator, his would have been a completely different story, and perhaps not worth being voluble about. To achieve this goal, I will highlight certain relevant incidents in his career that illustrate both his tireless efforts and his attachment to Arabic literature, Arab authors, and Arab customs, for it is through this “spiritual affinity” that Johnson-Davies fulfills Schlegel's condition for a good authentic translation.</jats:p