Navigating Modernity and Coloniality: Text World Theory Analysis of “Our Lady of Paris”
Keywords:
Text World Theory Decolonial Studies Modernity Coloniality Cultural Identity Postcolonial Literature Narrative Analysis Socio-political DynamicsAbstract
Literature from postcolonial societies often engages with the
themes of modernity, coloniality, and cultural identity. Cognitive
poetics, which emerged as a new critical lens, offers new insights
into these themes. This research paper employs a cognitive
framework, Text World Theory (TWT), to comprehensively
analyze Daniyal Moeenuddin's short story “Our Lady of Paris”,
focusing on its intricate narrative construction and thematic
implications. While previous research works examine the text
from postcolonial dimensions, current research focuses on the
intersection of modernity and coloniality; the study delves
deeper into the text's portrayal of the ambivalent attitudes of the
colonial subjects. Through TWT, the study analyses the text's
textual worlds and narrative advancements, unravelling the
layers of meaning embedded within the story. Paul Werth (1990)
and Joana Gavins (2007) developed this cognitive framework,
which provides a framework for analysing the construction of
fictional worlds, enabling a deeper understanding of how
characters' mental representations and cognitive
conceptualisation shape their actions and decisions. TWT allows
the study to explore how characters navigate different text
worlds. The narrative centres on the characters of Helen and
Sohail, representing contrasting perspectives on modernity – one
rooted in Western ideals and the other shaped by postcolonial
struggles, and highlighting the complexity of identity in the
postcolonial world. The findings showcase the internal conflict
of postcolonial subjects who admire Western modernity yet
remain unable to attain it. Through this cognitive lens, this study
critically engages with themes of power, agency, and identity.
The paper contributes to the discourse on decolonizing literary
studies and offers insights into how narratives negotiate the
legacies of colonialism in contemporary contexts.
References
Altaf, M., Batool, H., & Khan, S. Y. (2024). Exploring colonial legacies: Resistance and
decoloniality in Nadeem Aslam's The Blind Man's Garden. Panacea Journal of
Linguistics & Literature, 3(1), 93-104.
Ali, S., Batool, H., & Maan, M. F. (2023). Faith and Identity in Stephen Crane’s “In
Heaven” and Taufiq Rafat’s “This Blade of Grass”: Linguistic relativity leading to
worlds within words. Journal of Contemporary Poetics, 7(1), 65-83.
Altaf, M., & Batool, H. (2024). Strategies of cognitive decoloniality in Nadeem Aslam’s
The Golden Legend. Wah Academia Journal of Social Sciences, 3(2), 450–471.
https://doi.org/10.5127/wahacademia322624
Batool, H., Noreen, R., & Nisar, M. (2024). Conceptualization of “Sadness” in Khadija
Mastoor’s Aangan. Al-Aijaz Research Journal of Islamic Studies & Humanities,
(4), 1-19.
Batool, H., Khalid, H., & Maan, M. F. (2022). The cultural appropriation of Urdu in
Usman T. Malik’s collection Midnight Doorways: Fables from Pakistan. City
University Research Journal of Literature and Linguistics, 5(2), 96–121.
Butt, S. R. A., Qasim, Z., & Javed, M. (2021). You are what you own: A transitivity
analysis of in other rooms, other wonders. University of Chitral Journal of
Linguistics & Literature, 5(2), 199-218.
Gavins, J. (2007). Text world theory: An introduction. Edinburgh University Press.
Gavins, J., & Steen, G. (2003). Cognitive poetics in practice. Routledge.
Gohar, G., Maan, M. F., & Batool, H. (2023). An exploration of metafunctions and binary
oppositions in Pakistani paintings and poems. Pakistan Languages and
Humanities Review, 7(2), 273-283.
Hai, A. (2014). Postcolonial servitude: Interiority and system in Daniyal Mueenuddin’s in
other rooms, other wonders. The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Haq, A., Maan, M. F., & Batool, H. (2024). Unveiling the elements of a fairy tale: An
exploration of Proppian narrative functions in A Thousand Splendid Suns. Journal
of English Language, Literature and Education, 6(4), 24-43.
Javaid, S., Rabbani, M., & Habib, A. (2021). Hybridity leading towards identity crisis: A
study of Daniyal Moeenuddin’s stories “Our Lady of Paris” (2009)” and “Lily” as
Cultural Rai. Pakistan Social Sciences Review, 5(3), 18-27.
Mueenuddin, D. (2009). In other rooms, other wonders. Norton.
Malik, S. S., Batool, H., & Maan, M. F. (2022). The cultural appropriation of Urdu in
Usman T. Malik’s Midnight Doorways: Fables from Pakistan. City University
Research Journal of Literature and Linguistics, 5(2), 96-121.
Mueenuddin, D. (2012). Sameer and the samosas. The New Yorker.
Younker, T. (2009, February 23). Daniyal Mueenuddin and Mohsin Hamid: Two
'internally displaced' writers. Asia Society. https://www.asiasociety.org/daniyal
mueenuddin-and-
Mueenuddin, D. (Alan Franks). (2009, July 11). Alan Franks interviews Daniyal
Mueenuddin. The Times.
Nazir, B., Hussain, Z., & Hussain, Z. (2022). You sell me out: Representation of peripheral
Pakistan in Daniyal Mueenuddin’s in other rooms, other wonders: Pakistan
Linguistic and Historical Review, 6(2), 24. http://doi.org/10.47205/plhr.2022(6
II)24
Stockwell, P. (2002). Cognitive poetics: An introduction. Routledge.
Sadaf, S. (2014). Daniyal Mueenuddin's dying men. South Asian History and Culture, 5(4),
-504. DOI: 10.1080/19472498.2014.936207
Stockwell, P. (2009). Texture: A cognitive aesthetics of reading. Edinburgh University
Press.
Tariq, H. (2018). The feudal system of Pakistan in Daniyal Mueenuddin's short stories: A
marxist
critique.
Linguistics
https://ssrn.com/abstract=3825397
and Literature Review. Retrieved from
Van Peer, W. (2001). Stylistics and Psychology: Investigations of foregrounding. John
Benjamins Publishing.
Werth, P. (1999). Text worlds: Representing conceptual space in discourse. Longman.
Werth, P., & Gavins, J. (Eds.). (2005). Discourse and culture: Theoretical approaches.
Narr
Waheed, K. (2017). Marxist reading of Daniyal Mueenuddin’s short stories in his book “in
other rooms other wonders”. University of Lahore, Chenab Campus, Gujrat,
Pakistan.
