- Title
- Shame, divine cannibalism, and the spectacle of subaltern suffering in Ken Barris's What Kind of Child:
- Creator
- Marais, Mike
- Date Issued
- 2014
- Date
- 2014
- Type
- text
- Type
- article
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/144028
- Identifier
- vital:38304
- Identifier
- https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC171544
- Description
- This essay examines the aesthetic and ethical dimensions of Ken Barns's portrayal of the life of a street child in What Kind of Child. Responses to literary representations of subaltem suffering are sharply divided. On the one hand, there is the commonsense view that such representations require one to imagine what the situation of other people may be like, and that, in doing so, one opens oneself to their experience of life. To the extent that representations of suffering inspire one to reflect on one's relations to others, they are salutary. On the other hand, though, such depictions, like poverty tourism, may be accused of providing a spectacle of distant suffering that one vicariously experiences from a position of privilege and then dircards.
- Format
- 17 pages
- Format
- Language
- English
- Relation
- English in Africa
- Relation
- Marais, M., 2014. Shame, Divine Cannibalism, and the Spectacle of Subaltern Suffering in Ken Barris's" What Kind of Child". English in Africa, pp.79-95.
- Relation
- English in Africa volume 41 number 3 79 95 December 2014 0376-8902
- Rights
- Publisher
- Rights
- Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Sabinet Terms of Use statement (https://journals.co.za/upload/marketing/Sabinet_Website_TandC_2017.pdf)
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Collections
Marais, Mike (Prof)
RU Department of Literary Studies in English
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