Minoritization Against the Backdrop of Romanticism: Politicization of History and Art in Edward Bond’s Adaptation of the English Romantic Period in The Fool

Maghsoud, Navid; Javidshad, Mahdi; Nemati Ziarati, Amirhossein

doi:10.22059/jor.2022.346158.2324

Minoritization Against the Backdrop of Romanticism: Politicization of History and Art in Edward Bond’s Adaptation of the English Romantic Period in The Fool

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Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Navid Maghsoud ¹

Mahdi Javidshad ²

Amirhossein Nemati Ziarati ³

¹ University of Tehran

² English Language and Literature Department,, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran

³ Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

10.22059/jor.2022.346158.2324

Abstract

In The Fool, Edward Bond brings a specific moment in history to the stage to examine the position of the author during important political, economic and social changes. John Clare, the poet of the romantic era of England nicknamed the "peasant poet", is the central character of the play, who becomes a touchstone by which Bond measures the artist's power in social impact. For the Marxist Bond, the socio-economic life of the historical Clare is centralized and the author's struggle for social influence in the powerful current of the nineteenth century capitalist system is depicted. The present research uses the theoretical foundations of New Historicism proposed by Stephen Greenblatt and the concept of minor literature by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari to emphasize Bond's historiography and unique message. In this research, Bond's confrontation with the naturalization of history, his Marxist concerns, the politicization of history and art by him, as well as the majoritarian expectations of the author and his position as a voice of the minority are examined. This research concludes that by resorting to the history of romantic literature, Bond seeks to marginalize the author in order to finally criticize the interference of politics in art and the weakening of the author's position by the capitalist system.

Keywords

Edward Bond

The Fool

Capitalism

Historiography

Minoritization

Author

Subjects