Colonial Discourse In H. Pinter’s “mountain Language” And E. Said’s “after The Last Sky” (2019)

ABSTRACT

Using Edward Said s text After the Last Sky on the Israeli Palestinian conflict as a point of reference, the specific essay provides an array of possible answers regarding topics such as the representation of different kinds of oppressor - oppressed narratives, the numerous ways in which marginalized groups of people respond and relate to their national identity through language or religion, and the interpretation of notions such as nationalism in contexts and idealist terms that do not necessarily correspond to the standards of today s western civilization, with respective references to Pinter s play Mountain Language. This essay ultimately aims to suggest a relation between the different approaches in the representation of the subalterns in the two texts in terms of the resistance they demonstrate, and explore the way in which core values of the two ethnonational groups relate to their status and vitality when coexisting with a more socially, politically or linguistically powerful group, taking into consideration the distinct understanding of the notion of nationalism, namely in Greece and Palestine, and trying to pinpoint the differentiating factors that lead to either healthy or toxic expressions of national sentiment in order to apply them to a critical approach to processes of reappropriation, reclamation and redefinition of ethnic identity.