Challenging Language. A Study of ‘Opposition’ in Five Political Essays by Arundhati Roy


Abstract


This article analyses linguistic opposition – from sounds to single terms to entire passages – as a shaping feature of Arundhati Roy’s non-fiction through the framework of opposition theory (Jeffries 2014). Building on previous studies, Jeffries takes the theory and practice of oppositeness in meaning-creation to innovative conclusions that hypothesise its key-role in human cognition, societies, and the construing work of language itself. I will concentrate on five representative political essays in Arundhati Roy’s collected volume of non-fiction My Seditious Heart (2019), with the goal of analysing Roy’s use of ‘opposites’ in her fiery criticism of the Indian government’s development projects and neocolonial policies. I will first relate Roy’s non-fiction to Jeffries’ insights, then focus on some key passages in Roy’s essays where oppositional structures are foregrounded, and finally draw some provisional conclusions in relation to structuralist stylistics.

DOI Code: 10.1285/i22390359v64p135

Keywords: opposition theory; Arundhati Roy; My Seditious Heart; structuralist stylistics; political dissent

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