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Dystopia and Heterotopia: Poetics and Politics of Space in Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns

Dystopia and Heterotopia: Poetics and Politics of Space in Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns

Jason Tan Jian Wei, Moussa Pourya Asl
Copyright: © 2023 |Pages: 19
ISBN13: 9781668466506|ISBN10: 1668466503|ISBN13 Softcover: 9781668466513|EISBN13: 9781668466520
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-6684-6650-6.ch002
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MLA

Wei, Jason Tan Jian, and Moussa Pourya Asl. "Dystopia and Heterotopia: Poetics and Politics of Space in Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns." Urban Poetics and Politics in Contemporary South Asia and the Middle East, edited by Moussa Pourya Asl, IGI Global, 2023, pp. 18-36. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-6684-6650-6.ch002

APA

Wei, J. T. & Asl, M. P. (2023). Dystopia and Heterotopia: Poetics and Politics of Space in Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns. In M. Pourya Asl (Ed.), Urban Poetics and Politics in Contemporary South Asia and the Middle East (pp. 18-36). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-6684-6650-6.ch002

Chicago

Wei, Jason Tan Jian, and Moussa Pourya Asl. "Dystopia and Heterotopia: Poetics and Politics of Space in Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns." In Urban Poetics and Politics in Contemporary South Asia and the Middle East, edited by Moussa Pourya Asl, 18-36. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2023. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-6684-6650-6.ch002

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Abstract

The traditional classification of city spaces in Afghan literature in English as either utopian or dystopian overlooks the possibility of other spaces existing within the same spatial structure. This chapter argues that although Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns is widely known to be teeming with exclusively dystopian elements, the novel depicts the functioning of alternative spaces within the same spatial realities. The authors use Foucault's notion of heterotopia to examine how the actuality of such different spaces throughout the novel allows the reimagining of alternate ways of life for the female characters. Drawing upon Foucault's six principles of heterotopia, the analysis underlines that despite the predominantly dystopian portrayal of the country in the novel, multiple physical and imaginary heterotopias are shown as operating whereby the characters, especially the female ones, are able to reimagine themselves away from the dreads of the chaotic reality.

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