John Barth’s “Menelaiad” and Quantum Mechanics: The Sacrifice of Common Sense
In the annals of the Greek myth, there has been a lacuna surrounding Menelaus and Helen’s relationship following the sack of Troy. What distinguishes Barth’s retelling of the Greek myth is filling this void through constructing a posthistory to the relationship the couple bear to each other and his...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Kurdistan
2023-05-01
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| Series: | Critical Literary Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://cls.uok.ac.ir/article_62647.html |
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| author | Ali Emamipour Farideh Pourgiv |
| author_facet | Ali Emamipour Farideh Pourgiv |
| author_sort | Ali Emamipour |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In the annals of the Greek myth, there has been a lacuna surrounding Menelaus and Helen’s relationship following the sack of Troy. What distinguishes Barth’s retelling of the Greek myth is filling this void through constructing a posthistory to the relationship the couple bear to each other and his giving voice to the concerns of Menelaus, a character who has always been in the recess of the canon. While a large body of research has approached Barth’s “Menelaiad” in light of literature of the absurd, this study, through adopting the stance of quantum mechanics on the nature of reality, will demonstrate that Barth’s work is anything but absurd. Establishing the framework of the article based on the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics, the present study argues how the adoption of the subatomic reality, implied in Proteus’ advice, allows Menelaus to jettison his festering obsession with the causality behind Helen’s choice and re-embrace her.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-ac64ba517699437b9f4de29b0f28957f |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2676-699X 2716-9928 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | University of Kurdistan |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Critical Literary Studies |
| spelling | doaj-art-ac64ba517699437b9f4de29b0f28957f2024-12-15T23:05:27ZengUniversity of KurdistanCritical Literary Studies2676-699X2716-99282023-05-015210311710.34785/J014.2023.019John Barth’s “Menelaiad” and Quantum Mechanics: The Sacrifice of Common SenseAli Emamipour0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1759-1471Farideh Pourgiv1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0548-314XDepartment of English Language and Literature, Kish International Campus, University of Tehran, IranProfessor of English Literature, Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics, Shiraz University, IranIn the annals of the Greek myth, there has been a lacuna surrounding Menelaus and Helen’s relationship following the sack of Troy. What distinguishes Barth’s retelling of the Greek myth is filling this void through constructing a posthistory to the relationship the couple bear to each other and his giving voice to the concerns of Menelaus, a character who has always been in the recess of the canon. While a large body of research has approached Barth’s “Menelaiad” in light of literature of the absurd, this study, through adopting the stance of quantum mechanics on the nature of reality, will demonstrate that Barth’s work is anything but absurd. Establishing the framework of the article based on the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics, the present study argues how the adoption of the subatomic reality, implied in Proteus’ advice, allows Menelaus to jettison his festering obsession with the causality behind Helen’s choice and re-embrace her. https://cls.uok.ac.ir/article_62647.htmlgestalt approachmenelausquantum mechanicsthe copenhagen interpretationthe uncertainty principle |
| spellingShingle | Ali Emamipour Farideh Pourgiv John Barth’s “Menelaiad” and Quantum Mechanics: The Sacrifice of Common Sense Critical Literary Studies gestalt approach menelaus quantum mechanics the copenhagen interpretation the uncertainty principle |
| title | John Barth’s “Menelaiad” and Quantum Mechanics: The Sacrifice of Common Sense |
| title_full | John Barth’s “Menelaiad” and Quantum Mechanics: The Sacrifice of Common Sense |
| title_fullStr | John Barth’s “Menelaiad” and Quantum Mechanics: The Sacrifice of Common Sense |
| title_full_unstemmed | John Barth’s “Menelaiad” and Quantum Mechanics: The Sacrifice of Common Sense |
| title_short | John Barth’s “Menelaiad” and Quantum Mechanics: The Sacrifice of Common Sense |
| title_sort | john barth s menelaiad and quantum mechanics the sacrifice of common sense |
| topic | gestalt approach menelaus quantum mechanics the copenhagen interpretation the uncertainty principle |
| url | https://cls.uok.ac.ir/article_62647.html |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT aliemamipour johnbarthsmenelaiadandquantummechanicsthesacrificeofcommonsense AT faridehpourgiv johnbarthsmenelaiadandquantummechanicsthesacrificeofcommonsense |