This paper is an attempt to discuss the concept of madness and its different causes and functions in Bessie Head’s semiautobiographical novel A Question of Power. It aims to explore the multifaceted insanity of Elizabeth the exiled colored protagonist in terms of different theories. We will see how once a devastating trauma turns out to be a habilitating schizophrenia. Head challenges the readers’ normalized responses with this controversial concept (i.e. madness) and throws a new light on the capability of apparently silenced and insane people. Withstanding the long preserved devastating epistemology of the institutionalizing power, she clarifies that one can avoid being inside a power archive through insanity like Shakespearean fool.
Moosavinia, S. R., & Hosseini, S. M. (2012). Janus-Faced Madness in Bessie Head’s A Question of Power. Journal of Research in Applied Linguistics, 3(2), 135-150.
MLA
Sayyed Rahim Moosavinia; Seyyede Maryam Hosseini. "Janus-Faced Madness in Bessie Head’s A Question of Power", Journal of Research in Applied Linguistics, 3, 2, 2012, 135-150.
HARVARD
Moosavinia, S. R., Hosseini, S. M. (2012). 'Janus-Faced Madness in Bessie Head’s A Question of Power', Journal of Research in Applied Linguistics, 3(2), pp. 135-150.
VANCOUVER
Moosavinia, S. R., Hosseini, S. M. Janus-Faced Madness in Bessie Head’s A Question of Power. Journal of Research in Applied Linguistics, 2012; 3(2): 135-150.
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