ART FOR STATE’S SAKE: A FOUCAULDIAN DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF JULIAN BARNES’S THE NOISE OF TIME
Received: 24.08.2021; Revised: 30.09.2021, Accepted: 06.11.2021, Published Online: 30.11.2021
Dr. Amna Saeed
Assistant Professor, Department of humanities, COMSATS University, Islamabad
Mariam Latif
Lecturer, Department of English, National University of Modern Languages, Multan
Abstract
This research paper examines the implications of political control of Dimitri Shostakovich’s music by the state during Stalin’s regime in Julian Barnes’s The Noise of Time. Foucault explicates that existing power relations are maintained in the society through construction of certain discursive constructs which shape up a favored reality and ensure strengthening of established power relations. This research focuses on the establishment of discursive constructs about Dimitri Shostakovich’s composition which affected its production Moreover, the research examines the function of the discursive constructs in upholding the supremacy of the state ideals and lastly it examines the effects of discursive constructions on the position, practices and experiences of the artist. The findings of this research suggest that ideological discursive constructions about Shostakovich’s music limited its function by rendering it incapable of posing any resistance to the established power structures, instead, these constructs turned Shostakovich’s music into a discursive object which was used to propagate and strengthen the socialist ideals in U.S.S.R. Lastly, these constructs made Dimitri Shostakovich feel fearful, hopeless and entrapped as he failed to find an escape from these construct and he was guilt ridden for being an accomplice to state’s agenda. The insights drawn from this research aim not only to create a sense of urgency among policy makers to provide an atmosphere of freedom of expression to artists to encourage progressive thoughts and ideas but also encourage further scrutiny of the researched phenomena under different perspectives to yield more knowledge on the subject.
Keywords: Ideology, Power, State, Art, Artist, Discourse