Concept of Ontology, Ontological Transformation and its Representation in The Wake of Pandemic Crisis in Malorie

Abstract

Aim of the Study: This research paper explores the ontological transformation of the image of human from being a rational, authentic and intelligent being into a distorted self in Malorie. This study also highlights the negation of metanarratives in the form of postmodern mini-narratives which describes the fragmented image of a postmodern man.

Methodology: The purpose of this study is to reveal the fragmented self of human and his ontological transformation in the light of Brian McHale’s concept of ‘ontology’ from Postmodernist Fiction. By doing a postmodern reading of the novel, different characteristics of postmodernism will be explored with the support of Bran Nicol, 2009. P.’s The Cambridge Introduction to Postmodern Fiction (2009) and Hans Bertens’ The Idea of the Postmodern: A History (1955). This research highlights Jean-Francois Lyotard’s claim of postmodernism as “incredulity towards metanarratives” from The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge in Malorie.

Findings: This research finds out postmodern mini-narratives such as fragmented narration, paranoia, nostalgia, intertextuality and temporal distortion or schizophrenia. These mini-narratives show ontological transformation of a human being from being the center of everything into a contorted self.

Conclusion: So this study highlights the contorted condition of a postmodern man in ontological terms. It also presents postmodern mini-narratives which elaborate the decentered image of a human from being the center of everything to be a contorted self.