Play Of Power,Knowledge And Discourse

As one of the three most outstanding immigrant writers in Britain,V.S.Naipaul(1932-2018)was awarded the Nobel Literature Prize in 2001.His first published novel The Mystic Masseur which established a keynote for his latter works presents the transformation of the hero Ganesh's identity based on the particular historical conditions in Trinidad.Compared with other scholars'focus on post-colonialism,feminism and so on at macroscopic level,this thesis devotes to revealing the omnipresent exercise of microscopic power which is hidden behind the transformation of Ganesh upon his identity by means of Foucault's theory related to power,knowledge and discourse.As a result,the subjectivity as well as the central position of the hero in the novel is challenged unprecedentedly.Thus,the individual is forced to be the disciplined body and the object of power,knowledge and discourse.Hitherto,a new interpretation upon the transformation of the hero's identity which is different from the traditional model comes into being.Meanwhile,Naipaul's confusion upon his own identity in the real world as well as his contradictory emotion to Trinidad,India and Britain is exposed.Thus,humanistic spirit and feelings hidden in the novel are revealed from a microscopic perspective.The thesis consists of five parts.The introduction mainly introduces Naipaul's life experiences as well as his achievement,the outline of the novel,and the international and domestic study upon the novel.Besides,Foucault's theory of power,knowledge and discourse and the significance of the thesis are also included.Chapter one discusses the knowledge constituting the hero during the process of Ganesh's transformation from a teacher,masseur as a loser to the mystic masseur at the earlier part of the novel,pointing out that the knowledge here is the production of discursive practice which is different from the traditional knowledge.Therefore,the author's complicated affection towards Trinidad is presented.Chapter two analyses the religious discursive practice in which Hinduism is taken as an example.Meanwhile,attention is paid to Ganesh's wife Leela who acts as another object of religious discourse in the text.Through the analysis above,the author's paradoxical feeling to India is uncovered.Chapter three aims to expose that under the background of post-colonialism,the deployment of various power along with knowledge and discourse targets at the individuals in Trinidad in the name of bio-power.It leads to the hero's aphasia in the aboriginal group in Trinidad.In the end,Ganesh completely turns into the spokesman of the imperialism in Trinidad.Likewise,Naipaul's conflicting attitude to Britain is brought out.In conclusion,the thesis claims that in the process of Ganesh's transformation which acts as the result of different kinds of power relationship,knowledge and discourse,the individual is decentralized,becoming a sort of historical constitution.Meanwhile,an explanation for the author's confusion to his own identity is supplied through which it is evident to discover the humanistic spirit and feelings concealed in Naipaul's works.