Program: M.Phil.

Session: Subject: English Literature

Name of Student: Roll No.

Father’s Name:

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Topic of Research:

New Beginnings and the Protagonists’ Becoming in the Selected Novels of Murdoch and

Shamsie

Introduction:

Iris Murdoch (1919-1999), amazingly prolific Anglo-Irish novelist, poet, dramatist, critic and

philosopher, in her certain novels presents the idea of adventure as a mean of self-discovery,

exploration of the new world and catalyst for the artistic imagination of the artist. Arguably it is

best presented in her novel, The Black Prince (1973) where the protagonist, Bradley Pearson, 58,

a tax inspector decides to quit his job and pursue his career as a great novelist. He is struck with

the typical writer's block and is in quest of the creative imagination when he in entangled in a

series of adventures that serve as a new beginning for him and the process of his becoming

begins that culminates towards the end when he is charged with a murder and writes his novel in

the prison. Murdoch’s first novel, Under the Net , (1954), presents the failed attempts of the

protagonist, Jake Donahue, who takes adventures after adventures and remains in the quest of

decisive moment of his life but every adventure contributes for his becoming. Kamila Shamsie

(), an Anglophonic Pakistani novelist, also uses the metaphor of adventure for the becoming of

her female protagonists like Vivian Rose Spense in God in Every Stone (2014) and Hiroko

Tanaka in Burnt Shadows. The adventurous nature and the sense of guilt of the protagonists in

the novels mentioned above, bring both these writers closer. There is also erotic compulsion in

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Murdoch’s novels that causes adventures while it is seen as man-woman relationship in

Shamsie’s novels that lead the protagonists for adventure. This study attempts to explore the

causes of the new beginning of the protagonists and journey of their becoming using the

theoretical framework of Martin Heidger’s concept of Being and Becoming, Sartre’s Existential

angst and choice, and Edward Saeed’s notion of the re-reading the colonized cultures and people

with the postcolonial consciousness.

Objectives:

Following are some of the objectives for conducting this research.

1. To explore the concept of Being and Becoming in the selected novels of Murdoch and

Shamsie.

2. To explain the causes of the new beginnings in Murdoch and Shamsie’s novels.

3. To determine the role of adventures for self-discovery and its function as metaphor

for becoming in the selected novels.

4. To delve into the consequent impact of new beginnings and adventures upon the lives

of the protagonists.

Significance:

This study will help the readers to know the importance of new beginning, existential

choice and adventures.

1. It will lead them to thin beyond the constraints and try adventures as a source for new

beginning.

2. It will assert the conceptual alliances of the writers belonging to different regions.

3. It will contribute to expand the theoretical interpretation of Murdoch’s and Shamsie’s

novels.

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Hypothesis:

The human beings travel from being to becoming and in this journey the existential choice plays

a significant role. The adventures help to explore the unknown parts of the world and the

unknown dimensions of human nature and relationship and make a new man out of him. This

study tends to explore the concept and function of new beginning and adventures used by

Murdoch and Shamsie in their novels.

Literature Review:

Research Gap:

Research Questions

What does mean the new beginning and becoming of the protagonists in Murdoch’s and

Shamsie’s novels?

What are the multiple facets of adventures in Murdoch’s and Shamsie’s novels?

How does adventure serve as a metaphor for becoming?

Why are the protagonists’ new beginning and adventures necessary?

Research Methodology:

The methodology in this study will be based on qualitative inquiry because the goal of this

research is the understanding of new beginning through existential choice and ultimately the

becoming of the protagonist with a different consciousness. The primary sources used in this

research are the novels Under the Net, The Black Prince, Burnt Shadows and The God in Every

Stone, and the secondary sources include the print and online critical material available on the

above mentioned texts.

Delimitations:

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This study is confined to Iris Murdoch’s novels Under the Net, and The Black Prince, Kamila

Shamsie’s novels.

Breakup:

The study has been distributed into 5 chapters.

Introduction

Chapter 1

Literature Review

Chapter 2

Research Methodology

Chapter 3

New Beginning in Murdoch and Shamsie’s Novels

Chapter 4

The Protagonists’ Adventures and their Impact

Chapter 5

The Becoming of the Protagonists

Conclusion

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Bibliography

Conradi, P. (2001). Iris Murdoch: A Life - The Authorized Biography. New York: Harper

Collins.

Bayley, J.( 1998). Iris: A Memoir of Iris Murdoch. London: Duckworth.

Murdoch, I.(1982). Under the Net. London: Chatto & Windus. (First published London: Chatto

& Windus, 1954).

Murdoch, I.(1986). The Black Prince. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd. (First published

London: Chatto & Windus, 1973).

Shamsie, K. (2009). Burnt Shadows. London: Bloomsbury.

Shamsie, K. (2014). A God in Every Stone. London: Bloomsbury.

Report of the proposed Supervisor

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Name and Signature of Candidate

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Name and Signatures of the Supervisor

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Muhammad Amir Ch _____________________________