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Introduction
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Hosseini: The Kite Runner
In this course, Professor John McRae (University of Nottingham) explores Khalid Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. We begin with a broad introduction to the historical, political and literary context of the novel, before going through the whole novel chapter-by-chapter, providing close reading and detailed analysis, with commentary on character, plot, themes, motifs, language, symbolism and more.
Introduction
In this module, we provide a broad introduction to the novel and some of its themes, focusing in particular on: (i) the long history of the Bildungsroman, e.g. Jane Eyre (1847), David Copperfield (1850), Great Expectations (1861), and the extent to which The Kite Runner belongs in this genre; (ii) the relationship between Amir and Hassan; (iii) the extent to which the ending of the novel is typical of the Bildungsroman genre; (iv) the importance of narrators and narratives in the novel – stories, lies, myths, propaganda, etc.; (v) the importance of the gap in time between Amir’s childhood (1975) and the present day (2001); (vi) the importance of the ethnic difference between Amir and Hassan; (vii) the idea of ‘what might have been’; (viii) the extent to which Hassan’s ‘invasion’ by Assef is an echo of Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1979; and (ix) the idea of the American Dream novel, and the extent to which the Kite Runner fits this genre.
Cite this Lecture
APA style
McRae, J. (2021, January 13). Hosseini: The Kite Runner - Introduction [Video]. MASSOLIT. https://massolit.io/courses/hosseini-the-kite-runner/chapter-1-the-phone-call
MLA style
McRae, J. "Hosseini: The Kite Runner – Introduction." MASSOLIT, uploaded by MASSOLIT, 13 Jan 2021, https://massolit.io/courses/hosseini-the-kite-runner/chapter-1-the-phone-call