Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature
type: channel
description: Erothanatos (E-ISSN 2457-0265) is an interdisciplinary, double-blind peer-reviewed literary journal that explores the intersections of literature, philosophy, cultural studies, and critical theory. Established with a vision to foreground voices that challenge conventional narratives, the journal is committed to publishing original, thought-provoking scholarship that delves into the complexities of human experience, artistic expression, and socio-political realities amidst the conflict between Eros and Thanatos — life and death, desire and dissolution — as enduring metaphors of human imagination.
publisher: The Alternative
language: en
publication name: Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature
issn: 2457-0265
copyright: All articles and content published in Erothanatos are made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0), unless otherwise stated. This license permits users to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work, and to make derivative works, for non-commercial purposes only, provided the original author(s) and source are properly credited. Authors retain the copyright to their work. In cases where a special issue is priorly declared to be published in book form with an ISBN, the copyright and licensing terms for that publication will be specified separately and communicated to contributing authors in advance. By submitting to Erothanatos, authors agree to the terms of this license and acknowledge that their work will be freely accessible to the public and may be used for academic, educational, and non-commercial purposes in accordance with the terms of the CC BY-NC 4.0 license. For further details about the license, please visit the Creative Commons website.
items: Bleeding Goddess
items: Beyond Bollywood
items: From Hearth to Spectacle
items: Hot Flashes, Hard Talks
items: Speciation and Social Allegory
items: Performing Womanhood
items: The Orwellian Synthesis
items: Modern Day Menstruation
items: Jungian Archetypes in the World of Italian Fashion
items: There Were Etchings on the Wall
items: Women Beyond the Margins
items: Preferred Reading to Polysemic Reception
items: The Lyrical Modernity
items: Performing the Self
items: The Aesthetics of Choice
items: Unveiling the Rohingya Experiences
items: Trauma, Memory, and the Brain
items: Distributed Minds
items: Anne Brontë’s Agnes Grey and Helen Huntingdon
items: Reading Bapsi Sidhwa’s Ice Candy Man through the Lens of Biopolitics and Sexuality
items: Framing Femininity
items: Psychological Necessity of Shen Teh—Shui Ta Anamorphosis
items: Humanity's Precarious Perch
items: The Mirror Stage as the formative of the function of the 'I'
items: Little Bruised Backsides on the Prairie
items: Erasing Indigenous Topography
items: From Stigma to Empowerment
items: The Memory Thief
items: Aura and Memory
items: Masculinity in Conflict

Bleeding Goddess
type: item
description: The Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati, Assam, uniquely sacralizes menstruation through the goddess's annual "bleeding" during Ambubachi Mela, transforming cultural taboos into symbols of fertility and renewal. This paper applies ecofeminist and ecocritical theories to analyze how this Tantric narrative reclaims feminine corporeality and ecological cycles against patriarchal and colonial erasures, drawing parallels in Assamese literary texts. The Kamakhya Temple venerates Goddess Kamakhya's yoni through her monsoon-aligned menstruation, celebrated in Ambubachi Mela, subverting menstrual stigma as cosmic Shakti. Rooted in Yogini Tantra and Kalika Purana myths of Sati's dismemberment, this folklore influences Assamese literature like Indira Goswami's works, framing blood as regenerative power. Employing Vandana Shiva's ecofeminism, which links women's marginalization to biodiversity loss—and ecocriticism's challenge to anthropocentrism, the paper argues Kamakhya resists dualisms of pure/impure, embodying earth-women unity. Ritual analysis reveals implications for gender justice amid climate disruptions, countering colonial demonization of Tantra.
subject: Theme Area (Articles)
  topic: section
subject: Menstruation
  topic: keywords
subject: Kamakhya
  topic: keywords
subject: Myth
  topic: keywords
subject: Ritual
  topic: keywords
creator: Reshmi
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Authors retain copyright and grant Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature the right of first publication. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) International License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2026-04-03
publication date: 2026-04-03
doi: 10.70042/eroth/1001249

Beyond Bollywood
type: item
description: This paper investigates the multifaceted impact of Arunachalam Muruganantham’s grassroots innovation—the low-cost sanitary napkin machine—as depicted in the Hindi film Padman (2018). It analyses the disruptive challenge this innovation poses to established market forces in South Asian menstrual hygiene management (MHM). Despite significant advancements in public health discourse, affordable access remains restricted due to high product costs and deeply entrenched socio-cultural taboos. This study examines how Padman functions as a cultural catalyst for entrepreneurship education, deconstructing myths of "overnight success" and highlighting the grit required for social ventures. Furthermore, the paper analyses the decentralised economic model against the centralised, high-cost strategies of multinational corporations (MNCs) like Hindustan Unilever (HUL) and Procter & Gamble (P&G). By integrating market data and examining the competitive landscape—with a specific focus on the strategic importance of the Maharashtra market—this research demonstrates how grassroots innovation provides a sustainable solution to the affordability crisis while fostering local economic empowerment and challenging corporate hegemony.
subject: Theme Area (Articles)
  topic: section
subject: sanitary napkin machine
  topic: keywords
subject: Padman
  topic: keywords
subject: menstrual hygiene management
  topic: keywords
subject: public health discourse
  topic: keywords
subject: socio-cultural taboos
  topic: keywords
creator: Chandresh Chakravorty
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Authors retain copyright and grant Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature the right of first publication. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) International License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2026-02-23
publication date: 2026-02-23
starting page: 102
ending page: 108
doi: 10.70042/eroth/1001238

From Hearth to Spectacle
type: item
description: This paper aims to shed light on how a significant social and cultural shift has occurred with the advent of fast food restaurants in Kashmir. As a result, people are eating less in the familiar and safe environment of their own homes and more in the public arena of gastronomic spectacles. The culinary traditions of Kashmir have largely revolved around home kitchens, with the bigger community gatherings known as wazwan (a Kashmiri feast) or niyaz (offering) reserved for more inclusive occasions. Wazwan and other restaurant meals have become ubiquitous and commercialised, making dining a social performance, a type of recreational tastemaking, and a form of performative consumption. By looking at the spoilt meat scandal of 2025 in Kashmir via a critical lens, this analysis presents this change as a sign of cultural alienation and fetishisation rather than just a public health issue. The article utilises ideas of spectacle, differentiation, and food security to analyse how the modernity of taste has altered class identities, dismantled traditional foodways, and introduced new health hazards in a political context that suppresses and neglects alternative, more complex narratives.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Kashmir
  topic: keywords
subject: Culinary Spectacle
  topic: keywords
subject: Waxwan
  topic: keywords
subject: Culture
  topic: keywords
subject: Commodification
  topic: keywords
subject: Taste
  topic: keywords
subject: Food
  topic: keywords
subject: Consumption
  topic: keywords
creator: Ghulam Khan
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Authors retain copyright and grant Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature the right of first publication. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) International License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2026-02-21
publication date: 2026-02-21
starting page: 55
ending page: 66
doi: 10.70042/eroth/1001231

Hot Flashes, Hard Talks
type: item
description: Menopause remains strikingly under-discussed in the Indian public and policy arenas, even as evidence suggeststhat Indian women often enter menopause earlier than many of their Western counterparts and frequently do so without adequate workplace or health-system support. This paper examines Indian digital feminist platforms, including long-form feminist outlets, community support groups, and Instagram/Facebook micro-communities, to analyze how hot flashes, insomnia, changing sexuality, and aging are narrated, medicalized, resisted, and reclaimed within these spaces.
subject: Theme Area (Articles)
  topic: section
subject: menopause
  topic: keywords
subject: digital feminism
  topic: keywords
subject: motherhood studies
  topic: keywords
subject: hot flashes
  topic: keywords
subject: sexuality
  topic: keywords
creator: Shweta Suman
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Authors retain copyright and grant Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature the right of first publication. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) International License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2026-02-21
publication date: 2026-02-21
starting page: 89
ending page: 101
doi: 10.70042/eroth/1001234

Speciation and Social Allegory
type: item
description: H.G. Wells' The Time Machine (1895) pioneered science fiction by exploring time travel, dystopian societies, and social critique through the lens of posthuman evolution. This foundational work critiques Victorian class structures via the Eloi and Morlocks, projecting a future where humanity diverges starkly. In contrast, Indian science fiction, exemplified by anthologies like Gollancz Book of South Asian Science Fiction (2021) and Homo Minuscula (2023), envisions alternative futures with a focus on reimagining futures, speculation of co-evolution of living beings, and addressing contemporary societal issues by depicting dystopian futures. This comparative study analyzes how both literary traditions speculate on posthuman societies, addressing themes such as time travel, speciesism, and the role of technology in shaping future societies. It illuminates cultural differences in imagining future worlds and provides insights into global socio-political contexts influencing speculative fiction. By bridging these narratives, the research fills gaps in academic discourse, offering a nuanced understanding of how different societies envision posthumanism and respond to contemporary challenges through speculative fiction.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Human
  topic: keywords
subject: Evolution
  topic: keywords
subject: India
  topic: keywords
subject: Posthuman
  topic: keywords
subject: Utopia
  topic: keywords
subject: Dystopia
  topic: keywords
subject: Speculative
  topic: keywords
subject: Class
  topic: keywords
creator: Yashika Parmar
creator: Milind Solanki
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Authors retain copyright and grant Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature the right of first publication. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) International License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2026-02-21
publication date: 2026-02-21
starting page: 36
ending page: 47
doi: 10.70042/eroth/1001227

Performing Womanhood
type: item
description: Menstruation, though a universal biological phenomenon, acquires culturally specific meanings through ritual, symbolism and social regulation. In India, menarche is frequently marked through ceremonies that publicly signal a girl’s transition into womanhood. This paper examines Ritu Kala Samskaram, a South Indian menarche ritual, as a critical site where gender identity is not merely recognized but actively produced. Drawing on Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity, the study argues that womanhood emerges not as a natural outcome of biological maturation but as a culturally scripted identity constituted through repeated rituals. Through practices such as seclusion, ritual purification, adornment, and public celebration, the adolescent body is reconstituted as a socially acceptable feminine subject. The study demonstrates that menstrual initiation rituals operate as powerful ideological mechanisms through which gender is performatively produced, stabilised, and enforced. By reframing Ritu Kala Samskaram as a performative process rather than a neutral tradition, the paper highlights the ritual’s role in shaping gendered subjectivity and regulating womanhood within Indian cultural frameworks.
subject: Theme Area (Articles)
  topic: section
subject: Ritu Kala Samskaram
  topic: keywords
subject: Gender Performativity
  topic: keywords
subject: Menstruation
  topic: keywords
subject: Ritual
  topic: keywords
subject: Womanhood
  topic: keywords
creator: Jyothilekshmi P S
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Authors retain copyright and grant Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature the right of first publication. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) International License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2026-02-21
publication date: 2026-02-21
starting page: 78
ending page: 88
doi: 10.70042/eroth/1001232

The Orwellian Synthesis
type: item
description: This paper proposes the Orwellian Utilitarian–Phonetic Framework (OUPF), a pronunciation pedagogy for Indian diaspora learners that uses George Orwell’s ethics of clarity—often captured in the ‘windowpane’ metaphor—as a bridge between literary study and intelligibility-oriented speech training. Drawing on Global Englishes/ELF scholarship, World Englishes, and research on intelligibility versus accentedness, the framework reframes ‘accent’ work as repertoire expansion rather than cultural erasure. Through close reading of selected Orwell texts (Animal Farm, 1984, “Politics and the English Language,” and The Road to Wigan Pier), OUPF maps Orwellian stylistic features (brevity, compression, rhythmic control, and sociolinguistic self-awareness) onto teachable pronunciation targets (segmental contrasts, vowel reduction, stress timing, and nuclear stress). The paper concludes with a utilitarian–phonetic matrix and classroom applications suitable for employability contexts (interviews, presentations, and multinational teamwork), and it outlines limitations and directions for empirical validation.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: World Englishes Accent intelligibility English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) Phonological variation Language ideology Communicative competence
  topic: keywords
creator: Komal Mehrotra
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Authors retain copyright and grant Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature the right of first publication. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) International License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2026-02-21
publication date: 2026-02-21
starting page: 48
ending page: 54
doi: 10.70042/eroth/1001229

Modern Day Menstruation
type: item
description: The world suddenly unites when it comes to inflicting pain on women. One of the most common instances of the world uniting and inflicting pain upon women is seen in case of menstruation, a time when the body of a woman is already going through a lot of physical pain. Instead of providing women with minimal care the society comes forth with a list of absurd rules that the women are expected to follow. These rules end up making the physical menstrual pain a psychological one. The women have been made victims and an object of shame for centuries based on the bodily fluid that flows from within her every single month. Though the women earlier followed these absurd rules. The modern day women question these age old notions and demand scientific proof for the mentally burdening acts carried on the women every single month until menopause. This analysis aims to explore the various myths and manipulations that the Indian women have been expected to follow and also highlights how the perception of menstruation has finally evolved and matured in the current items.
subject: Theme Area (Articles)
  topic: section
subject: Menstruation
  topic: keywords
subject: Myth
  topic: keywords
subject: Manipulation
  topic: keywords
subject: Indian Women
  topic: keywords
subject: Society
  topic: keywords
creator: Battula Sneha
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Authors retain copyright and grant Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature the right of first publication. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) International License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2026-02-21
publication date: 2026-02-21
starting page: 67
ending page: 77
doi: 10.70042/eroth/1001225

Jungian Archetypes in the World of Italian Fashion
type: item
description: The research investigates how Jungian archetypes form the symbolic foundations which define major Italian fashion brands. The research examines how fashion brands including Gucci, Prada, Versace, Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, and Ferragamo develop emotionally powerful brand stories which transcend visual aspects. The brands achieve psychological impact through their adoption of universal archetypes including Ruler, Creator, Lover and Explorer which shape consumer perception while building brand loyalty and delivering values through mythic clarity. The paper positions Italian fashion within a symbolic tradition by viewing it as a cultural stage where archetypes function as storytelling scripts for personal expression and aspirational identity formation. The research demonstrates how archetypes maintain narrative coherence and emotional depth throughout different brand expressions which include runway shows and advertising as well as digital platforms and social media in a fragmented communication environment. Furthermore, this paper investigates the psycho-social aspects of brand identification to show how consumers adopt archetypal messages to shape their personal identities and social connections. The research demonstrates that archetypes serve dual purposes by creating brand uniqueness and symbolic depth and providing a storytelling framework for sustainable and ethical branding initiatives.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Jungian Archetypes, Brand Identity, Italian Fashion, Symbolic Branding, Cultural Narrative, Fashion Marketing
  topic: keywords
creator: Barbara Gabriella Renzi
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Authors retain copyright and grant Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature the right of first publication. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) International License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2026-02-21
publication date: 2026-02-21
starting page: 1
ending page: 24
doi: 10.70042/eroth/1001203

There Were Etchings on the Wall
type: item
description: The negotiation between memory and silence is a pivotal point of discussion in any scholarly discourse concerning the history of Partition. However, as Urvashi Butalia argues, in ‘traditional’ sources of history, “there is an immediate clamouring of ‘voices’ that demand to be ‘heard’. These ‘voices’, according to her, speak about the histories of individuals who have been condemned to occupy a ‘peripheral’ space and have been glossed over by the larger canon of history. Thus, to successfully negotiate the politics of memory, it is perhaps essential to focus one’s vision on the lived experiences of the otherized. In a 2022 Stanford Report article on Tom Mullaney’s (Professor of History, Stanford University) approach in incorporating graphic novels to teach world history, Melissa De Witte writes that these narratives are “exceptionally good” at portraying “mundane moments” that present “powerful opportunities for inquiry,” holding a mirror to the truly horrifying experiences. This paper would thus attempt to examine how graphic narratives on Partition could serve as etchings that are well-suited to illuminate the conscious reader about the lived trauma of marginalised voices and their quest to resist the methodical epistemic violence that they have been subjected to by popular history.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Margins
  topic: keywords
subject: Graphic Narratives
  topic: keywords
subject: Partition
  topic: keywords
subject: Lived Experience
  topic: keywords
subject: Trauma
  topic: keywords
creator: Ritam Ghosh
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-12-28
publication date: 2025-12-28
starting page: 189
ending page: 204
doi: 10.70042/eroth/904220

Women Beyond the Margins
type: item
description: This article examines Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne through a feminist prism with reference to the characters of Elizabeth Bennet and Hester Prynne. Both of the women defy and surpass the social conventions in their respective patriarchal and puritanical cultures. This paper examines how the feminist theoretical positions (especially standpoint theory and embodiment) help Elizabeth oppose the marriage norms, and Hester transform shame into strength in ways that challenge the patriarchal structures that seek to define and marginalize them. The contrast between these two characters shows how the feminist thinking changes and finds its reflection in literature. Elizabeth and Hester are not only defiant of the conventional gender expectations but also demand their independence and re-negotiated identities which can be useful in examining the gendered power structures in their societies. This paper therefore examines how the two characters cross the boundaries which have been placed on them and exhibit feminist concepts of self-determination and self-powering.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Resistance to marginalization
  topic: keywords
subject: Feminist consciousness
  topic: keywords
subject: Renegotiated identities. standpoint theory
  topic: keywords
subject: embodiment
  topic: keywords
subject: Gendered power structures
  topic: keywords
creator: Zakia Sultana
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-12-28
publication date: 2025-12-28
starting page: 178
ending page: 188
doi: 10.70042/eroth/904217

Preferred Reading to Polysemic Reception
type: item
description: This research article applies the theory of encoding and decoding by Stuart Hall to analyze Chris Cleave's novel The Other Hand (also known as Little Bee), arguing that the novel encodes a liberal humanist ideology framing refugee suffering within a Western moral lens, thereby inviting reader empathy while reproducing power disparities between the savior and the victim. Cleave criticizes Western humanitarianism and institutional violence through the alternating first-person narratives of Little Bee, a Nigerian asylum seeker, and Sarah, a British lady. However, the novel's emotive appeals to normalize hierarchies of speech and visibility. Focusing on the encoding/decoding theory, which posits that text encodes dominant ideologies, but the readers decode them hegemonically, negotiated, or oppositional, the analysis examines encoding via textual elements like trauma depictions and cultural codes. The focus then switches to deciphering 15 recent Goodreads reviews (as of November 2025), which suggest a polysemic reception. Ultimately, the study highlights the ideological negotiation at the intersection of empathy, race, and gender, underscoring the limits of literary empathy in fostering political change amid global inequities. This contributes to cultural studies by illustrating how humanitarian literature circulates meanings in contested social contexts.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Encoding/Decoding, Humanitarianism, Empathy, Power Asymmetries, Refugee Representation.
  topic: keywords
creator: Farhana Nazrin P.A
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-12-28
publication date: 2025-12-28
starting page: 165
ending page: 177
doi: 10.70042/eroth/904216

The Lyrical Modernity
type: item
description: Romantic lyrics, usually seen as signifiers of a culture that express emotional temperaments of the narrative while resonating with the collective receptivity of the listeners across linguistic and regional rupture, hold a pivotal position in the history of Bollywood cinema. Far from being mere melodic interludes, such lyrics have periodically served as mediums for speaking the unspoken that includes desire, longing, intimacy, separation, and reconciliation. In this context, the present paper seeks to explore how Gulshan Kumar Mehta, popularly known as GulshanBawra, an eminent lyricist of Bollywood movies, crafts lyrics that cut across any imitative romantic pronouncement. Offering a poetic tapestry that is both enterprising and contemplative, Bawra’s lyrics present an interesting interplay between playful imagery, romantic desire, and structural intricacy. The paper attempts to situate Bawra’s works within the ambit of Bollywood film music as an integrated form of art that creates a space that not only foregrounds storytelling but also character formation and emotional mediation. Bawra’s lyrics, as the paper would like to show, metamorphose songs into stratified narratives that transcend their given contexts and become a crucial point to understand the aesthetics of Bollywood film music.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Lyrics
  topic: keywords
subject: Cultural Semiotics
  topic: keywords
subject: Longing
  topic: keywords
subject: Poetics of Narratives
  topic: keywords
subject: Bollywood Music
  topic: keywords
creator: Soumyadip Ghosh
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-12-28
publication date: 2025-12-28
starting page: 205
ending page: 226
doi: 10.70042/eroth/904224

Performing the Self
type: item
description: One of the most powerful testaments to South Korea's soft power is its global proliferation of the 'Hallyu Wave'. Since the early 2000s, the South Korean ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has consciously positioned popular culture as an exportable and valuable national asset, turning the country into a global content hub. This has been achieved by their food, beauty-products, webtoons, movies, dramas and music. The paper will examine this K-pop's performative stagecraft, visual aesthetics and construction of image and persona, through the androgynous and gender specific lens within K-pop, primarily citing the case study of the artist G-Dragon, one of the industry's most iconic and transgressive figures. By employing Entwistle's The Fashioned Body, the essay will interrogate how G-Dragon's artistic persona blurs the boundaries between masculinity-femininity, authenticity-artifice, self-spectacle. His androgynous aesthetics, manifested through fashion, music videos, performances, parody skits, function both as a site of resistance and commodification within the neoliberal machinery of Hallyu. Furthermore, drawing upon Jenkins' Participatory Culture, the article will explore how fandoms actively participate in reproducing, queering, reinterpreting G-Dragon's image, causing a co-authored discourse of fluid identity, disrupting the producer-consumer binary in art. In doing so, the G-Dragon persona emerges as a true 'Postmodern Celebrity.'
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: K-pop
  topic: keywords
subject: Fandom
  topic: keywords
subject: Gender Expression
  topic: keywords
subject: Deconstruction
  topic: keywords
subject: Dress
  topic: keywords
subject: Gaze
  topic: keywords
subject: Stan Culture
  topic: keywords
creator: Sourabhi Dutta Roy
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-12-28
publication date: 2025-12-28
starting page: 113
ending page: 130
doi: 10.70042/eroth/904210

The Aesthetics of Choice
type: item
description: This article aims to examine the paradoxically programmed freedom through participatory narratives that solicit reader agency through metafiction, ergodic structures, and digital interactivity. This study analyzes reader-response theory, focusing on the democratization of textual meaning and how authors construct systems of simulated freedom or ‘choice’ while maintaining aesthetic and thematic control. Through a close-reading of selected modernist and postmodernist narratives, I argue that the aesthetics of participation posits that it is not freedom for the reader, but rather a productive tension between authorial design and readerly action. The greater the complexity of choices in a text, the clearer its constraints become. The most sophisticated participatory narratives in this regard will not so much hide as emphasize this paradox, transforming the border between constraint and agency into their central aesthetic object. This signifies a distinct reframing of aesthetic form in that postmodern and transmedia textual structures rely on reader engagement for their existence and meaning. Consequently, evaluation must switch from fixed textual design to constructed systems of possibility.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Aesthetic of Participation
  topic: keywords
subject: programmed freedom
  topic: keywords
subject: ergodic structures
  topic: keywords
subject: reader agency
  topic: keywords
subject: metafiction
  topic: keywords
creator: Zakariae Ziani
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-12-28
publication date: 2025-12-28
starting page: 148
ending page: 164
doi: 10.70042/eroth/904214

Unveiling the Rohingya Experiences
type: item
description: The global refugee crisis has become one of the most pressing issues of the twenty-first century, with millions of forcibly displaced individuals seeking refuge worldwide. South Asia, in particular, has a significant share in this crisis, hosting a substantial number of forced migrants. The Rohingya ethnic group from Myanmar has been a prominent case, experiencing immense persecution and displacement, leading to their mass exodus out of the country since the early 1970s. This research paper focuses on examining the Rohingya crisis through the lens of personal narratives, specifically analyzing the memoir, First, They Erased Our Name: A Rohingya Speaks by Habiburrahman and Sophie Ansel. By delving into the protagonist’s narrative, the study aims to challenge the dominant discourse presented by official sources and the media, which often overlooks the individual experiences of the displaced Rohingya. By exploring the protagonist’s quest for identity and individuality in the face of societal expectations and integration into Burmese society, the study delves into the complexities of the Rohingya predicament. The paper aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the crisis, emphasizing the need to amplify personal narratives to challenge dominant narratives perpetuated by the state, host nations, and media.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Rohingya, narratives, identity, memoir, refugees, forced migrants, dominant discourse
  topic: keywords
creator: Puneet Kour
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-12-28
publication date: 2025-12-28
starting page: 227
ending page: 240
doi: 10.70042/eroth/904218

Trauma, Memory, and the Brain
type: item
description: The current research aims to investigate Ijeoma Oluo’s activist discourse through the lens of Neurohumanities. The study focuses on how racial trauma operates as both a social condition and a neurological reality. Drawing on Catherine Malabou’s theory of neuroplasticity from The New Wounded, the research employs a textual and theoretical analysis of So You Want to Talk About Race and Be a Revolution to trace the neural and emotional imprints of systemic racism. The analysis discloses that Oluo’s portrayals of fatigue, hypervigilance and emotional labour mirror the neurological effects of toxic stress and chronic trauma, illustrating how racism alters fear and memory systems in the brain. At the same time, her emphasis on resilience, empathy, and collective action reflects the brain’s capacity for plasticity and repair. The findings demonstrate that Oluo’s works bridge the gap between activism and neuroscience, presenting racism not merely as a cultural or political phenomenon but as a neurobiological scar that shapes cognition and affect. This research contributes to Neurohumanities and trauma studies by positioning activism as a form of neural resilience, highlighting how Oluo’s writing redefines social justice as both psychological recovery and collective empowerment.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Neurohumanities;
  topic: keywords
subject: racial trauma
  topic: keywords
subject: memory and stress
  topic: keywords
creator: Swetha M
creator: B.R. ARAVIND
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-12-28
publication date: 2025-12-28
starting page: 62
ending page: 71
doi: 10.70042/eroth/904184

Distributed Minds
type: item
description: This article examines the conceptual connections between ChatGPT, the Borg from Star Trek, and Carl Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious. Although these systems emerge from technology, fiction, and psychology, each represents a form of distributed intelligence that challenges traditional ideas of individuality. ChatGPT functions as a synthetic voice shaped by collective human language. The Borg illustrate a collective that sacrifices individuality for unity, while Jung’s collective unconscious describes inherited archetypes that guide human experience across generations. By bringing these perspectives together, the essay argues that artificial intelligence does not invent intelligence but reorganizes existing symbolic patterns that echo myth and imagination. Large language models act as channels of cultural memory, reflecting human archetypes through statistical processes. The Borg metaphor emphasizes both the promise and the danger of collective intelligence: connection can foster knowledge and coordination, yet it also threatens autonomy and selfhood. Modern AI contributes to a new digital mythology where tools speak as oracles and data takes on dreamlike meaning, revealing ancient patterns in computational form.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Distributed Intelligence Collective Unconscious Artificial Intelligence (AI) Archetypes Digital Mythos
  topic: keywords
subject:
  topic: subjects
  value: The submission explores the parallels between ChatGPT, the Borg from Star Trek, and Jung’s collective unconscious, arguing that each represents a form of distributed intelligence that reshapes ideas of individuality and creates a new digital mythos.
subject: Literary and Cultural Studies – because of the analysis of Star Trek (science fiction) as cultural text.
  topic: disciplines
creator: Barbara Gabriella Renzi
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-12-28
publication date: 2025-12-28
starting page: 17
ending page: 32
doi: 10.70042/eroth/9041

Anne Brontë’s Agnes Grey and Helen Huntingdon
type: item
description: A closer reading of Anne Brontë’s two novels Agnes Grey (1847) and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848) reveals a clearly feminist sub-text, which displays a variety of Brontë’s concerns about how the home becomes a site of imprisonment for both her heroines, Agnes and Helen, rather than the safe, nurturing space upheld by Victorian society. This paper examines how Anne Brontë, writing in the nineteenth-century Victorian era, challenges the doctrine of the ‘separate spheres’ prevalent at that time, the period’s most ingenious mechanism for restraining insurgent women, by depicting the struggle by the passionate, intellectual, and strong-minded heroines of her two novels, Agnes Grey and Helen Huntingdon, to achieve economic autonomy and thereby script their own identities. This paper takes into account British feminist and historian Alice Clark’s investigation into the impact of industrialization on women’s work in reducing the choice of independent occupations for women and explores how both Agnes and Helen, confined at home, take the crucial decision to step out into the public arena, to earn a living for themselves and for their family, and as a result, they lead a happier, fulfilling life.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Victorian
  topic: keywords
subject: women
  topic: keywords
subject: profession
  topic: keywords
subject: governess
  topic: keywords
subject: artist
  topic: keywords
subject: emancipation
  topic: keywords
subject: empowerment
  topic: keywords
creator: Shreyashi Banerjee
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2024-05-01
publication date: 2024-05-01
starting page: 29
ending page: 56
doi: 10.70042/eroth/801223

Reading Bapsi Sidhwa’s Ice Candy Man through the Lens of Biopolitics and Sexuality
type: item
description: Bapsi Sidhwa re-examines the political upheaval where she highlights events after the Partition in the life of Lenny as witnessed by her as a child narrator to an adult narrator. The current paper studies Sidhwa’s work in the light of biopolitics, investigating through a Foucauldian lens. Kamala Bhasin and Ritu Menon will be critically analysed in studying women as ‘bodies symbolising conquered lands’ from the margins of politics. The paper reads the work as interrogating the biopolitical discourse in Sidhwa’s work as an overwhelming response to body politics. In doing so, the paper will analyse sexuality as an essential element through a psychoanalytical approach and how biopolitics situates the self in the process. The register of anxiety in the individual due to partition is more to the underprivileged person, and Sidhwa’s work is archival, which positions subjects accordingly. The study will investigate Lenny’s predicament and her neurotic experience with the repercussions of Partition and how she, as a child, holds on to her disability. The paper will further study Foucauldian discourse at length to form further arguments and investigate politics, sexuality and biopolitics.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Biopolitics, Foucault, Politics, Sexuality, Body, Disability
  topic: keywords
creator: Akanksha Barthwal
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Authors retain copyright and grant Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature the right of first publication. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) International License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2026-02-21
publication date: 2026-02-21
starting page: 25
ending page: 35
doi: 10.70042/eroth/1001185

Framing Femininity
type: item
description: This paper critically examines the representation of women in contemporary media, with a focus on digital platforms, popular culture, and advertising. Drawing on feminist media theory, postcolonial feminism, and representation studies, it investigates how traditional gender stereotypes coexist with emergent narratives of empowerment. Through an intersectional lens, the study explores the impact of caste, class, religion, sexuality, and disability on visibility, interpretation, and audience reception. The experiences of Sydney Sweeney and Bhumi Pednekar facing online backlash, Sabrina through her album visuals, and Taylor Swift with her carefully shaped public image reveal how women negotiate autonomy, public judgment, and audience interpretation in today’s digital media landscape. The paper argues that while media offers unprecedented opportunities for women’s self-representation, it also perpetuates structural biases, gendered judgment, and symbolic erasure. The analysis further highlights the societal implications of these representations, influencing public perception, policy discourse, and women’s self-conception. By advocating critical engagement, digital literacy, and inclusive media practices, the study emphasizes the potential of media as a transformative tool for promoting equitable and nuanced portrayals of women across cultural contexts.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: intersectionality
  topic: keywords
subject: Digital media
  topic: keywords
subject: Representation studies
  topic: keywords
subject: Feminist Media theory
  topic: keywords
creator: Anoushka Tanwar
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-12-28
publication date: 2025-12-28
starting page: 131
ending page: 147
doi: 10.70042/eroth/904213

Psychological Necessity of Shen Teh—Shui Ta Anamorphosis
type: item
description: This paper examines the psychological necessity of Shen Teh’s adoption of the Shui Ta persona in Bertolt Brecht’s The Good Person of Szechwan. Through Lacanian psychoanalysis, it explores that Shen Teh’s disguise of Shui Ta, her imaginary cousin, is more than a materialistic necessity to survive in the societal structures, which compel individuals to adopt capitalist morality. Shen Teh, a good-hearted prostitute, creates a male persona, Mr. Shui Ta to know the public opinion about herself, glorify herself making her disguised role a sharp contrast to her female/original representation before other at the same time fulfil her desires to dominate over others which patriarchal society does not permit a female individual, and most importantly, fulfil her desire to be the male counterpart, thus completing the wholeness of her psychological identity.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: mask
  topic: keywords
subject: identity
  topic: keywords
subject: alter ego
  topic: keywords
subject: lacking
  topic: keywords
subject: animus
  topic: keywords
subject: manque-à-être
  topic: keywords
subject: anamorphism
  topic: keywords
subject: gaze
  topic: keywords
creator: Atiqa Parveen
creator: Subrata Biswas
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-12-28
publication date: 2025-12-28
starting page: 86
ending page: 93
doi: 10.70042/eroth/904196

Humanity's Precarious Perch
type: item
subject: Book Review
  topic: section
subject: existentialism
  topic: keywords
subject: existential isolation
  topic: keywords
subject: space odyssey
  topic: keywords
creator: Ayushi Dwivedi
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-12-28
publication date: 2025-12-28
starting page: 252
ending page: 260
doi: 10.70042/eroth/904183

The Mirror Stage as the formative of the function of the 'I'
type: item
description: The aim of this research paper is to examine the psychological struggles of the protagonists in Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar and Kate Chopin’s “A Pair of Silk Stockings” through Lacan’s theory of the Mirror Stage, showing how their sense of self is shaped and troubled by an illusory ideal “I” they attempt to embody. The protagonists in both works grapple with the conflict between their inner desires and the societal roles imposed upon them, leading to shattered identities. Esther Greenwood's role confusion and struggle to establish a complete self, and Mrs. Sommers’s experience reconnecting with an imagined, ideal self, are triggered by a pair of silk stockings. Through this comprehensive reading, I seek to illustrate how Lacanian theory sheds light on the various ways women internalize, resist, or manage societal expectations. To support my analysis, I have thoroughly studied relevant scholarly articles and reference materials beyond the primary texts, using the inductive approach of the qualitative method by applying Lacan’s Mirror Stage to explore the protagonists' distorted identities. I offer a fresh perspective on female psychological struggle and hope to encourage further research at the intersection of psychoanalysis and literature.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Lacanian theory
  topic: keywords
subject: mirror stage
  topic: keywords
subject: female psychology
  topic: keywords
subject: social expectations
  topic: keywords
subject: ideal “I”
  topic: keywords
subject: Psychology and Literature
  topic: subjects
subject: Poetry
  topic: disciplines
creator: Syeda Nuha Rahman
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-12-28
publication date: 2025-12-28
starting page: 33
ending page: 46
doi: 10.70042/eroth/9046

Little Bruised Backsides on the Prairie
type: item
description: The Little House series of children’s novels by the American writer Laura Ingalls Wilder is one of the most memorable literary explorations of pioneer life on the American frontier. The eight novels in the series celebrate self-reliance and initiative. However, the application of corporal punishment is contradictory in the series in that the recipients in two instances disappear entirely from the narrative, and presumably, from the possibility of future success. This study applies the work of theorists Michel Foucault and Elaine Scarry to argue that the ambiguous treatment of corporal punishment in the novels tends to inadvertently question whether the American Dream as depicted by Wilder is really as free from the hand of authority as it purports to be.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Laura Ingalls Wilder
  topic: keywords
subject: Corporal Punishment
  topic: keywords
subject: American Frontier
  topic: keywords
subject: Little House on the Prairie
  topic: keywords
subject: Elaine Scarry
  topic: keywords
creator: Robert Tindol
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-12-28
publication date: 2025-12-28
starting page: 94
ending page: 112
doi: 10.70042/eroth/904202

Erasing Indigenous Topography
type: item
description: This paper examines the historical and ongoing effects of colonial and postcolonial land appropriation on the ecological and cultural landscapes of the Eastern Himalayas, focusing on Darjeeling and Sikkim. These mountain ecosystems, essential for biodiversity and environmental balance, have undergone significant changes due to two centuries of extraction and development activities. Using postcolonial ecocriticism and Indigenous knowledge systems within Cultural Geography, the study examines how colonial practices of aestheticisation and commodification turned Himalayan landscapes into leisure destinations and various other sites of extraction. It examines how hill stations, administrative infrastructures, and missionary institutions altered the way Indigenous people interacted with the land, resulting in long-lasting ecological effects such as deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and glacial lake outburst floods. The paper also examines how monocultural tea plantations in Darjeeling and hydropower projects in Sikkim maintain exploitative land use models, leading to the displacement of Indigenous ecological relations. Using Tim Ingold’s concept of the “dwelling perspective,” it highlights Lepcha, Bhutia, and Limbu views of land as sentient and interconnected, emphasising the need to recognise Indigenous landscapes as sites of resistance and resilience amid ongoing ecological and cultural challenges.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Land Appropriation
  topic: keywords
subject: Indigenous Topography
  topic: keywords
subject: Eastern Himalayas
  topic: keywords
subject: Ecological Disruptions
  topic: keywords
subject: Colonial Aestheticisation
  topic: keywords
creator: Karma Norbu Bhutia
creator: Dechen Dolkar Bhutia
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-12-28
publication date: 2025-12-28
starting page: 47
ending page: 61
doi: 10.70042/eroth/904161

From Stigma to Empowerment
type: item
description: The study explores the evolution of queer language in Young Adult (YA) literature, focusing on the transformation of stigmatizing terms into empowering expressions of identity in Kacen Callender’s Felix Ever After. By undertaking Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity and Michel Foucault’s concept of power and discourse, the research analyzes how language functions as a tool of both oppression and resistance in the lives of queer individuals. The study uses qualitative textual analysis to examines how Callender’s use of reclaimed queer lexicons such as “queer” and “demiboy” enables characters to assert fluid identities and challenge heteronormative structures. The novel demonstrates how identity is performed and renegotiated through language, revealing literature’s role in shaping social norms and offering avenues for self-affirmation. The findings underscore that language not only reflects but actively constructs queer experiences, empowering marginalized youth to navigate societal boundaries and define themselves on their own terms. Ultimately, this paper highlights the transformative power of YA fiction in resisting dominant discourses and fostering inclusive, representative narratives for queer readers.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Queer lexicons
  topic: keywords
subject: Language and Identity
  topic: keywords
subject: LGBTQ+ Identity
  topic: keywords
subject: Discourse and PoweR
  topic: keywords
subject: Gender Performativity
  topic: keywords
creator: R.K.Uthra Devi
creator: dr.c. jothi
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-12-28
publication date: 2025-12-28
starting page: 72
ending page: 85
doi: 10.70042/eroth/904186

The Memory Thief
type: item
description: This essay-fiction hybrid explores the fragility of memory in an age where recollections are digitized, commodified, and exchanged. Through the character of Eliot, a disillusioned artist navigating neon-lit cities and memory markets, the narrative interrogates the tension between authenticity and simulation. The story reveals how borrowed experiences, while offering inspiration and emotional intensity, simultaneously erode individuality and blur the boundaries of selfhood. The underground collective led by Mira—the guardian of memory—presents an alternative where truth is exchanged rather than fabricated, underscoring both the transformative and perilous nature of shared memories. Ultimately, Eliot’s journey from dependence on curated fragments to rediscovery of his own raw experiences foregrounds the importance of authenticity in human expression. The piece becomes a meditation on identity, creativity, and the existential stakes of memory in a hyper-digitalized society.
subject: Academic Essay
  topic: section
creator: Tousif Abdullah
creator: Jannatul Ferdous
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-06-01
publication date: 2025-06-01
starting page: 76
ending page: 79
doi: 10.70042/eroth/09020008

Aura and Memory
type: item
description: This essay examines the complex relationship between aura, memory, and cultural preservation, interrogating whether the essence of a person or place endures beyond death and historical shifts. Drawing on examples such as Ramkrishna’s Dakshineswar temple, the ruins of Pompeii, Jallianwala Bagh, Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram, and literary figures like Jonathan Swift, the study highlights how aura—an intangible residue of lived experience—undergoes transformation or erosion through memory, commercialization, and institutional mediation. The essay explores how capitalist structures commodify aura, turning spaces of historical or spiritual significance into tourist destinations, thereby alienating them from their original essence. At the same time, it acknowledges how creative works preserve the aura of misanthropic or isolated individuals, embedding their presence in art and literature. Framed through Walter Benjamin’s theory of mechanical reproduction, Frye’s archetypal criticism, and Badal Sircar’s reflections on repetition, the essay contends that aura becomes both currency and myth in late capitalist societies. Ultimately, it raises critical questions about authenticity, memory, and the politics of cultural preservation in negotiating tradition and modernity.
subject: Academic Essay
  topic: section
creator: Mohul Bhattacharya
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-06-01
publication date: 2025-06-01
starting page: 72
ending page: 75
doi: 10.70042/eroth/09020007

Masculinity in Conflict
type: item
description: Charles Rice-González’s Chulito (2011) destabilises traditional masculine stereotypes by exploring ethnicity, sexuality, and spatial identity. The novel centres around a teen from the Bronx who struggles with the cultural expectations of Latino masculinity that often marginalise queerness. The novel emphasises the protagonist’s need for authentic self-expression, which comes into conflict with heteronormative expectations, especially those rooted in spaces shaped by ethnic identity. Racial exclusion is seen in gay spaces, while Latino communities continue to often display deep-seated homophobic attitudes. Chulito’s transformation from internalised denial to bold resistance reflects the psychological and societal pressures masculinity norms place on queer Latino adolescents. This study contributes meaningfully to the discourse on intersectionality within queer ethnic young adult literature.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: masculinity
  topic: keywords
subject: sexuality
  topic: keywords
subject: ethnicity
  topic: keywords
subject: Latino identity
  topic: keywords
subject: queer
  topic: keywords
subject: intersectionality
  topic: keywords
subject: young adult literature
  topic: keywords
creator: Kunal Kumar Halder
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-06-01
publication date: 2025-06-01
starting page: 65
ending page: 71
doi: 10.70042/eroth/09020006