Vol. 57 No. 4 (2009)
Research Article

“Onomastic Emphasis” in Julia Álvarez's Saving the World

PDF
  • April D Marshall
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1179/002777309X12513839123476

Published 2009-12-01

Keywords

  • SOCIO-ONOMASTIC,
  • SOCIAL CHANGE,
  • EAST GERMANY,
  • WEST GERMANY,
  • NAME DISTRIBUTION

Copyright (c) 2009 Maney Publishing

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Abstract

In her 2007 novel, Saving the World, Julia Álvarez uses alternating chapters to narrate both a modern tale and a corresponding historical saga. She employs nomenclature emphatically on multiple levels in the work in order to make the theme of identity central to the narrative. This study will examine the connection between name and character in Álavarez's novel. At the same time, it will also analyze the link between that connection and the various onomastic elements that serve to unite and even blend the two parallel stories.

PDF

References

  1. Álvarez, Julia. 2007. Saving the World. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books.
  2. Astrain, A. 1909. “St Francis Xavier.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved June 22 2009 from New Advent <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06233b.htm>
  3. Bartholomew, Kathryn. 1993. “Name and Characater in Allende’s La casa de los espiritus.” Selecta: Journal of the Pacific Northwest Council on Foreign Languages 14: 83–87.
  4. Bell, Wendolyn Y. 1974. “Nomenclature and Spanish Literary Analysis.” College Language Association Journal 18: 69–80.
  5. Cox, Karen Castellucci. 2001. “A Particular Blessing: Storytelling as Healing in the Novels of Julia Alvarez.” Healing Cultures: Art and Religion as Curative Practices in the Caribbean and Its Diaspora. Ed. Margarite Fernandez Olmos and Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert. New York: Palgrave, 133–148.
  6. Kolatch, Alfred J. 1980. The Jonathan David Dictionary of First Names. Middle Village: Jonathan David Publishers.
  7. Hanks, Patricia and Flavia Hodges. 1988. A Dictionary of Surnames. New York: Oxford University Press.
  8. Mayock, Ellen C. 1998. “The Bicultural Construction of Self in Cisneros, Alvarez, and Santiago.” Bilingual Review/ La Revista Bilingüe 23: 223–229.
  9. “Surname: Gomez.” The Internet Surname Database. <http://www.surnamedb.com/surname.aspx?name=gomez> [retrieved June 22 2009].
  10. Wall, Catharine E. 2003. “Bilingualism and Identity in Julia Alvarez’s Poem ‘Bilingual Sestina’.” MELUS 28: 125–143.