Formal devices can both advance and expose texts’ Islamophobic agendas

Evidence

The Islamophobia in these texts is often identified on the level of content and message. I have tried to show in this chapter that aspects of form—such as the use of omniscience or the promotion or downplaying of different voices—may also underpin this project but that, as often as not, these same tactics expose the effort involved in constructing a unified vision supportive of power agendas. The texts are always conflicted, even as they make their self-confident claims to credibility. — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 261

Categorization

• XREF: This is a transferable close-reading instrument for the reader’s task: omniscience and voice-management are exactly the formal features to check when reading Hamid and Naqvi for whether they contest or reinforce fear.
• DEFINE: Names the analytic move — form over content — that yields the contestation-vs-reinforcement distinction rather than message-level allegory reading.