Thematization Processes and the Representation of Love in The Forty Rules of Love: A Corpus Stylistic Analysis

Abstract

The current study argues that corpus tools can potentially provide empirical and objective perspectives to study literary works and produce insightful literary interpretations. This study attempted to explore the thematic concerns and the thematization of love in Elif Shafak’s The Forty Rules of Love by means of corpus techniques. Wordsmith Tools software package was used to generate a keyword list which was subsequently utilized to provide a thematic categorization of the novel. Seven thematic signal keywords were found to capture the thematic foci of the novel, which came in agreement with several literary critics who argued that The Forty Rules of Love was predominantly about different forms of love: divine and physical. Sketch Engine online interface was also utilized to calculate the collocations of the thematic signal keyword love in order to examine the semantic prosodies relating to love and scrutinize the ways in which the theme of love was presented in the novel. Based on both quantitative and qualitative evidence, it was concluded that Sufi love, represented as unconditional, intense, encompassing all humanity and all creatures, transcended the power of language and all confinements, causing the transformation of the lover. The analysis also revealed that the novel created two main dichotomies: one between the religious and the spiritual, the other between divine love and physical love.