Postcolonial Criticism PPT Created by E A Venz

Postcolonial Criticism PPT Created by E. A. Venz

Key Theorists Frantz Fanon - The Wretched of the Earth (1961) ¡ Edward Said - Orientalism (1978) ¡ Chinua Achebe – Colonialist Criticism (1975) ¡

Significant Texts for Study Chinua Achebe - Things Fall Apart (1958) ¡ Joseph Conrad – Heart of Darkness ¡ E. M. Forster – A Passage to India ¡ Albert Camus – The Outsider ¡ Star Wars ¡

Key ideas of Colonialism Superiority of European or Western civilization – inferiority of ‘other’ cultures (ethnocentrism) ¡ Stereotyping of ‘other’ cultures and ethnic groups ¡ Emotions and reactions of ‘other’ groups determined by racial considerations ¡

Postcolonial Literary Criticism ¡ ¡ ¡ An awareness of the representation of the non-European as an exotic or immoral ‘other’ Concern that the colonizer’s language is permanently ‘tainted’ with representations of colonial ideology, attitudes, values and beliefs Emphasis on identity as doubled, or hybrid, or unstable

Stages of Colonial Literature ¡ ¡ ¡ Adopt phase – unquestioning acceptance of the European models of literature Adapt phase – adapts the European form to subject matter of own country/culture Adept phase – writers remake the form to their own specification, without reference to European norms

What Postcolonial Critics Do Reject the claims to universalism made on behalf of canonical Western literature ¡ Examine the representation of other cultures in literature ¡ Show such literature is often evasively and cruelly silent on matters concerned with colonisation and imperialism ¡

What Postcolonial Critics Do ¡ ¡ ¡ Foreground questions of cultural difference and diversity and examine their treatment in relevant literary works Celebrate hybridity and ‘cultural polyvalency’ Develop a perspective where states of marginality, plurality and perceived ‘otherness’ are seen a sources of energy and potential change

Example: Wuthering Heights Heathcliffe is described by Emily Bronte in terms of a racial ‘other’ – a gipsy, a little Lascar or an American or Spanish castaway ¡ Heathcliffe – Catherine’s ‘alter-ego or id’ ¡ Edgar (blond) represents society, reason, culture - European ¡