The postcolonial novel: history and memory

Innes, C. L.

doi:10.1017/chol9780521194952.053

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 81 publications

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“…This genre adeptly foregrounds communal ideals and memory traditions while also spotlighting individual experiences, fostering empathy for the 'other'. In a similar vein, Innes (2012) probes the interplay between history and memory in postcolonial fiction, emphasizing these works' focus on the colonial event and its repercussions. The conflict between memory and history in postcolonial novels endeavoring to construct a communal memory is pivotal for forging a unified national identity.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Memory Inhibition Techniques in Tan Twan Eng's The Garden of Evening Mists and Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day

Alharbi,

Alamri

2024

jhsss

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This paper offers a psychoanalytical reading of the human memory’s dilemma as portrayed by Tan Twan Eng in The Garden of Evening Mists (2011) and Kazuo Ishiguro in The Remains of the Day (1989). Its objective is to analyze the role of memory in shaping the fragmented self, particularly in the context of the trauma from the world wars, employing a psychoanalytical perspective demonstrated through Michael Anderson’s memory inhibition techniques and Carl Jung’s theories on active imagination, which prioritize the unconscious mind. The study applies two methods of selective memory to the protagonists’ behaviors: retrieval-induced forgetting in Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day and the think/no-think paradigms in Eng’s The Garden of Evening Mists. These approaches aim to explore the role of intention in these inhibition processes and investigate whether these experiences yield positive or negative outcomes. Through a close analysis of the main characters’ repressed memories, the study argues that the protagonists employ selective memory techniques differently. In The Garden of Evening Mists, intentional and positive utilization of these techniques helps overcome the horrors of war. Conversely, in The Remains of the Day, unintentional and negative application enhances the illusion of falsely representing oneself. This study’s primary contribution lies in exploring the mechanisms underlying the control of postcolonial/imperial traumatic memories. Additionally, it delves into the significance of the natural world in the protagonists’ healing and recovery revealing that gardens serve as a metaphor for recovery due to their profound impacts.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Memory Inhibition Techniques in Tan Twan Eng's The Garden of Evening Mists and Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day

Alharbi,

Alamri

2024

jhsss

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'I Could Right What Had Been Made Wrong': Laila Lalami's Appropriation of Aphra Behn's Oroonoko

Awad

2015

SSRN Journal

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“I could right what had been made wrong”: Laila Lalami’s appropriation of Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko

Awad¹

2015

AWEJ

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This paper investigates Arab American novelist Laila Lalami (b. 1968)'s rewriting of Álvar Núňez Cabeza de Vaca's La Relacíon, a travelogue that chronicles Spanish conquistador Panfilo de Narváez (1470-1528)'s expedition to claim La Florida to the Spanish crown in the sixteenth century. Lalami's The Moor's Account (2014) is a historical novel narrated by Mustafa ibn Muhammad ibn Abdulssalam al-Zamori, a Moroccan slave known in Spanish annals as Estevanico/Estebanico, who was one of four survivors of the Narváez expedition and whose testimony, unlike those of his Castilian companions, was left out of the official record. As a postcolonial historical novel, The Moor's Account recovers Mustafa's voice and empowers him to narrate the adventures he undertakes in La Florida for eight years. The paper argues that in reimagining and reconstructing Mustafa's story, Lalami appropriates and adapts Aphra Behn's seventeenth century novel Oroonoko (1688) which is one of the earliest English novels to foreground the themes of displacement and enslavement through relating the eponymous hero's adventures in Surinam. Hence, this study is both analytical and comparative: on the one hand, the paper gives a close reading of Lalami's The Moor's Account; on the other hand, the paper highlights the similarities and differences between the two texts. The two novels attempt to recover the silenced voices of two African men / Moors who have traded in slaves and were themselves enslaved at a later point in their lives. At the same time, the two novels differ in their narrative techniques, representation of women and dénouements.

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The postcolonial novel: history and memory

Cited by 3 publications

References 81 publications

Exploring Memory Inhibition Techniques in Tan Twan Eng's The Garden of Evening Mists and Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day

Exploring Memory Inhibition Techniques in Tan Twan Eng's The Garden of Evening Mists and Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day

'I Could Right What Had Been Made Wrong': Laila Lalami's Appropriation of Aphra Behn's Oroonoko

“I could right what had been made wrong”: Laila Lalami’s appropriation of Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko

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