Postcolonial literature

There are many different critical approaches to studying literature. With reference of both texts you have studied, show what you believe the value to be in using a particular critical approach. ‘Things Fall Apart’ by Chinua Achebe and ‘Persepolis’ by Marjane Satrapi follow a postcolonial critical approach. Both books take place in a country considered politically inferior through western perspective and both texts, even though reinforce colonialists’ oppressive ideology, don’t stand completely

Postcolonial literature was written during the time period when European countries began colonizing Africa on the premise that the Africans were savages and needed help to become more civilized. The Europeans believed that they would achieve this by setting up governments similar to their own, ignoring the ones the African tribes already had set up, and forcefully converting them to Christianity, much to the Africans dismay. In response, the Africans could not do much to dispel the white people from

Achebe’s Nigeria, the English language became the lingua franca of the national bourgeoisie representative of the various national ethnicities, on the one hand, and the forces of colonialism and transnational capital, on the other.” Indeed, postcolonial literature in the colonial language is a double-edged sword. Without its use, the writing may never reach a wide audience, as it is impossible to translate every work into each different indigenous language. Furthermore, those who have experienced a

Introduction Post-colonialism is a period of time following colonialism, and postcolonial literature is typically characterized by its opposition to the colonial. Postcolonial literature often targets on race relations and the outcome of racism along with generally implies white and/or colonial societies. Simon During, in his essay discussing the nature and boundaries of post-colonialism, argues for a more inclusive definition, calling it “the need, in nations, or groups which have been victims

midnight on the 15th of August, 1947, hence the title). It is considered a seminal example of both postcolonial literature and magical realism. In fact, it was used early on in postcolonial studies as a definitive piece of postcolonial literature – that is, Midnight’s Children helped postcolonial theorists create a definition of postcolonialism. Consequently, Midnight’s Children – at least the postcolonial interpretation of it – has long been

to challenge and scrutinize the European theories which were the false perception that they had the universal culture despite the fact that their culture was not able to handle the complexities in the divergent cultures as depicted in the in the postcolonial writings. Therefore, there was the emergence of the indigenous culture developed specifically to accommodate the extremes of the two cultures, that is the traditional and the modern culture. European started the expansion of the political sovereignty

Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures Introduction More than three-quarters of the people living in the world today have had their lives shaped by the experience of colonialism. It is easy to see how important this has been in the political and economic spheres, but its general influence on the perceptual frameworks of contemporary peoples is often less evident. Literature offers one of the most important ways in which these new perceptions are expressed and it is in their

comprehensive yet accessible guide to the historical and theoretical dimensions of colonial and postcolonial studies. National fantasies, be they colonial, anti-colonial or postcolonial also play upon the connection between woman, land or nation. Feminist theory and postcolonial theory are occupied with similar questions of representation, voice, marginalization, and the relation between politics and literature. Given that both critical projections employ multidisciplinary perspectives, they are each

comprehensive yet accessible guide to the historical and theoretical dimensions of colonial and postcolonial studies. National fantasies are they colonial, anti-colonial or postcolonial also play upon the connection between woman, land or nation. Feminist theory and postcolonial theory are occupied with similar questions of representation, voice, marginalization, and the relation between politics and literature. Given that both critical projections employ multidisciplinary perspectives, they are each

sometimes words from a native language cannot be translated exactly into a desired language, or they lose context. World literature translations also lead to the ‘dangers of a single story’ where you only get to read one side of the story (the one of the author) without having a perspective of the natives about the story that was written. To understand, how language is used in world literature, and how text translations change our understanding and meaning of the text, we need to be able to understand the