CHAPTER 10: POSTCOLONIAL STUDIES A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature

I. Postcolonialism: Definitions  A historical phase undergone by third-world countries after the decline of colonialism, but there is also an effect on the colonizers  “Deep viewing” of postcolonial subjects (Eisenstein), cf double-consciousness (Du Bois)  Age of Reason and the New World  Anglophone writers

II. Some Key Figures and Emphases  Said, Fanon, Bhabha: hybridity and psychology of ambivalence in postcolonial subject  Achebe’s attack on Conrad  Spivak: subaltern  Influence of feminism  Spatial studies/geographical studies: Lefevrè, Pratt; Kalogeras et al., Anzaldúa

III. Postcolonial Critical Practices A. Seventeenth-Century English Colonization and “To His Coy Mistress”  English imperialism and trade  Motifs of time and space; home and love versus war and empire B. Hamlet: Postcolonial Adaptations  Productions of Hamlet in Ukraine, Georgia, Latvia South Korea, Québec, Bosnia reveal cultural contexts

III. Postcolonial Critical Practices C. Frankenstein: Are There Any New Worlds?  Scientists as lone geniuses testing nature—compare to today  Time of radical social upheaval and ideas about the New World  Idealism versus survival D. Jim’s Superstitions in Huckleberry Finn  Tom seems superior to Huck and Jim but is not  Jim’s supposed stupidity and Huck’s innocence are wise

III. Postcolonial Critical Practices E. Salem: A City Upon a Hill?  Matthew 5:24 and John Winthrop’s speech “A Model of Christian Charity”  History of Salem F. The End of an Era: “Everyday Use”  Old world passing away but not without declaring its value as the newer world coalesces around identity and remembrance