Postwar and Postcolonial Literature, 1945–1968 (Volume F)

de-Stalinization Within the Communist world, the purges and mass imprisonments initiated by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin were selectively repudiated after his death in 1953. During this period, the works of the dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn were briefly allowed to be published. The photograph shows Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin at the Yalta Summit (1945). Army Signal Corps Collection, US National Archives.

Decolonization The colonial powers of Western Europe, facing pressures from nationalist movements among their subject peoples, began to relinquish direct political control of their colonies. The process of decolonization, often accompanied by conflicts over redrawn borders, became a major topic for a generation of writers who, though born in the formerly colonized nations, were more likely to have been educated in Europe. Algeria became one of the bloodiest colonial battlefields until its independence in 1962. The painting, by Eugene Fromentin, is titled At the Well (1875). The caption reads: “During the French rule in Algeria (1830–1962), North Africa played a key role in French life, serving as a training ground for its army and attracting writers and artists. Fromentin, an influential writer and painter, first visited Algeria in 1846 and returned the following year. He wrote two books that stimulated widespread interest in the region.

Elements of Style intersection of oral and written forms hybridity globalization rethinking “homeland” dismantling “cultural uniqueness” “neorealism” With increasing globalization of literature and the media, writers frequently adapted certain genres to local conditions, using the language of traditional literature to produce a colloquial story, or transforming a European genre by introducing elements of local customs and storytelling techniques. Encounters between indigenous societies and widely accepted literary forms caused writers to rethink the characteristics of their homeland; many valued hybrid qualities that dismantled claims to cultural uniqueness or homogeneity. Much writing of the postwar engages in “neorealism”—a return to political and social issues, in contrast to the interiority and linguistic inventiveness of the modernists.

Postmodernism limits of literature problems with meaning instability of language “metafiction” and “metatheater” Writers including Nabokov, Borges, Cortázar, and Beckett are among writers who introduced characteristics that became associated with postmodernism. They called attention to their use of language and choice of literary form, sensing the limits of literature’s ability to find meaning in the world. Their works reflect a consciousness of the instability of language and its potential to carry multiple meanings, and a concern with the boundary between fiction and reality—what is sometimes called “metafiction” or “metatheater.”

Test Your Knowledge Postcolonial writers tend to favor which of the following? a. homogeneity b. experimentation c. metafiction d. hybridity Answer: D Section: Postwar and Postcolonial Literature, 1945–1968 Feedback: The postwar period was a time characterized by great artistic diversity and hybridity: the mixing of traditions, genres, subjects, and styles. This sense of mixed-ness in art reflects what was reality for many postcolonial artists: they came from mixed heritage, they learned from a mix of traditions, and their native homelands may have been ruled by a number of different powers (both colonial and indigenous). Thus, they sought to represent diversity in their work and to challenge long-held beliefs in the value of homogeneity and purity.