Lecture Code: PS_L.8 ENGL 559: Postcolonial Studies UNIT 1: KEY CONCEPTS “The Politics of Rewriting” by C.L. Innes Min Pun, PhD, Associate Professor Dept of English, PN Campus Pokhara 11 November 2018

Introduction: What is rewriting? ‘Rewriting’ is a postcolonial term that is used in postcolonial literary criticism. The term became prominent when Ashcroft, Grifiths and Tiffin wrote a book entitled The Empire Writes Back in 1989, followed by Salman Rushdie’s newspaper article “The Empire Writes Back with a Vengeance” in 1992. The term “Rewriting” can synonymously be used as ‘postcolonial retelling’, ‘postcolonial rewriting’, ‘writing back’, ‘revisiting the past’, ‘intertextuality’, or even ‘the anxiety of influence’ (used by Harold Bloom).

Contd … The term ‘rewriting’ is a postcolonial term that is used while responding to the imperial or colonial centre (colonialism) in two ways: 1) The first response ‘writing back’ is used to a generalized set of attitudes, and 2) The second response ‘rewriting’ is to a specific colonial text by revisiting its plot and/or characters. Many postcolonial texts use either one or both kinds of responses. And many such postcolonial rewritings of canonical European texts raise the question of authority and authenticity, relating to the issues of representation and self-representation.

Examples of Rewriting ‘Rewriting’ of Shakespeare’s The Tempest by Aime Cesaire, George Lamming and Marina Warner. Carlyle Phillips’ revisiting of Shakespeare’s Othello and The Merchant of Venice in Phillips’ The Nature of Blood. ‘Rewriting’ of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness by Ama Ata Aidoo in her Our Sister Killjoy, V.S. Naipaul in his A Bend in the River, David Dabydeen in his The Intended, Adbulrazak Gurnah in his Paradise, Jean Rhys in her A Voyage in the Dark, Patrick White in his Voss and Wilson Harris in his Palace of the Peacock. Revising of E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India by Salman Rushdie in his Midnight’s Children.

Examples of Rewriting in Details In this chapter, C.L. Innes has discussed several examples of rewriting by authors from Southern Africa, the Caribbean and Australia. These postcolonial authors share the experience of dispossession of indigenous peoples by European settlers, racial and ethnic discrimination and the imposition of the English language, cultural norms and traditions. In this essay, C.L. Innes has given 3 examples of European canonical authors like Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations.

Rewriting of Daniel Dofoe’s Robinson Crusoe by Bassie Head and J. M Rewriting of Daniel Dofoe’s Robinson Crusoe by Bassie Head and J.M. Coetzee South African writers Bassie Head in her short story “The Wind and a Boy” and J.M. Coetzee in his novel Foe retell (rewrite) the story of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe published in 1719 is the first (pioneer) novel written in English. The novel is an adventure story in which the character/narrator Crusoe’s ship was wrecked in a storm and remains alone in an island for 28 years. Crusoe colonizes the island, keeps a servant (cannibal) named ‘Friday’ and declares himself as king of the island. This is plot of the novel.

Rewriting of Defoe’s Novel by Bassie Head Head’s short story “The Wind and a Boy” (1977) is based on Defoe’s novel. Head’s story centres on the relationship between a boy and his grandmother. The boy is named Friedman (a freed man and the character ‘Friday’ in Defoe’s novel) In Head’s story, Grandmother tells the story of Crusoe (Defoe’s character) who is presented as a hunter, not as a colonist as in Defoe’s novel. Head’s story ends with the boy (Friedman) who is killed by a car driven by a rich man.

Rewriting of Defoe’s Novel by J.M. Coetzee Coetzee’s novel Foe (1986) is a rewriting (revisiting) of Defoe’s novel Robinson Crusoe. In Coetzee’s novel, Susan Barton is the female narrator (Crusoe is the male narrator in Defoe’s novel) whose ship is wrecked and lands on the same island where ‘Cruso’ (Crusoe by Defoe) and Friday have lived (as in Defoe’s novel). She lives there for a year. When Barton is back to England, she asks Mr. Foe (the author himself in Defoe’s novel) to write her story about her experience in the island. But later, Mr. Foe becomes her lover.

Rewriting of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre by Jean Rhys in her Wide Sargasso Sea In Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), Jean Rhys (Caribbean novelist) rewrites the story of Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre (1847). In Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Jane is the main character who is a young orphan raised by a rich woman. Later, Jane becomes rich when she is found to be belonging to a rich family and gets property. Mr. Rochester falls in love with Jane but she rejects him because he is married to Bertha Mason, a mad woman. At last, Jane accompanies with Mr. Rochester to travel to India as a missionary, and marry there.

Contd… In Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea, Antoinette (as Jane in Bronte’s novel) is a young girl in 19th century Jamaica who is a daughter of the white ex-slave owner. When Jamaica was free of slavery in 1833, the whites become powerless and black people dominate the whites. Antoinette’s brother ‘Pierre’ dies of attach by blacks. Antoinette is married to an Englishman named Rochester and goes to England with her husband, but locked in a room She is called as ‘Bertha’ (mad woman in Bronte’s novel) by her husband.

Rewriting of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations by Peter Carey in his Jack Maggs In Jack Maggs (1998), Carey (Australian novelist) rewrites the story of Dickens’ Great Expectations (1861). In Dickens’ novel, Pip is a young orphan, but good at heart. He expects more for himself and wants to improve himself morally and socially (as the title of the novel suggests). Magwitch (a criminal) asks Pip to steal things, but helps Pip to go to school and elevate Pip into a higher social class. Due to his criminal activities, Magwitch is sentenced to transportation to Australia and tried in court there.

Contd… In Peter Carey’s novel, Jack Maggs ((Magwitch in Dickens’ novel) returns to England from Australia to see his adopted and financed son Henry Phipps (Pip in Dickens’ novel). Maggs tells the story how he became a convict and sent to Australia (as in Dickens’ story). By telling the story, Maggs gives himself a voice and places himself at the centre of the novel. He frees himself from his emotional attachment to his mother land (England) and accepts his home in Australia, having a hybrid identity. In his novel, Carey criticizes Charles Dickens a colonial writer by presenting Tobias Oates as a postcolonial writer.

Conclusion Although belonging to diverse locations and cultures, Bassie Head, J.M. Coetzee, Jean Rhys and Peter Carey are central examples in C.L. Innes’ discussion of postcolonial rewriting. These postcolonial writers rewrite the canonical works of literature by the colonial authors like Shakespeare, Bronte and Dickens, writing back to the empire and its cultural hegemony, colonial expansion and economic exploitation. Thus, postcolonial rewritings strongly argue that the European canonical texts have no fixed or authoritative readings and must change over time.

Associate Professor, Dept of English Tribhuvan University Min Pun, PhD Associate Professor, Dept of English Tribhuvan University Prithvi Narayan Campus, Pokhara Email: minpun@pncampus.edu.np Website: www.minpun.com.np