The Postcolonial Historical Novel: Realism, Allegory, and the Representation of Contested Pasts PDF
Preview The Postcolonial Historical Novel: Realism, Allegory, and the Representation of Contested Pasts
The Postcolonial Historical Novel This page intentionally left blank The Postcolonial Historical Novel Realism, Allegory, and the Representation of Contested Pasts Hamish Dalley Assistant Professor of World Literature, Daemen College, Amherst, New York © Hamish Dalley 2014 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-45008-1 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2014 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-49693-8 ISBN 978-1-137-45009-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781137450098 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dalley, Hamish, 1984– author. The postcolonial historical novel : realism, allegory, and the representation of contested pasts / by Hamish Dalley, Assistant Professor of World Literature, Daemen College, Amherst, New York. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Historical fiction—History and criticism. 2. Postcolonialism in literature. 3. Realism in literature. I. Title. PN3441.D35 2014 809.3'81—dc23 2014022063 Typeset by MPS Limited, Chennai, India. For Elen This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgements viii Note on the Text x Part I Epistemologies of Historical Realism 1 The Contemporary Postcolonial Historical Novel: Beyond Anti-Realism 3 2 Allegorical Realism: Toward a Poetics of the Postcolonial Historical Novel 13 Part II Allegories of Settlement 3 Typification and Frontier Violence: Kate Grenville’s The Secret River 45 4 The Gender of Settler Realism: Fiona Kidman’s The Captive Wife 70 Part III Narrating Transnational Histories 5 Deterritorialising Allegorical Realism: Witi Ihimaera’s The Trowenna Sea 97 6 Aesthetics of Absent Causality: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun 121 Part IV Melancholy Realisms 7 Spectres of Civil War Trauma: Chris Abani’s Song for Night 149 8 Metafictional Realism and the Dialectic of Allegory: Richard Flanagan’s Gould’s Book of Fish 171 9 Conclusion: the Historical Novel, from Postcolonial Reconciliation to Environmental Crisis 197 Notes 205 Works Cited 207 Index 222 vii Acknowledgements The research for this book was conducted at the Australian National University between 2009 and 2014. I was fortunate to benefit from the advice and input of many colleagues and friends, and colleagues who became friends. First thanks must go to the energetic and encourag- ing Ned Curthoys, an unfailingly generous mentor. Debjani Ganguly has also been a wonderful critic, reader, and adviser, as has Monique Rooney, and I thank them both for their unique insights and advice. I have been particularly fortunate to benefit from the encouragement of Kate Mitchell. This book would have been poorer – and taken much longer to produce – had it not been for her. I will always be grateful to Paul Pickering, as much of the framework of this book – especially its exploration of the postcolonial historical novel as a genre predicated on epistemological seriousness and public dialogue – is my response to Paul’s provocations. In preparing the final version of this monograph, I have been fortunate to receive invaluable feedback from a number of readers. Suggestions from Neil Lazarus, Clara Tuite, and Diana Wallace have enriched my thinking. Many thanks to Madhu Krishnan for your conversation and scholarship. Talking African books with you is always a delight. I am also very grateful to the editorial team at Palgrave Macmillan in bring- ing this project to fruition: in particular Ben Doyle, Sophie Ainscough, and Frances Tye. Thank you for your hard work and care. Several chapters are adapted from articles previously published else- where, and so have benefited from the input of editors and review- ers. Chapter 2 draws on work published as ‘Postcolonialism and the Historical Novel: Epistemologies of Contempora ry Realism’, The Cambridge Journal of Postcolonial Literary Inquiry 1.1 (March 2014): 51–67. Elements of Chapter 5 appeared as “‘The Continuum of the World Corrected’: Allegorical Form and (Trans)National Communities in the Historical Fiction of Witi Ihimaera’, Clio: the Journal of Literature, History, and the Philosophy of History 41.2 (Spring 2012): 221–44. Chapter 7 was published in modified form as ‘Trauma Theory and Nigerian Civil War Literature: Speaking “Something That Was Never in Words” in Chris Abani’s Song for Night’, The Journal of Postcolonial Writing 49.4 (2013): 445–57. I am grateful to the editorial teams and anonymous reviewers of these publications. viii Acknowledgements ix Many thanks to my colleagues at the ANU’s Academic Skills and Learning Centre for teaching me so much about writing and scholarship during my time there, and for helping make this project both manage- able and enjoyable to complete. Finally and most importantly, unlimited thanks are due to my partner, Elen Turner. Your patience, kindness, encouragement, and precision – and your ability to make our lives an adventure – have made this work not only possible, but worthwhile. This is for you.
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