Simona Klimková
Reclaiming the Past
Číslo: 1/2018
Periodikum: Prague Journal of English Studies
Klíčová slova: History; postcolonial literature; community; communal/national identity; resistance
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Anotace:
e implications of the colonialist discourse, which suggested that the colonized
is a person “whose historical, physical, and metaphysical geography begins with
European memory” ( iong'o, 2009), urged postcolonial writers to correct these
views by addressing the issues from their own perspectives. e themes of history and
communal/national past thus play a prominent role in postcolonial literature as
they are inevitably interwoven with the concept of communal identity. In Petals of
Blood (1977), the Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa iong'o explores the implications of
social change as brought about by the political and economic development during the
post-independence period. is paper seeks to examine the crucial relation between
personal and communal/national history and relate it to the writer’s views of principal
legacies of colonialism. As iong'o states: “My interest in the past is because of the
present and there is no way to discuss the future or present separate from the past”
( iong'o, 1975). Clearly, the grasping of the past and one’s identifi cation with it seems
fundamental in discussing national development. As Ngũgĩ wa iong'o’s narratives
are always situated in the realm of political and historical context, blending fi ction
with fact, this paper also aims to elaborate on the implications of his vision
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is a person “whose historical, physical, and metaphysical geography begins with
European memory” ( iong'o, 2009), urged postcolonial writers to correct these
views by addressing the issues from their own perspectives. e themes of history and
communal/national past thus play a prominent role in postcolonial literature as
they are inevitably interwoven with the concept of communal identity. In Petals of
Blood (1977), the Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa iong'o explores the implications of
social change as brought about by the political and economic development during the
post-independence period. is paper seeks to examine the crucial relation between
personal and communal/national history and relate it to the writer’s views of principal
legacies of colonialism. As iong'o states: “My interest in the past is because of the
present and there is no way to discuss the future or present separate from the past”
( iong'o, 1975). Clearly, the grasping of the past and one’s identifi cation with it seems
fundamental in discussing national development. As Ngũgĩ wa iong'o’s narratives
are always situated in the realm of political and historical context, blending fi ction
with fact, this paper also aims to elaborate on the implications of his vision