THE QUESTIONS OF THE POSTCOLONIAL AND THE POSTMODERN IN AMERICAN FICTION Cover Image

Problémy postkoloniálneho a postmoderného románu v americkej literatúre
THE QUESTIONS OF THE POSTCOLONIAL AND THE POSTMODERN IN AMERICAN FICTION

Author(s): Alena Smiešková
Subject(s): Literary Texts
Published by: Ústav svetovej literatúry, Slovenská akadémia vied
Keywords: Postcolonialism. Postmodernism. Language variant. Borderland. Irony. The past.

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses why and in what circumstances some examples of American literature constitute what might be referred to as “postcolonial literature”. The argument is supported by the theoretical thought of L. Hutcheon. As an example of postcolonial literature in American context Junot Díaz’s novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007) is analyzed. The analysis touches upon the problem of the decentered Self and “borderland experience” and their representation in the text. It also points to the employment of recursive structures in the novel as the presentation of the colonial and postcolonial past of the protagonist, which as “página en blanco” needs to be filled with the narration of “histoire”.

  • Issue Year: IV/2012
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 7-20
  • Page Count: 14
  • Language: Slovak