Rivista | Il Tolomeo
Fascicolo | 18 | 2016
Articolo | A Struggle Between Literary and Self-Cannibalisation
Abstract
This article discusses the after-lives of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847) and Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights (1847) as they have been rendered in V.S. Naipaul’s tenth novel Guerrillas (1975). Following the concept of ‘literary anthropophagy’ theorised by Oswald de Andrade in 1928 and then adopted by several postcolonial writers as a metaphor of reverse appropriation, this article argues that Naipaul’s novel can be read as an extreme form of literary cannibalism. Naipaul’s violent appropriation and ‘digestion’ of the Brontëan works are exemplified by the ironic interconnections among the characters of the novels, their gender role reversals, the peculiar reshaping of the colonial subtext, and the trope of rape. In particular, by means of these strategies, the author subverts the Victorian assumptions of order and creates a chaotic world in which the Brontëan references become the tools for a postcolonial ‘cannibalisation’ of 19th century fiction. In this light, literary cannibalism is not a mere rewriting of English literature, but Naipaul’s personal way of interrogating and ‘cannibalising’ himself through the reversal of the English canon.
Presentato: 15 Settembre 2016 | Accettato: 08 Novembre 2016 | Pubblicato 19 Dicembre 2016 | Lingua: en
Keywords Postcolonial Literature • The Brontës • Naipaul • Intertextuality • Literary Cannibalism • Hybridity
Copyright © 2016 Alessia Polatti. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.14277/2499-5975/Tol-18-16-5
Testi Creativi | Creative Works | Créations
Articoli | Articles | Articles
Interviste | Interviews | Interview
Recensioni | Reviews | Comptes rendus
DC Field | Value |
---|---|
dc.identifier |
ECF_article_614 |
dc.title |
A Struggle Between Literary and Self-Cannibalisation. The Brontës’ Reversal in V.S. Naipaul’s Guerrillas |
dc.contributor.author |
Polatti Alessia |
dc.publisher |
Edizioni Ca’ Foscari - Digital Publishing |
dc.type |
Articolo |
dc.language.iso |
en |
dc.identifier.uri |
http://edizionicafoscari.it/it/edizioni4/riviste/il-tolomeo/2016/1/a-struggle-between-literary-and-self-cannibalisati/ |
dc.description.abstract |
This article discusses the after-lives of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847) and Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights (1847) as they have been rendered in V.S. Naipaul’s tenth novel Guerrillas (1975). Following the concept of ‘literary anthropophagy’ theorised by Oswald de Andrade in 1928 and then adopted by several postcolonial writers as a metaphor of reverse appropriation, this article argues that Naipaul’s novel can be read as an extreme form of literary cannibalism. Naipaul’s violent appropriation and ‘digestion’ of the Brontëan works are exemplified by the ironic interconnections among the characters of the novels, their gender role reversals, the peculiar reshaping of the colonial subtext, and the trope of rape. In particular, by means of these strategies, the author subverts the Victorian assumptions of order and creates a chaotic world in which the Brontëan references become the tools for a postcolonial ‘cannibalisation’ of 19th century fiction. In this light, literary cannibalism is not a mere rewriting of English literature, but Naipaul’s personal way of interrogating and ‘cannibalising’ himself through the reversal of the English canon. |
dc.relation.ispartof |
Il Tolomeo |
dc.relation.ispartof |
Vol. 18 | Dicembre 2016 |
dc.issued |
2016-12-19 |
dc.dateAccepted |
2016-11-08 |
dc.dateSubmitted |
2016-09-15 |
dc.identifier.issn |
|
dc.identifier.eissn |
2499-5975 |
dc.rights |
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License |
dc.rights.uri |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
dc.identifier.doi |
10.14277/2499-5975/Tol-18-16-5 |
dc.peer-review |
yes |
dc.subject |
Hybridity |
dc.subject |
Hybridity |
dc.subject |
Intertextuality |
dc.subject |
Intertextuality |
dc.subject |
Literary Cannibalism |
dc.subject |
Literary Cannibalism |
dc.subject |
Naipaul |
dc.subject |
Naipaul |
dc.subject |
Postcolonial Literature |
dc.subject |
Postcolonial Literature |
dc.subject |
The Brontës |
dc.subject |
The Brontës |
Download data |
Edizioni Ca’ Foscari
Dorsoduro 3246
30123 Venezia
ecf@unive.it
T +39 041 234 8250
Evologi srl
P.IVA 04616450260