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POSTCOLONIAL COUNTER-DISCOURSES OF DANIEL DEFOE’S NOVEL ROBINSON CRUSOE


INARA PENEZE
UNIVERSITY OF LATVIA, RIGA, LATVIA

Issue:

CP, Number 13

Section:

No. 13 (2008)  Editorial

Abstract:

After World War II, the world was swept by a strong wave of anticolonial movement, which caused the collapse of former colonial empires, including the British Empire. As a result of the fall of the British Empire, its former colonies in Asia, Africa, on the Caribbean Islands formed independent states. Decolonization was accompanied by the appearance of new culture and literature, national by character, carrying a strong anticolonial sentiment. Still it was deeply rooted in English literary tradition. Often was the new literature superimposed upon English literary canon, giving new versions and interpretations to well-known works of English literature. This phenomenon became known as “re-thinking”, “writing back” or “counter-discourse” of the English literary canon. One of the works of English literary canon often “written back” with anticolonial spirit is Daniel Defoe’s novel Robinson Crusoe, which has been used for counter-discourse in such works as A.D.Hope’s poem Man Friday, Sam Selvon’s novel Moses Ascending and J.M.Coezee’s novel Foe.

Keywords:

decolonization, postcolonialism, deconstruction, counterdiscourse, literary canon, pre-text, the castaway, the author, the narrator.

Code [ID]:

CP200813V00S01A0004 [0002598]


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