Northampton Electronic Collection of Theses and Research

Decolonizing cultural memory in Andrea Levy's Small Island

Andermahr, S. (2019) Decolonizing cultural memory in Andrea Levy's Small Island. Journal of Postcolonial Writing. 55(4), pp. 555-569. 1744-9855.

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Andermahr_Sonya_T_F_2019_Decolonizing_cultural_memory_in_Andrea_Levy_s_Small_Island.pdf - Accepted Version
Information
Abstract:
This article examines Andrea Levy’s 2004 novel Small Island as a postcolonial trauma novel that revisions cultural memory of World War II and its aftermath. Utilising the insights of Stef Craps’s Postcolonial Witnessing, it explores the ways in which Levy’s text redresses the marginalization of non-western and minority trauma and addresses the under-explored relationship between First and Third World traumas. Eschewing classic western definitions of trauma as a point of rupture and fragmentation, the novel provides an alternative trauma aesthetic based on the power of storytelling and the use of humour to mitigate the traumatic losses of the past. Drawing on Michael Rothberg’s notion of “multidirectional memory”, it argues that Small Island employs a notion of cultural memory as heterogenous to suggest strong continuities in the experience of Black and white men and women before and after the war in terms of the long history of colonialism.
Uncontrolled Keywords:
Andrea Levy, decolonizing theory, Black British history, World War II, trauma narrative, multidirectional memory, Literature and Literary Theory
Creators:
Andermahr, S.
Faculties, Divisions and Institutes:
Faculties > Faculty of Education & Humanities > English and Creative Writing
Date:
15 July 2019
Date Type:
Publication
Page Range:
pp. 555-569
Journal or Publication Title:
Journal of Postcolonial Writing
Volume:
55
Number:
4
Number of Pages:
15
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1080/17449855.2019.1633554
ISSN:
1744-9855
Status:
Published / Disseminated
Refereed:
Yes
Related URLs:
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