The effect of post-colonialism on literature

—and of literature on post-colonialism. A comment to a question on the subject on LinkedIn:


The effect of post-colonialism on literature? Well, to my mind post-colonialism conditions a lot the culture and experience, and therefore the literature, of the ancient colonies, and then (second step) of the ancient metropolis, as the postcolonial experience "strikes back" at the empire. To be brief, I would point out two kinds of effects:
- the permeating or 'atmospheric' effects which can be seen in literature merely by virtue  of having been written in a world influenced by post-colonialism,
- AND, the rise of a political literature which is theoretically (i.e. politically) conscious of the issues raised by postcolonialism, and tries to actively intervene on the postcolonial situation; to change it rather than merely portraying it.
Of course these two kinds of effects may be found to be mixed in varying degrees in any given work.

Literatura e Historia

 

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