Prawdy Lokeli. Literackie reprezentacje ludobójstwa częściowego w Wolnym Państwie Kongo 1880–1908
Journal Title: Przegląd Humanistyczny - Year 2015, Vol 59, Issue 2
Abstract
The article analyzes selected literary representations of partial genocide in the Congo Free State (1880–1908) as documents of the discourse of truth (in the sense of M. Foucault) in a given era. Considerations use achievements of the postcolonial studies as well as genocide studies. The analysis focuses on the comparison of two books – Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and The Dream of the Celt by Mario Vargas Llosa. The author reconstructs the way indigenous people are presented in both novels, showing elements of the racist discourse in Conrad’s novel and the changes that Llosa introduced. He describes the character of Kurtz (a colonist and an order represented by him) as “empty signifiers” of the colonial system. The article analyzes the extent to which both authors adequately presented the functioning of the colonial system. It indicates the dimensions of Casement’s exclusion – the main character of Llosa’s novel – referring also to the analysis of gender studies. The author concludes that both works reveal the weakness of criticism undertaken from the particular position – Llosa and Conrad were high rank men in the hierarchy of the global capitalist society. Regardless of the intent, they reproduce the discourse of truth, establishing not only the subject of cognition, but also their own identity.<br/><br/>
Authors and Affiliations
Lech M. Nijakowski
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP188727
- DOI -
- Views 48
- Downloads 0
Bayamus, czyli lektury obowiązkowe zupełnie wolnych ludzi (zapis dyskusji)
-
Afirmacja kobiecości
-
Mistrzowie drugiego planu. Motyw zombie w perspektywie literackiego sztafażu – od survival horroru przez dystopię do romansu paranormalnego
Contemporary pop culture dynamics encourages artists to reconfigure, for instance, a plethora of character patterns. A fine example of such tendency is the trope of zombie associated by the mass imagination with a spirit...
Rozumienie ciała w kulturze i medycynie wobec kulturowych przemian
The article presents the changes in the approach to carnality in the 20th century. Starting from the analyses of Geronte Böhme and his analyses of the historicity as to understanding of body, through the classic analyses...
The Great War, Independence, and Latvian Literature
The article focuses on the representation of the year 1918 in Latvian literature. On November 18, the independent Republic of Latvia was proclaimed, and in the years to come international recognition of the state’s sover...