MIMESIS, GENRES AND POST-COLONIAL DISCOURSE
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Mimesis, Genres and Post-Colonial Discourse Deconstructing Magic Realism Jean-Pierre Durix Professor of English Universite de Bourgogne Dijon, France
First published in Great Britain 1998 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-1-349-40695-1 DOI 10.1057/9780230377165 ISBN 978-0-230-37716-5 (ebook) First published in the United States of Amelica 1998 by ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 978-0-31221585-9 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dulix, Jean-Pierre. Mimesis, genres, and post-colonial discourse : deconstructing magic realism I Jean-Pien e Durix. p. em. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-31221585-9 (cloth) I. Magic realism (Literature) 2. Mimesis in literature. 3. Literature, Modem-20th century-history and criticism. 4. Developing countries-literatures-histmy and criticism. 5. Postcolonialism. 1. Title. PN56.M24D87 1998 809'.912-{!c21 Jean-Pierre Durix 1998 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1998 978-0-333-73224-3 98-3656 CIP All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WlP 9HE. Any person who does any unauthmised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his tight to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. IO 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 07 06 05 04 03 02 01
For Carole and to Catherine and Jean-Fran~j:ois This book was initially started during a sabbatical granted by the Universite de Bourgogne. Its composition has benefitted greatly from discussions with students in my classes, with many colleagues and members of the 'Centre de Recherches Image/Texte/Langage' in Dijon, amongst whom Michel Baridon and Jean-Michel Rabate have always been most helpful. Some of my initial reflexions on 'magic realism' were nurtured by the works of Jeanne Delbaere (Universite Libre de Bruxelles ). Among friends all over the world to whom this work owes a great deal, may I thank in particular the writers Patricia Grace, Wilson Harris, Isabel Huggan, Witi Ihimaera and Albert Wendt, the academics Jacqueline Bardolph (Universite de Nice), Michel Fabre (Universite Sorbonne Nouvelle), Christiane Fioupou (Universite de Toulouse), Gareth Griffiths (University of Western Australia), Hartwig Isernhagen (University of Basel), Hena Maes-Jelinek (Universite de Liege), Luigi Sampietro (University of Milan), Paul Sharrad (University of Wollongong) and Terry Sturm (University of Auckland).
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CONTENTS GENERAL INTRODUCTION I -ARE DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN GENRES STILL RELEVANT? 15 A- A Compulsive Search for Taxonomy? 15 B - Major Themes and Genres 24 1- Repossession of Reality and the Historical Novel 25 2- Relative Scarcity of Utopia and Anti Utopia; the Case of July's People 26 3- The Epic and the Oral Tradition 30 4- The Allegory 35 5- A South African Allegory: Rabie's 'Drought' 36 6- Nadine Gordimer's 'Is There Nowhere Else Where We Can Meet?' 39 II - REALITY, REALISM AND MIMESIS 45 A- A Brief Historical Reminder of the Relationship between Art and Mimesis 45 B-Art and a New 'Repossessed' Post-Colonial Reality 59 Ill- FROM FANTASY TO MAGIC REALISM 79 A- The Fantastic and 'Magic Realism' 79 B- Definitions of the Fantastic 79 1- A Problematic Term in the New Literatures 80 2- A Historical Progression from the Supernatural to the Fantastic? 82 3- An Illustration of the Problem: Achebe's 'The Sacrificial Egg' 83 4- Fictional Reality/Fantasy/Magic Realism: the Case ofwiti Ihimaera 87 C - Magic Realism: the Building of a Literary Genre I 02 1- Fantasy? Magic Realism? I 02 2- Alejo Carpentier and his Concept of the Real Maravilloso I 04 3- The Case of Juan Rulfo 112 D- Some Characteristics of Magic Realism in the Works ofrushdie and Garcia Marquez 115 1- History, Fantasy and Allegory 115
Vlll Mimesis, Genres and Post-Colonial Discourse 2- Reality and Meaning 3- Comedy and the Infringement of Taboos E- Magic Realism and the New Literatures 124 131 143 IV -TOWARDS HYBRID AESTHETICS A- Definitions of 'Culture': B- Post-colonial Literatures and Hybridization C- Edouard Glissant's Aesthetic Theories D- Wilson Harris and Palace of the Peacock 149 149 152 162 171 CONCLUSION 187 BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX 191 201