Tokens or Totems? Eccentric Props in Postcolonial Re-enactments of Colonial Consecration
During colonial expansion the ceremonial insertion of archetypes of European civilisation into terra nullius served two opposing ends: to make visible territorial claims and to conceal the illegitimacy of these claims. While aware of this ambivalence, modern texts re-enacting colonial spectacles of...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
2007
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| In: |
Literature and theology
Year: 2007, Volume: 21, Issue: 3, Pages: 302-316 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Electronic
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| Summary: | During colonial expansion the ceremonial insertion of archetypes of European civilisation into terra nullius served two opposing ends: to make visible territorial claims and to conceal the illegitimacy of these claims. While aware of this ambivalence, modern texts re-enacting colonial spectacles of territorial consecration are not always wholly critical of European cultivating zeal but may also trace a genuinely idealistic impulse in it. The films Fitzcarraldo and The Piano and the novels Oscar and Lucinda and Remembering Babylon are cases in point. They rewrite colonial history by telling intricately ironical stories of failure and ascribing special sacredness to the settings as well as to the mementos of the defeats they recount. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-4623 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Literature and theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/litthe/frm027 |