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'This collection of essays is dedicated to examining the recent literary phenomenon of the 'neo-historical' novel, a sub-genre of contemporary historical fiction which critically re-imagines specific periods of history.' (Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
[Review Essay] Exoticiizing the Past in Contemporary Neo-Historical FictionDougal McNeill,
2016single work criticism — Appears in:
Journal of Postcolonial Writing,Decembervol.
52no.
52016;(p. 638-639)'Is postcolonial studies becoming historical? The thrilling victories of the anti-colonial movement’s triumphant period are now all but gone from common living memory. From the French defeat in Algeria to Kwame Nkrumah’s early years in Ghana and Vietnam’s victory against the US in the American War, the post in the postcolonial is becoming a matter of the archive and public memory. If one phase of canonical postcolonial novels, including Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions (1988) and Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior (1976), negotiated historical legacies through the problems of the Bildungsroman, more recent works, such as Tahmima Anam’s A Golden Age (2007), draw on the resources of the historical novel tradition itself. Colonial history, meanwhile, all the way from Julian Fellowes’s Downton Abbey to the compulsive commemoration of World War One, enjoys lavish and ongoing treatment in the popular and literary fields.' (Publication abstract)
[Review Essay] Exoticiizing the Past in Contemporary Neo-Historical FictionDougal McNeill,
2016single work criticism — Appears in:
Journal of Postcolonial Writing,Decembervol.
52no.
52016;(p. 638-639)'Is postcolonial studies becoming historical? The thrilling victories of the anti-colonial movement’s triumphant period are now all but gone from common living memory. From the French defeat in Algeria to Kwame Nkrumah’s early years in Ghana and Vietnam’s victory against the US in the American War, the post in the postcolonial is becoming a matter of the archive and public memory. If one phase of canonical postcolonial novels, including Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions (1988) and Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior (1976), negotiated historical legacies through the problems of the Bildungsroman, more recent works, such as Tahmima Anam’s A Golden Age (2007), draw on the resources of the historical novel tradition itself. Colonial history, meanwhile, all the way from Julian Fellowes’s Downton Abbey to the compulsive commemoration of World War One, enjoys lavish and ongoing treatment in the popular and literary fields.' (Publication abstract)
