Table Of ContentThe Postcolonial Historical Novel
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The Postcolonial
Historical Novel
Realism, Allegory, and the Representation
of Contested Pasts
Hamish Dalley
Assistant Professor of World Literature,
Daemen College, Amherst, New York
© Hamish Dalley 2014
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-45008-1
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work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2014 by
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ISBN 978-1-349-49693-8 ISBN 978-1-137-45009-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137450098
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dalley, Hamish, 1984– author.
The postcolonial historical novel : realism, allegory, and the representation of
contested pasts / by Hamish Dalley, Assistant Professor of World Literature,
Daemen College, Amherst, New York.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Historical fiction—History and criticism. 2. Postcolonialism in literature.
3. Realism in literature. I. Title.
PN3441.D35 2014
809.3'81—dc23 2014022063
Typeset by MPS Limited, Chennai, India.
For Elen
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Contents
Acknowledgements viii
Note on the Text x
Part I Epistemologies of Historical Realism
1 The Contemporary Postcolonial Historical Novel:
Beyond Anti-Realism 3
2 Allegorical Realism: Toward a Poetics of the Postcolonial
Historical Novel 13
Part II Allegories of Settlement
3 Typification and Frontier Violence: Kate Grenville’s
The Secret River 45
4 The Gender of Settler Realism: Fiona Kidman’s
The Captive Wife 70
Part III Narrating Transnational Histories
5 Deterritorialising Allegorical Realism: Witi Ihimaera’s
The Trowenna Sea 97
6 Aesthetics of Absent Causality: Chimamanda Ngozi
Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun 121
Part IV Melancholy Realisms
7 Spectres of Civil War Trauma: Chris Abani’s
Song for Night 149
8 Metafictional Realism and the Dialectic of Allegory:
Richard Flanagan’s Gould’s Book of Fish 171
9 Conclusion: the Historical Novel, from Postcolonial
Reconciliation to Environmental Crisis 197
Notes 205
Works Cited 207
Index 222
vii
Acknowledgements
The research for this book was conducted at the Australian National
University between 2009 and 2014. I was fortunate to benefit from the
advice and input of many colleagues and friends, and colleagues who
became friends. First thanks must go to the energetic and encourag-
ing Ned Curthoys, an unfailingly generous mentor. Debjani Ganguly
has also been a wonderful critic, reader, and adviser, as has Monique
Rooney, and I thank them both for their unique insights and advice.
I have been particularly fortunate to benefit from the encouragement
of Kate Mitchell. This book would have been poorer – and taken much
longer to produce – had it not been for her. I will always be grateful to
Paul Pickering, as much of the framework of this book – especially its
exploration of the postcolonial historical novel as a genre predicated
on epistemological seriousness and public dialogue – is my response to
Paul’s provocations.
In preparing the final version of this monograph, I have been fortunate
to receive invaluable feedback from a number of readers. Suggestions
from Neil Lazarus, Clara Tuite, and Diana Wallace have enriched my
thinking. Many thanks to Madhu Krishnan for your conversation and
scholarship. Talking African books with you is always a delight. I am
also very grateful to the editorial team at Palgrave Macmillan in bring-
ing this project to fruition: in particular Ben Doyle, Sophie Ainscough,
and Frances Tye. Thank you for your hard work and care.
Several chapters are adapted from articles previously published else-
where, and so have benefited from the input of editors and review-
ers. Chapter 2 draws on work published as ‘Postcolonialism and
the Historical Novel: Epistemologies of Contempora ry Realism’, The
Cambridge Journal of Postcolonial Literary Inquiry 1.1 (March 2014): 51–67.
Elements of Chapter 5 appeared as “‘The Continuum of the World
Corrected’: Allegorical Form and (Trans)National Communities in the
Historical Fiction of Witi Ihimaera’, Clio: the Journal of Literature, History,
and the Philosophy of History 41.2 (Spring 2012): 221–44. Chapter 7 was
published in modified form as ‘Trauma Theory and Nigerian Civil War
Literature: Speaking “Something That Was Never in Words” in Chris
Abani’s Song for Night’, The Journal of Postcolonial Writing 49.4 (2013):
445–57. I am grateful to the editorial teams and anonymous reviewers
of these publications.
viii
Acknowledgements ix
Many thanks to my colleagues at the ANU’s Academic Skills and
Learning Centre for teaching me so much about writing and scholarship
during my time there, and for helping make this project both manage-
able and enjoyable to complete.
Finally and most importantly, unlimited thanks are due to my partner,
Elen Turner. Your patience, kindness, encouragement, and precision –
and your ability to make our lives an adventure – have made this work
not only possible, but worthwhile. This is for you.
