Historical Horizons: The Historical Novel and Transnational Memory
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Lukas Lammers
Abstract
The writing of history, whether academic or fictional, has long been a key concern of postcolonial studies. However, discussions of postcolonial historical fiction have largely reaffirmed the traditional view that the historical novel is central to imagining a national community. Focusing on a historical period that is commonly associated with Eurocentric and decidedly nationalist narratives - World War II - this chapter aims to show that the term ‘transnationalism’ helps throw into relief a spectrum of recent literary responses to a historical situation which has pushed nationalist identifications to extremes. It explores why World War II has become such an important nexus for rethinking the relationship between ‘centre’ and ‘periphery’ in recent anglophone writing. In this context, the term ‘horizon’ is introduced to highlight how postcolonial historical novels recalibrate nationalist narratives of the war and how they draw attention to the use and construction of transnationally shared historical memory.
Abstract
The writing of history, whether academic or fictional, has long been a key concern of postcolonial studies. However, discussions of postcolonial historical fiction have largely reaffirmed the traditional view that the historical novel is central to imagining a national community. Focusing on a historical period that is commonly associated with Eurocentric and decidedly nationalist narratives - World War II - this chapter aims to show that the term ‘transnationalism’ helps throw into relief a spectrum of recent literary responses to a historical situation which has pushed nationalist identifications to extremes. It explores why World War II has become such an important nexus for rethinking the relationship between ‘centre’ and ‘periphery’ in recent anglophone writing. In this context, the term ‘horizon’ is introduced to highlight how postcolonial historical novels recalibrate nationalist narratives of the war and how they draw attention to the use and construction of transnationally shared historical memory.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Introduction: The Concept of the Transnational in Literary Studies 1
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1 The Transnational amongst Related Concepts in Theory and Marketing
- Mixed Attachments in Girish Karnad’s Hayavadana (1971) 21
- Transnational Challenges for World Literatures: Publishing Caribbean Writers 44
- “Transnational Decolonial Aesthetics”: The “Hottentot Venus” Re-Configured 56
- Precariously Transnational: Teju Cole’s Every Day Is for the Thief 76
- The Discursive Construction of Transnational Fiction on Penguin Random House Group Websites 89
-
2 Transnational Literary Histories
- Utopia, Limited: Transnational Utopianism and Intercultural Imaginaries of the Ideal 107
- Travel Literature and/as Transnational Theatre History – Beyond National Theatre Cultures 124
- Transnationally Forged Nationality: Le Brésil littéraire and the Writing of Literary History in the Nineteenth Century 142
-
3 Poetics and Politics of Transnational Genres
- Historical Horizons: The Historical Novel and Transnational Memory 169
- Re-centring European Geopolitics: Transnational Identities in the Twenty-First- Century Hungarian-Language Novel from Slovakia 189
- Transnational Migrant Fiction as World Literature: Identity, Translatability, and the Global Book Market 206
- Translinguistic Theatre for a Globalised Stage? 226
- Works Cited 239
- Notes on Contributors 259
- Index 263
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Introduction: The Concept of the Transnational in Literary Studies 1
-
1 The Transnational amongst Related Concepts in Theory and Marketing
- Mixed Attachments in Girish Karnad’s Hayavadana (1971) 21
- Transnational Challenges for World Literatures: Publishing Caribbean Writers 44
- “Transnational Decolonial Aesthetics”: The “Hottentot Venus” Re-Configured 56
- Precariously Transnational: Teju Cole’s Every Day Is for the Thief 76
- The Discursive Construction of Transnational Fiction on Penguin Random House Group Websites 89
-
2 Transnational Literary Histories
- Utopia, Limited: Transnational Utopianism and Intercultural Imaginaries of the Ideal 107
- Travel Literature and/as Transnational Theatre History – Beyond National Theatre Cultures 124
- Transnationally Forged Nationality: Le Brésil littéraire and the Writing of Literary History in the Nineteenth Century 142
-
3 Poetics and Politics of Transnational Genres
- Historical Horizons: The Historical Novel and Transnational Memory 169
- Re-centring European Geopolitics: Transnational Identities in the Twenty-First- Century Hungarian-Language Novel from Slovakia 189
- Transnational Migrant Fiction as World Literature: Identity, Translatability, and the Global Book Market 206
- Translinguistic Theatre for a Globalised Stage? 226
- Works Cited 239
- Notes on Contributors 259
- Index 263
