Historiographic metafiction in postcolonial literature: Foe, Wide Sargasso Sea and Midnight's Children

Abstract

This M.A. thesis aims to scrutinize the use of historiographic metafiction in postcolonial literature. The imaginative (re)construction of the past provides the opportunity to tell alternate stories/histories which place the oppressed and the colonized in the center rather than the margin. The examination of the primary sources, Foe by John Maxwell Coetzee, Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys and Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie, raises the possibility of a “new voice” which will enable the oppressed/the colonized to represent himself and establish his authority. The issue of representation and the struggle over the narrative voice(s) form the focal points for the examination of texts. Through these media, the answers for the questions “who represents whom?”, “who can represent whom?” and “is it really possible to create a ‘new voice’?” are searched.