Post-colonial literature is a challenging testing ground for those who aim to study how the linguistic structure of a text affects its reception: the aspects of conflict and hybridity of a formerly colonised territory simultaneously take form in and give form to its literary production, where the originally imposed language of the oppressor becomes a new vehicle of cultural identity. This study approaches this complex issue through a corpus–aided linguistic analysis. Research focuses on one country — South Africa — one author, and one text: J.M. Coetzee’s novel Foe, a rewriting of Robinson Crusoe published in 1986. The structure of the novel brings in a reflection upon the practice of rewriting, suggestively described by Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin as a “method of ‘writing back’ to the centre of empire” ([1989] 2003: 96). In Foe, considering its context of creation (South Africa in times of apartheid and a writer of Afrikaner descent), the act of ‘writing back’ shades into a process of re–generation and re–construction of identities. Analysis focuses on how foregrounded patterns of language in the novel, emerging also thanks to the 'magnifying lens' of corpus techniques, construe these aspects and point to a possible formulation of the novel's theme: its deepest meaning (Hasan 1985; 2007: 24).
Inside “the home of Friday”: Linguistic Representations of Frustrated Communication in a Corpus-Assisted Study of J. M. Coetzee’s Foe
LUPORINI, ANTONELLA
2012
Abstract
Post-colonial literature is a challenging testing ground for those who aim to study how the linguistic structure of a text affects its reception: the aspects of conflict and hybridity of a formerly colonised territory simultaneously take form in and give form to its literary production, where the originally imposed language of the oppressor becomes a new vehicle of cultural identity. This study approaches this complex issue through a corpus–aided linguistic analysis. Research focuses on one country — South Africa — one author, and one text: J.M. Coetzee’s novel Foe, a rewriting of Robinson Crusoe published in 1986. The structure of the novel brings in a reflection upon the practice of rewriting, suggestively described by Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin as a “method of ‘writing back’ to the centre of empire” ([1989] 2003: 96). In Foe, considering its context of creation (South Africa in times of apartheid and a writer of Afrikaner descent), the act of ‘writing back’ shades into a process of re–generation and re–construction of identities. Analysis focuses on how foregrounded patterns of language in the novel, emerging also thanks to the 'magnifying lens' of corpus techniques, construe these aspects and point to a possible formulation of the novel's theme: its deepest meaning (Hasan 1985; 2007: 24).I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
