HENK0391JU English - Free topic 12: Re-Writing the Brontës (and postcolonial intertextuality)

Volume 2016/2017
Content

Traditional postcolonial literature was said to write back to the centre of Empire through a rewriting of canonical texts. In this class, an exploration of the textual power of the Brontë sisters will be the starting point for a discussion of how Caribbean-born Jean Rhys and Caryl Phillips re-write, interrogate and write back to Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. What characterises a specific postcolonial intertextuality and why do these writers still feel the need to negotiate the Brontës in particular?

Reading list: Merle Collins, ‘Visiting Yorkshire Again’; Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre; Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea; Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights; Caryl Phillips, The Lost Child; Jean Rhys, ‘Let them call it Jazz’ and a selection of theory on postcolonial writing-back, intertextuality and rewriting.

  • Category
  • Hours
  • Lectures
  • 28
  • Preparation
  • 176,75
  • Total
  • 204,75