Article: PDF
DOI: 10.26170/2071-2405-2024-29-4-142-148
Abstract (original): The article aims to analyze how the intertextual connections help the contemporary British writer Robert Edric to reveal some post-colonial issues in his novel The Book of the Heathen (2000). The author of the article makes a conclusion that the parallels with the main pretext – Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness – can be traced on the level of the chronotope, plot elements and system of characters and motifs at the ideological-thematic and linguistic levels. Nevertheless, Edric’s The Book of the Heathen shows greater interest in the specific socio-political agenda and the role of the church in colonization, and the guilt of Britain and other European states in the situation in Congo at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries and later. The contemporary piece of literature reflects disillusionment with the ideas of “colonization for the sake of civilization”, based on its disappointing results. Edric's novel is also notable for its condemnation of racism. Other intertextual references – to biblical texts, R. Casement’s diary, fictionalized biographies of explorers of Africa – also contribute to the representation of post-colonial issues, reflecting the writer’s protest against the vices of the colonial system, the corruption of the colonial government, Eurocentrism, and the idea of the superiority of the white race.
Key words (original): contemporary British literature; intertextuality; Neo-Victorian postcolonial novel; Joseph Conrad; Heart of Darkness

Для цитирования:

Илунина, А. А. «Книга язычников» Роберта Эдрика как постколониальный ответ «Сердцу тьмы» Конрада / А. А. Илунина // Филологический класс. – 2024. – Том 29 ⋅ №4. – С. 142-148. DOI 10.26170/2071-2405-2024-29-4-142-148.

For citation

Ilunina, A. A. (2024). Robert Edric’s The Book of the Heathen as a “Post-Colonial Response” to Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. In Philological Class. 2024. Том 29 ⋅ №4. P. 142-148. DOI 10.26170/2071-2405-2024-29-4-142-148.

Об авторе (авторах) :

Илунина А. А.
Воронежский государственный лесотехнический университет им. Г. Ф. Морозова (Воронеж, Россия)
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3871-7555
SPIN-код: 8880-1862

Сроки публикации:

Дата поступления: 07.10.2023; дата публикации: 28.12.2024

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