"This study is a theoretically informed investigation of discourses on colonialism and its critique in the post-war period. It also addresses and disputes two assumptions prevalent in current scholarship. The first assumption emanates from current research in literary studies and contends that it was only in the course of the increasing political awareness from the mid-1960s onwards that German writers discovered the problems of colonialism and neo-colonialism. The second derives from the historical sciences where scholars claim that the 'cultural memory of the second postcolonial phase' in Germany 'which began after World War II and lasted well into the 1960s' is affected by 'processes of forgetting', also known as 'colonial' or 'postcolonial amnesia'. In challenging these assumptions this study follows a tripartite structure." The first part analyzes discourses on colonialism and decolonization in intellectual journals and news magazines, showing the specific German contribution to this European post-war debate and proving that in this context too the allegedly forgotten German colonial past was an important issue. The second part reconstructs postcolonial discourses in West German literature of the 1950s and introduces a wide range of literary treatments of historical and contemporary colonialism. The third part is a methodological experiment in which the premises of postcolonial theories are put to the test. This section poses questions about new insights that might be gained, for example, by adopting the approach of feminist postcolonial scholars like Uma Narayan to explain Max Frisch's writing; by using the writings of Marie Luise Kaschnitz as a mirror to scrutinize the premises of postcolonial historians like Dipesh Chakrabarty; or by investigating Wolfgang Koeppen's narrative strategies in the context of Toni Morrison's premises and those of other whiteness studies scholars. While critically applying key terms and concepts of postcolonial theories such as eurocentrism, universalism, cultural relativism, difference, 'othering', 'whiteness', etc. to literary texts, this part of the study is intended primarily as a contribution to current debates about the possibilities for literary studies to participate in postcolonial studies at a level far beyond a thematic critique of ideology"--Publisher's website." Includes bibliographical references (pages [279]-308).
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.