Remapping, Subversion, and Witnessing: On the Postmodernist Parody and Discourse Deconstruction in Marina Warner’s Indigo

• 作者: Li Wang
• 来源期刊: 语言与符号学研究
• 学科: 文学
• 年，卷（期）: 2017,（4）
• 页码范围: 124-139
• 页数: 16页
• 分类号: H313

摘要

Among the many postmodern revisions of The Tempest, Warner’s Indigo remains second to none. It rewrites and parodies The Tempest with its postmodern subversion and construction, aiming to bombard European logocentric hegemony under the context of the Western grand narrative and the suppression of colored women with its Christian patriarchal system. Based on the Shakespearean canon, Indigo pivots on the marginalized and neglected figures in the original play and gives them a spotlight on the stage by empowering them with voices so as to reverse, subvert, and reconstruct Western History, challenging the Western hegemonic discourses of its patriarchal and colonial systems. Its success lies not only in the scrutiny of the past history under the perspective of postcolonial and postfeminist theories, but also in its author’s identity as a white British woman and descendant of early settlers in the Caribbean, which leaves her with a peculiar stance to form a dialogue with Shakespeare and scrutinize history. Through depicting the anxiety of personal identity within the family, Indigo showcases the diversity and hybridity of the postcolonial legacy in the Caribbean. It bears witness to the cruelty of colonization and carries on its legacy through nonlinear narratives spanning more than three centuries, through which we can get a glimpse of Warner’s ambition in healing the scars of past colonization and critically disclosing the darkness of it. This paper aims to better our understanding of the essence of this postmodern novel through the lenses of parody and deconstruction.