- ホーム
- > 洋書
- > 英文書
- > Biography / Autobiography
Full Description
Through close readings of almost twenty autobiographies written after the break-up of the British Empire, the book examines how individuals engage with the changing narrative landscape brought about by decolonisation. It considers the autobiographies less for what they may teach us about the moment remembered and more as windows on the act of remembering. This adds a crucial dimension to our understanding of the legacies of colonialism and how the ongoing process of decolonisation is reflected on the level of the individual. It argues that autobiographers are at once influenced by and seek to influence the cultural memory of empire and its legacies, and the authors' own position in both. Situated at the intersection of imperial/decolonisation history, memory studies, and life writing studies, the book uncovers this intimate afterlife of empire.
Contents
Preface
Introduction: Reading autobiography after empire
1 Post-imperial positioning in memories of education
2 Finding home in travel narratives
3 Reclaiming legitimacy in political memoirs of independence
4 Loss and nostalgia in ex-settler family memoirs
5 Writing the past into the present in anti-racist essays
Conclusion
