The imagination of Africa as homeland in The Arrivants by Edward K. Brathwaite and in The Castaway by Derek Walcott
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Date
2011-12-21
Authors
Muchina, Gichuki George
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Abstract
This project is a comparative study that examines the imagination of Africa as homeland by two Caribbean poets, Edward Kamau Brathwaite and Derek Walcott. The study is based on two poetic discourses, these are, The Arrivants (1981) by Brathwaite and The Castaway (1972) by Walcott.
The project argues that the key theme of Africa's culture constantly recurs through these poets' reference to African values and genius. One of the main aims of the study is to critically analyze the imagination of Africa as homeland by the two poets. Their creative imagination illuminates a utopian African state that is romanticized into a mystery.
This imagination of Africa as homeland is a negritudinist point of view in an effort to regenerate the utopian African homeland where nature and human beings lived harmoniously before slavery. The portrayal of the dehumanizing nature of slavery is an attempt to reprove or challenge the myth of savagery associated with Africa culture.
The study applies two theoretical models in analyzing the imagination of Africa as homeland by the two poets. The postcolonial approach guides this study as the two poets struggle to come to terms with recreation and redefining the essence of the black colour in the Caribbean.
Psychoanalysis enables us to venture into the two poets' consciousness and mind. This study intends to reveal how the work of art can aid in giving a clearer understanding of the Caribbean reality through the two poets' imagination of Africa as homeland.
Description
Department of Literature,95p.The PR 9230.9.M8.I4 2011
Keywords
Brathwaite, Edward Kamau. The arrivants --History and criticism |, Walcott, Derek. The castaway --History and criticism, Caribbean Area --Poetry --History and criticism