Classics in Post-Colonial Worlds

by Hardwick, Lorna; Gillespie, Carol

• ISBN13: 9780199296101
• ISBN10: 0199296103
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-11-24
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Classics in Post-Colonial Worlds examines the continuing impact of Greek and Roman drama, literature, and art on the cultures of societies that have emerged from colonial domination. It is well known that classical literature, ideas, and architecture was used to express colonial authority and in some cases dominated the education of the elite among both colonized and colonizers. But classical themes and motifs were also appropriated to challenge colonialism and after independence have continued to be an important and sometimes problematic aspect of the development of cultural identities and politics in post-colonial societies.

Author Biography

Lorna Hardwick is Professor of Classical Studies and Director of the Reception of Classical Texts and Images Research Project at The Open University. Carol Gillespie is Project Officer of the Reception of Classical Texts and Images Research Project at The Open University.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. x
List of Contributors	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
Case Studies
Trojan Women in Yorubaland: Femi Osofisan's Women of Owu	p. 15
Antigone's Boat: the Colonial and the Postcolonial in Tegonni: An African Antigone by Femi Osofisan	p. 40
Antigone and her African Sisters: West African Versions of a Greek Original	p. 54
Cross-Cultural Bonds Between Ancient Greece and Africa: Implications for Contemporary Staging Practices	p. 72
The Curse of the Canon: Ola Rotimi's The Gods Are Not To Blame	p. 86
Post-Apartheid Electra: In the City of Paradise	p. 102
Sculpture at Heroes' Acre, Harare, Zimbabwe: Classical Influences?	p. 119
Encounter and New Traditions
Perspectives on Post-Colonialism in South Africa: the Voortrekker Monument's Classical Heritage	p. 141
Imperial Reflections: The Post-Colonial Verse-Novel as Post-Epic	p. 157
A Divided Child, or Derek Walcott's Post-Colonial Philology	p. 170
Arriving Backwards: the Return of The Odyssey in the English-Speaking Caribbean	p. 192
'If You are a Woman': Theatrical Womanizing in Sophocles' Antigone and Fugard, Kani, and Ntshona's The Island	p. 211
Finding a Post-Colonial Voice for Antigone: Seamus Heaney's Burial at Thebes	p. 228
Challenging Theory: Framing Futher Questions
'The Same Kind of Smile?' About the 'Use and Abuse' of Theory in Constructing the Classical Tradition	p. 245
From the Peloponnesian War to the Iraq War: a Post-Liberal Reading of Greek Tragedy	p. 265
Western Classics, Indian Classics: Postcolonial Contestations	p. 286
Shades of Multi-Lingualism and Multi-Vocalism in Modern Performances of Greek Tragedy in Post-Colonial Contexts	p. 305
The Empire Never Ended	p. 329
Another Architecture	p. 349
Bibliography	p. 364
Index	p. 411
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