As leading figure of a burgeoning ‘third generation’ of Nigerian writers (Adesanmi & Dunton 2005), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie raised to international fame in 2007 after winning the Orange Prize for Fiction with her novel on the Biafra war, Half of a Yellow Sun. This paper aims at investigating how the way Adichie’s fiction deals with the subject of war offers new insights in the role of the engagé writer in a postcolonial and global context. Adichie chooses to narrate the conflict through multiplying layers of re-telling, and hence refuses to cast herself as the spokesperson of either a national identity (Nigeria and/or Biafra), an ethnic group (Igbo), or a social class among those featured in the novel. Hence, Half of a Yellow Sun is meant to foster a culture of peace for a generation of cosmopolitan Igbo Nigerians born at least a decade after the war’s bitter end, advocating the new generations’ right to memory without retaliation.
Di recente emersa come autrice principale della ‘terza generazione’ di scrittori nigeriani (Adesanmi & Dunton 2005), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie è approdata alla notorietà internazionale nel 2007, quando il suo romanzo Half of a Yellow Sun vinse l’Orange Prize for Fiction. Questo articolo analizza come la trattazione del tema della guerra nella scrittura di Adichie offra una nuova prospettiva sul ruolo dell’intellettuale impegnato in contesti postcoloniali e globali. Adichie sceglie di raccontare il conflitto attraverso diversi livelli di rinarrazione, rifiutando in questo modo di porsi come portavoce di un’identità nazionale (nigeriana e/o biafrana), etnica (Igbo), o sociale tra le diverse posizionalità a cui il romanzo dà voce. Di conseguenza, Half of a Yellow Sun intende sostenere una cultura di pace per una generazione di nigeriani cosmopoliti, nati almeno una decade dopo la tragica fine del conflitto, invocando il diritto delle nuove generazioni ad una memoria senza ritorsioni.
Tales of war for the ‘third generation’: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun
Guarracino S
2016-01-01
Abstract
As leading figure of a burgeoning ‘third generation’ of Nigerian writers (Adesanmi & Dunton 2005), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie raised to international fame in 2007 after winning the Orange Prize for Fiction with her novel on the Biafra war, Half of a Yellow Sun. This paper aims at investigating how the way Adichie’s fiction deals with the subject of war offers new insights in the role of the engagé writer in a postcolonial and global context. Adichie chooses to narrate the conflict through multiplying layers of re-telling, and hence refuses to cast herself as the spokesperson of either a national identity (Nigeria and/or Biafra), an ethnic group (Igbo), or a social class among those featured in the novel. Hence, Half of a Yellow Sun is meant to foster a culture of peace for a generation of cosmopolitan Igbo Nigerians born at least a decade after the war’s bitter end, advocating the new generations’ right to memory without retaliation.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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