Novel Analysis

"This book introduces us to many numerous struggles that women experience. This journey of Tambu helps us view society from a different perspective and the fact that everything is achievable is what is portrayed throught this marvellous work by Tsitsi Dangarembga. It surely is a must-read book… You are missing a lot in your life if you haven’t read it yet. Make sure to READ IT" (Alexia Ternate, The Guardian, 2016)

Before you start writing your analysis some pre-work is needed. You are going to analyse Nervous Conditions with the help of postcolonial literary theory. Therefore, the first step will be to familiarise with the concept literary theory and then move forward to the postcolonial literary theory.

Texts from Echo English 7:

These two texts are introductions for the topics.

• Literary Criticism, pages 240-243 and exercises connected to the text.
• Literary Criticism: Postcolonialism, pages 244-248 and exercises connected to the text

Usefull material related to the examination is found in the class notebook in Teams Additional Material  (Webbvy)

Uppgifter

Exercise 1: Discuss Literary criticism in class (Everything you wanted to know about critical theory but were afraid)

For the literature assignment you will need to work with two texts about literary criticism. In order to develop your understanding of the texts it is necessary to “work” with the texts. You will therefore read the texts on your own and prepare to discuss the different terms and questions in class. You are also welcome to bring your own questions to the discussion.

The texts are important for your literature assignment, so, you are advised to make notes that you can use later when writing your literature analysis.

We will begin with the text called Everything you wanted to know about critical theory but were afraid to ask on Teams/Class Notebook. Read the text and answer the questions stated below.

• What does the phrase “The death of the author” mean? (p.2)

• Why should we, according to the author, learn about critical theory? Do you agree with the author or not, why?

• What does reading against the grain mean? (p.5)

everything you wanted to know about critical theory but were afraid to ask.pdf

Exercise 2: Discuss Literary criticism in class (Postcolonial criticism)

The second text is called Postcolonial criticism. In the text, you can find that I have circled some of the terms used in postcolonial criticism. So, read the text and think about the terms used. What does the term mean? How can you associate the terms with the novel, with your own experiences and knowledge?

• Colonialist ideology (p. 419)

• Othering (p. 420)

• Colonial subjects (p. 421)

• Mimicry (p. 421)

• Unhomeliness (p. 421)

• Double oppression (p. 423)

• Cultural imperialism (p. 425)

Prepare to discuss the two texts (Everything you wanted to know about critical theory but were afraid to ask and Postcolonial criticism) in class according to the course plan.

postcolonial criticism.pdf