The fall of british imperialism as reflected in james gordon farrell’s works

Abstract

James Gordon Farrell is frequently regarded as one of the most important authors of colonial British literature. In this thesis, examines Farrell’s position as a postcolonial writer and his connection to the issues of imperialism and colonialism. The thesis seeks to explore the many aspects of postcolonial literature present in the trilogy by analysing the master/subaltern relationship through the use of humour and the silence of native characters in the three novels. Farrell uses humour in the Empire Trilogy to visualize the other in two ways: as an Oriental inferior other to maintain his conventional traditional image, and as a Western superior other who makes fun of and undervalues the indigenous. The main argument of this thesis is that Farrell’ Empire Trilogy defies all kinds of restrictive classification. To call Farrell and his works either colonial or anticolonial is to fix him in one category and thus to half-read him. Due to his mixed background, both his works and his life represent a hybrid identity. The theoretical framework is based on Homi K Bhabha’s analysis of the intricate relationship between the identities of the colonizer and the colonized. A thematic reading of The Empire Trilogy shows that though the three novels differ in setting, they all discusses how postcolonial points of view are opposed when British characters are living in a colony, and debates the question of how such colony is perceived and represented. Finally, it is argued that a postcolonial approach which focuses on the issue of diversity and hybridity of the colonial subject contributes in enriching our understanding of Farrell’s complex situation and his relationship with Imperialism.