Post-Colonial Themes in David Malouf's Remembering Babylon
It is interesting to note that, although in the context of this MA course we are studying Malouf's novel in terms of a post-colonial response, the author himself has expressed the opinion that it is not, strictly speaking, a post-colonial text. Most would agree with Malouf in that it is certainly not an example of resistance or response from a member of a colonised community in the same vein as, for example, Chinua Achebe or some Native Canadian authors. Rather, it can be seen as an examination of the colonial project by a descendant of the original colonisers.
Nevertheless, there are several themes running through the novel which constitute elements of post-colonial discourse, and this page intends to briefly examine some of them.
There is a pervasive sense of colonial guilt throughout Remembering Babylon, an awareness of the suspect morality of the colonial process. Like Great Expectations, Babylon recognises Australia as a potential utopia for the industrious European immigrant - unlike Dickens, however, Malouf asserts that the success of the project rests not on merely exploiting the resources available (while ignoring or displacing the indigenous people), but on reaching a kind of harmony and exchange with the landscape and with the colonised. This hybrid culture represents, for Malouf, the ideal ultimate outcome of the colonial process.
The potential for this utopia is personalised in the crude shape of Gemmy Fairley, an English castaway who lives among aborigines for 16 years before crossing back into European civilisation, where his identity is immediately called into question. Gemmy is an 'in-between creature'(p.28), occupying an uncertain cultural spa...
... middle of paper ...
...piphany, a realisation of harmony with nature which is very aboriginal in character.
Viewed from a post-colonial perspective, Remembering Babylon is a pessimistic assessment of the colonial project, a lament for the missed opportunities which a meeting of disparate cultures could provide for humanity. Yes, there is a hopeful hint that the utopia is still somehow attainable, in the self-knowledge gained by Jock, Janet, Lachlan and Frazer. However Malouf, writing as he is in the last decade of the twentieth century, is aware that the colonial project has failed on these terms, and this realisation must inform any reading of the novel.
NOTE: Much of the material used on this page is taken from a conversation with David Malouf in Dublin, 19 April 1997.
NOTE: The page numbers referred to on this page are taken from the 1994 Vintage edition of Remembering Babylon.
The novel “Nanberry” written by Jackie French, tells the story of early European settlement in Australia. Nanberry, Surgeon White and Rachel Turner are all main characters in the novel but three minor characters who could have been examined in more detail were Maria, Colbee and Mr. Trench. Each of these characters either performs something or states something that is vital to the story line and plot. This essay will also suggest ways that these three characters could have been developed to make “Nanberry” a little bit more thought – provoking.
“a verse for the cheated” discusses the effects of colonialism in Australia. The poem suggests the the European invaders or “tourists” arrive and are ignorant in respect to the Indigenous Australians.
In the book Alas, Babylon, the author, Pat Frank, discusses the condition of the human race. Mainly, his view differs from others because rather than write about the countries in a nuclear war, he writes about people living in the countries that are involved in that war. His discusses these peoples’ progress, both technological and moral, as well as their use of power. These topics make the book as intriguing as it is to read.
Fitzgerald, Scott F. "Babylon Revisited." Loeffelholz, Mary. The Norton Anthology of American Literature . New York: Norton & Company , 1931. 1839-1853.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. “Babylon Revisited”. Short Fiction: Classic and Contemporary. 6th ed. Ed. Charles Bohner and Lyman Grant. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2006.
There are two types of research that can be conducted in research studies, these are qualitative and quantitative (Newman, 2011). Qualitative research is a process that uses detailed oriented methodology that tries to achieve a profound knowledge or understanding of specific incident and circumstance, wh...
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. "Babylon Revisited." In The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Volume II. Edited by Paul Lauter et al. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath and Company, 1991: 1471-1485.
The main thing I saw in this book that brought me back to historical events, was the control of people for corrupt and selfish purposes. At the end of World War ² Japan began to capture areas in Asia and the Pacific that had valuable materials such as coconut copra, rubber and quartz. The inhabitants of captured territories where more or less given the status of slaves. I saw the same events taking place in 1984; wars were being fought in disputed areas which contain valuable goods, but the main reason for war was for cheap slave labor. When Winston and Julia are in Mr. Charrington’s room Julia brings out a surprise “It’s real tea. Not blackberry leaves.” “There’s been a lot of tea about lately. They’ve captured India, or something,” (1) Oceania is a world where quantity is more important than quality and quality goods are hard to get a hold of because it is reserve for greedy inner party members.
Kouwenhoven, P. S., van Thiel, G. J., Raijmakers, N. J., Rietjens, J. A., van der Heide,
"Babylon Revisited" focuses on Charlie Wales, a man who returns to Paris to retrieve his daughter and begin his life anew as a family with her. The title is appropriate because Charlie returns to Paris where, before the Depression hit, he and his wife lived a life of endless partying and spending of money, where everything had a price that he could afford to pay.
...er debating the very concept of it. Children were and continue to be active Nihilists and they were and continue to be blissfully ignorant of it. It was then that I knew that active Nihilism was my true path. It was then that I knew that exalting my freedom and liberating myself from my society was not some arduous endeavor but rather it was as easy as the child pursuing the sun down the sidewalk on their bicycle. I will continue pursuing the truth and the morals that define me until either I touch the sun or my legs give way in the desert and the sands bury me alongside Nietzsche and every being who attempted ascension towards the Ubermensch ideal. I have never felt more free or hungry to find truth. I may have put myself in a prison wandering my cell aimlessly for truth and identity until death but in the end it is a life sentence I am more than willing to serve.
Radiation is a frightening concept. It has lead to many an untimely death in the past 70 years, ranging from victims of atomic bombs in Japan to physiologists experimenting without taking proper safety precautions. The most dangerous form of radiation can be devastating to the body, weakening or eliminating the immune system and tearing the very DNA in one’s cells apart. This form is referred to as ionizing radiation, and even the least harmful potencies - such as x-rays and UV light - can increase the risk of cancer and other health problems. It has enough energy to knock electrons out of atoms in a process called ionization.
The radiotherapy is not a very new technology history reveals that the German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen discovered radiation therapy after the discovery of x-rays in 1895. The World’s first Radiation Oncologist (therapist) was Emil Grubbe a medical student who irradiated a cancer patient in (Dartmouth, February 1896). The radiation ...
The impact of nuclear power on the modern world has improved Various sectors of the economy and society .i.e. Food and Agriculture, Insect control, Food Preservation, Water Resources, Military, Medicine, Research and Industry. “In 1911 George de Hevesy conducted the first application of a radioisotope. At the time de Hevesy was a young Hungarian student working in Manchester with naturally radioactive materials. Not having much money he lived in modest accommodation and took his meals with his landlady. He began to suspect that some of the meals that appeared regularly might be made from leftovers from the preceding days or even weeks, but he could never be sure. To try and confirm his suspicions de Hevesy put a small amount of radioactive material into the remains of a meal. Several days later when the same dish was served again he used a simple radiation detection instrument - a gold leaf electroscope - to check if the food was radioactive. It was, and de Hevesy's suspicions were confirmed.
Postcolonial authors use their literature and poetry to solidify, through criticism and celebration, an emerging national identity, which they have taken on the responsibility of representing. Surely, the reevaluation of national identity is an eventual and essential result of a country gaining independence from a colonial power, or a country emerging from a fledgling settler colony. However, to claim to be representative of that entire identity is a huge undertaking for an author trying to convey a postcolonial message. Each nation, province, island, state, neighborhood and individual is its own unique amalgamation of history, culture, language and tradition. Only by understanding and embracing the idea of cultural hybridity when attempting to explore the concept of national identity can any one individual, or nation, truly hope to understand or communicate the lasting effects of the colonial process.