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Author's description: Ever since Joseph Conrad chose fin de siecle London as the place to begin and end his Heart of Darkness, the city of London has been host to literary meditations on the darker aspects of empire and imperialism. The decline of the British Empire in the twentieth century has had far-reaching consequences for the former heart of empire. In the second half of the twentieth century, immigrants from the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia have transformed Britain into an ethnically and racially diverse nation. The colonies have 'come home to roost.' Following Conrad's narrative in Heart of Darkness, my thesis begins in London and then moves to the margins of the empire. The long shadow of imperialism shapes the novels of J. M. Coetzee and Bessie Head. In their works these two writers depict the evils of apartheid South Africa and reflect upon the complex psychological mechanisms that underlie encounters between different groups. Such encounters result in a pattern of nonrecognition and misrecognition that in turn create relations based upon domination and servitude. Coetzee's and Head's works speculate on the psychological structures that have shaped the history of colonialism in Africa. Returning to London, my thesis then examines the works of two writers who combine experience of the colony with knowledge of the centre of Empire. Doris Lessing's experience of coming-of-age in Southern Rhodesia supplies her with powerful insights into both the plight of new immigrants to Britain and the concerns and prejudices of native Londoners. Her knowledge of identity politics in Southern Africa deepens her fictional response to post-war British society. The detective writer Mike Phillips came to Britain from Guyana as a child and he now resides in London. While his novels reflect the concerns of a first-generation black immigrant to the United Kingdom they also depict the challenges and rewards of being black in the London of today.
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INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus. same thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face. while athers may be from any type of computer printer. The quallty of this reproduction Is dependent upon the quallty of the copy submitted. Broken or indistind print. colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. ln the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had ta be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps. drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning st the upper Ieft-hand corner and continuing from left te right in squal sections with small overlapl. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality e- x 9- black and white photographie prints are availabls for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contad UMI directly to arder. Bell & Howell Information and Leaming 300 Nor1h Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 USA 8QO.521.Q6O() UMI~ . _;lw. - \ .' -,' 'Comîng Home to Roost': Sorne Reflections on Moments of Literary Response to the Paradoxes of Empire Tobias Kenny Department of English McGiII University. Montreal July 1998 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Aesearch in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. (c) Tobias Kenny, 199B National Library of Canada