Narrativity and the Problematics of Authenticity in Hungry Ghosts by Kevin Jared Hosein

Title

Narrativity and the Problematics of Authenticity in Hungry Ghosts by Kevin Jared Hosein

Creator

Ramesh G.L.; J S.

Description

Postcolonial historical fictions, set in turbulent times, grapple with the question of authenticity in their fictional representations of events and individuals of the past. Trinidadian novelist Kevin Jared Hoseins Hungry Ghosts (2023), set in the estate barracks and surrounding milieu of 1940s Trinidad, is no exception. The paper argues for a nuanced understanding of the term authenticity in our reading of historical fictions, and explores Hoseins use of the formal, imaginative and affective dimensions of narration in negotiating representational adequacy and strengthening the significant thematic concerns in the text. Through textual analysis, the paper explores how Hosein situates his text firmly within the spatio-temporal reality of the period and captures the struggles of becoming confronting a population whose lives are coloured by historical trauma and continuing spatial hierarchy. 2024 The Editorial Board, Current Writing.

Source

Current Writing, Vol-36, No. 1, pp. 82-93.

Date

2024-01-01

Publisher

Routledge

Subject

authenticity; historical fiction; Hungry Ghosts; Kevin Jared Hosein; narration; postcolonial literature

Coverage

Ramesh G.L., Christ (Deemed to be University), Department of English and Cultural Studies, Bengaluru, India; J S., Department of English and Cultural Studies at Christ (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru, India

Rights

Restricted Access

Relation

ISSN: 1013929X

Format

Online

Language

English

Type

Article

Identifier

https://doi.org/10.1080/1013929X.2024.2325776

https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85197463023&doi=10.1080%2f1013929X.2024.2325776&partnerID=40&md5=d713738c62c45437da525f74a3ab5385