Black Odysseys

The Homeric Odyssey in the African Diaspora since 1939

By: Justine McConnell

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Hardcover | 28 March 2013

At a Glance

Hardcover
352 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
21.59 x 13.97 x 1.91

Hardcover

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Black Odysseys explores creative works by artists of ultimately African descent, which respond to the HomericOdyssey. Considering what the ancient Greek epic has signified for those struggling to emerge from the shadow of Western imperialism, and how it has inspired anti-colonial poets, novelists, playwrights, and directors, McConnell examines twentieth- and twenty-first century works from Africa and the African diaspora, including the Caribbean and the United States. In seeking to discover why theOdyssey, as a founding text of the Western canon, has been of such interest to these artists, the great plurality of post-colonial and anti-colonial responses becomes clear: responses that differ dramatically from each other, even in the attitude adopted towards Odysseus himself.

Since Aime Cesaire's seminal 1939 poem, Cahier d'un retour au pays natal (Notebook of a Return to My Native Land), theOdyssey's homecoming trope and quest for identity have inspired writers who are simultaneously striving against and appropriating the very forms which had been used to oppress them. Following in the wake of Cesaire, this volume proceeds chronologically and considers works by Ralph Ellison, Derek Walcott, Jon Amiel, Wilson Harris, Njabulo Ndebele, and Jatinder Verma.

Industry Reviews

This volume encourages readers to view the Homeric epic and, more generally, the discipline of classics as tools of decolonization and syncretism in the twentieth century. * Sarah Debrew, Phoenix *
a scholarly work that should lead readers interested in Homer and ancient Greece into a wider, politically charged world * Sean Sheehan, Dublin Review of Books *

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