Representation of Africa in post-colonial Anglophone writings: V. S. Naipaul, Chinua Achebe and J. M. Coetzee

Abstract

Post-colonialism and post-modernism are literary movements that can be viewed together. In this context post-colonial Anglo-phone literature about Africa is written from different points of view by post-colonial writers like Chinua Achebe, V. S. Naipaul and J. M. Coetzee. All of them represent Africa as a hybrid and complex society. Their treatment of Africa is different from each other. Naipaul carries on traditional orientalist discourse while Achebe propagates a counter discourse in representing Africa. In both writers periphery becomes the focus of their representation; however they portray different concepts of Africa. J. M. Coetzee opens a new face of representation where he blends post-colonial phenomena with the techniques of post-modern writing. He renounces the authorial point of view to empower the language of narrative, showing that language is autonomous and rather than using it as a means to establish any particular ideology, it is interpreted by the reader to resolve the question of interpretation.