Exhibiting Slavery: The Caribbean Postmodern Novel as MuseumExhibiting Slavery examines the ways in which Caribbean postmodern historical novels about slavery written in Spanish, English, and French function as virtual museums, simultaneously showcasing and curating a collection of "primary documents" within their pages. As Vivian Nun Halloran attests, these novels highlight narrative "objects" extraneous to their plot--such as excerpts from the work of earlier writers, allusions to specific works of art, the uniforms of maroon armies assembled in preparation of a military offensive, and accounts of slavery's negative impact on the traditional family unit in Africa or the United States. In doing so, they demand that their readers go beyond the pages of the books to sort out fact from fiction and consider what relationship these featured "objects" have to slavery and to contemporary life. The self-referential function of these texts produces a "museum effect" that simultaneously teaches and entertains their readers, prompting them to continue their own research beyond and outside the text. |
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Contents
Novels as Museums in a Postmodern Age | 1 |
Books as National Literary History Museums | 21 |
Art Museums Visual InterTexts | 51 |
Ethnographic Museums The Literary Diorama | 79 |
Between Plantation and Living History Museum | 100 |
World Heritage Sites The Fortress | 121 |
Mourning Museums Diasporic Practices | 149 |
Notes | 177 |
191 | |
203 | |
Other editions - View all
Exhibiting Slavery: The Caribbean Postmodern Novel as Museum Vivian Nun Halloran Limited preview - 2009 |
Exhibiting Slavery: The Caribbean Postmodern Novel as Museum Vivian Nun Halloran No preview available - 2009 |