engleski

"Not this, not that" : In-between identities in The In-Between World of Vikram Lall by M.G. Vassanji

How useful is it to define Canadian literature as postcolonial literature? Can we talk about Canadian multicultural identities as postcolonial, or has the adjective "postcolonial" lost its usefulness when discussing "Canadian identity" as an umbrella term? Has "postcolonial" instead become reserved for the description of only a part of its spectrum: the hyphenated and/or immigrant identities coming from (other) former British colonies, now settled in Canada? The paper tries to answer these questions by focusing on the novel The In-Between World of Vikram Lall by M.G. Vassanji (2003). Following the unraveling of the main character’ s memories and the juxtaposition of his life as an immigrant in Canada in the present to his life as a descendant of Indian immigrants in Kenya in the past, the paper analyzes the ways in which the novel debates the key issues of belonging, race and dislocation and their relation to the idea of individual identity.

postcolonial; in-between; hybrid; identity; immigrant; belonging; race; dislocation

Rad je kao predavanje prezentiran na skupu Questioning Identities : the Canadian Context, održanom od 17-20.05.2007., Rab, Hrvatska ; ISBN 978-80-210-4943-7 ; gost urednik navedenog svesčića časopisa Antonija Primorac.