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Title HISTORICAL (MIS) REPRESENTATION AND THE LITERARY WRITING BACK: A POSTMODERNIST STUDY OF SELECTED NATIVE AMERICAN FICTION

Author(s) Sundas Tahreem

Abstract ABSTRACT Thesis Title: Historical (Mis)representation and the Literary Writing Back: A Postmodernist Study of Selected Native American Fiction Using the theoretical underpinnings of postmodernism, this qualitative study analyzes the selected Native American literary texts to bring forth the voice of the suppressed American Indians as well as their silenced and marginalized truth. This research sets its direction with the help of the three guiding research objectives. To achieve the first and the third objective of the study, Jean-François Lyotard’s concept of disbelief in grand narratives is applied on the selected novels of the writers, to draw a comparison between grand narratives established and promoted by Euro Americans with mini-narratives promoted by Native Americans. The study reveals that the selected writers have challenged these grand narratives in a way so as to prove that there is no authentic reality behind those so-called legitimized grand narratives. The challenging claims of the Native American writers have dragged grand narratives, based on Euro American superiority and legitimacy to the margin, bringing new mini-narratives based on American Indian perspective and their superiority, to the center. To achieve the second objective of the study, Linda Hutcheon’s theory of historiographic metafiction is used to make a comparison between the Euro American’s officially documented history with the fictive history presented by the selected writers. The study is based on the analysis of fiction from the American Indian’s marginalized perspective and their silenced truth. It has been proved with shreds of evidence from the selected fictional works, that the history is not always based on factual truth. The study finally winds up with recommendations for the future researchers.

Type Thesis/Dissertation PhD

Faculty Languages

Department English

Language English

Publication Date 2021-10-01

Subject English Literature

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