The Human(ist) Dimension of Caryl Phillips’s Fiction through the Example of Higher Ground (1989)

Polish Journal of English Studies

Marta Frątczak¹ 

[1] Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań;

关键词: caryl phillips;    humanism;    multiculturalism;    migrants;    migrations;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

ThepaperpresentsacriticalrereadingofCarylPhillips’s Higher Ground (1989), which tells the (hi)stories of a West African man, an African-American teenager and a Polish war refugee who set themselves against hostile socio-politicalsystems. Originallypublished in 1989, but reprinted in 2006, the novel is an exemplary piece of Phillips’s fiction that embodies all the char-acteristic elements of his writing: fragmentary narration, deep intertextuality and, most importantly, a purely humanist message that enables one to place the novel beyond the Black Atlantic or Afro-Caribbean canon, as Caryl Phillips is customarily read. The paper revolves around the issues of cultural identity, intercultural migrations, political radicalism and social exclusion, showing that Phillips’s fiction constitutes a timeless and valuable source of knowledge about the socio-cultural condition of the contemporary West and thus deserves wider recognition on the European literary scene.

【 授权许可】

Unknown