TY - JOUR
T1 - Tell me a story Dad
T2 - (Post)memory and the archaeology of subjectivity in Hanif Kureishis My Ear at His Heart
AU - Athanasiades, Andreas
PY - 2016/1/2
Y1 - 2016/1/2
N2 - This article argues that there are complex connections between imagined and lived experiences of "Britishness" in Hanif Kureishis (re)constructions of the past in his memoir My Ear at His Heart. These connections are inextricably tied to Kureishis relationships with the father figures in his life, and as such they can provide interpretive insights into both his work and the process of authorial self-fashioning. The focus of the article is on how Kureishi "imagines" a past, a father, an India and a migratory experience through the writings of his father, and on the way in which these affect his development as author, individual, and British subject. Ultimately, it is suggested this process enables Kureishi to rethink himself, his work, his father and his past, although not without issues and tensions, as all these dimensions collapse into the unreliable domain of memory. Kureishis process of identity formation is seen here as an "archaeology of subjectivity", in the sense that he constructs a self and a persona, in large part by excavating through the self-constitutive memories of the previous generation.
AB - This article argues that there are complex connections between imagined and lived experiences of "Britishness" in Hanif Kureishis (re)constructions of the past in his memoir My Ear at His Heart. These connections are inextricably tied to Kureishis relationships with the father figures in his life, and as such they can provide interpretive insights into both his work and the process of authorial self-fashioning. The focus of the article is on how Kureishi "imagines" a past, a father, an India and a migratory experience through the writings of his father, and on the way in which these affect his development as author, individual, and British subject. Ultimately, it is suggested this process enables Kureishi to rethink himself, his work, his father and his past, although not without issues and tensions, as all these dimensions collapse into the unreliable domain of memory. Kureishis process of identity formation is seen here as an "archaeology of subjectivity", in the sense that he constructs a self and a persona, in large part by excavating through the self-constitutive memories of the previous generation.
KW - Britishness
KW - Englishness
KW - Hanif Kureishi
KW - Identity
KW - Life narratives
KW - Postmemory
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84962767446&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/17449855.2015.1125138
DO - 10.1080/17449855.2015.1125138
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84962767446
SN - 1744-9855
VL - 52
SP - 26
EP - 37
JO - Journal of Postcolonial Writing
JF - Journal of Postcolonial Writing
IS - 1
ER -