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AWEJ for Translation & Literary Studies, Volume3, Number1. February 2019                        Pp. 219-231

The Ghost of Windrush Past: Intertextuality in Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners (1956)

Department of English
Abou Bekr Belkaid University
Tlemcen, Algeria

Department of English
Abou Bekr Belkaid University
Tlemcen, Algeria

Abstract:

Abstract PDF

The relationships between the literary texts have recently occupied the center of debate and discovery in the literary sphere. With a so ancient a practice as intertextuality; influence, allusion and quotation seem to smolder the old assumptions about originality and creativity. Therefore, this paper attempts to explore the utilization of intertextuality in the novel entitled The Lonely Londoners (1956) by the Trinidadian postcolonial writer Sam Selvon (1923-1994). To do so, a survey on the provenance of intertextuality is displayed, with reference to its pioneers who claimed that the text is a heterogeneous combination of texts, namely Kristeva and Bakhtin. Additionally, the article introduces several models of the concept that are relevant to the analysis of the aforementioned novel along with a brief overview on the cultural and social parameters leading to its creation. This inquiry shows that The Lonely Londoners textually intertwines with a few works of the literary canon, biblical characters and eminent legal cases via some names of its characters, in addition to other direct quotations. As this paper submits, the audience should reach a rational stance on the use of intertextuality in the postcolonial novel to relate to universally shared images about racial prejudice and alienation.

Cite as:

Belaid, M. A., & Reguig-Mouro, W. H. (2019). The Ghost of Windrush Past: Intertextuality in Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners (1956). Arab World English Journal for Translation & Literary Studies, 3 (1) 219-231.

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Mohammed Amine Belaid is a doctoral student at Abou Bekr Belkaid University of Tlemcen
majoring in comparative literature. He holds a master degree in Anglo-Saxon literature and
civilization from the same university. He worked as an ESP (English for specific purposes)
teacher at his alma mater and he currently works as an assistant teacher of English literary studies
at the department of English, Abou Bekr Belkaid University of Tlemcen, Algeria.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1318-1034

Wassila Hamza Reguig-Mouro is assistant professor at the department of English, University of
AbouBekr Belakid Tlemcen. She holds a PhD in Literature and Civilization as well as a habilitation. Her research interests are mostly literary and turn around Postmodernism
(metafiction, intertextuality, dialogism and narration…), Women’s Writing, Postcolonial literature
and the Victorian era.: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5011-3551