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Fictions of (Cultural) Memory: Re-inventing British Imperial Memory in Kipling’s ‘The White Man’s Burden’ and Lord Byron’s ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’

Received: 15 June 2023     Accepted: 3 July 2023     Published: 11 July 2023
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Abstract

This study explores the representations of British cultural memory and identity in two British Poems—Kipling’s ‘The White Man’s burden’ and Lord Byron’s ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’, with the aim of demonstrating that, as ‘fictions of memory’ these literary works teem with a memory of British political/imperial history in the form of linguistic parameters, ideological and cultural discourses, myths, images and mainly metaphors of imperial history or what most critics generally refer to as, ‘fictions of empire’ or ‘metaphors of empire’. The selected texts from the British colonial context are linked by their historical affinity to, and memory of British colonialism and the history of slavery. This paper answers the following research questions: Whose memory of the past is textually articulated through the chosen texts? Or, which specific versions of memory are textually inscribed? What approaches are available for research focusing on British imperial memory in literary studies? What functions do the texts fulfil as fictions of memory? In answering these questions, the study further demonstrates that the representation of memory in texts can be located via narrative strategies. Narratology thus plays a significant role in constructing versions of the past and the identities of given social groups or cultural communities.

Published in International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 11, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.11
Page(s) 159-169
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Fictions of Memory, Cultural Memory, Identity, Kipling, Byron

References
[1] Birk, Hanne. (2006). ‘Mediating Imperial Collective Memory: Metaphors of Empire’, Literature and Memory: Theoretical Paradigms-Genres-Functions. Erll Astrid and Ansgar Nunning. (eds.). Tṻbingen: Francke Verlag.
[2] Byron, Lord George. (1948): Poems of Lord Byron. Guy Pocock (ed.). Vol. I. London: J. M. Dent and Sons Ltd.
[3] Chrisman, Laura and Williams, Patrick 1994. ‘Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory’. Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory: An Introduction. L. Chrisman, P. Williams (eds.) New York and London: Routledge, pp. 1-20.
[4] Confino, Alon. (2010). ‘Memory and the History of Mentalities’. In: A Companion to Cultural Memory Studies. Astrid Erll/Ansgar Nunning (eds.), Berlin/Ney York: De Gruyter. 77-84.
[5] Conrad, Joseph. (1988). Heart of Darkness. New York: Norton.
[6] Corbett, Mary Jean. 2000. Allegories of Union in Irish and English Writing, 1790- 1870 Politics.. History, and the Family from Edgeworth to Arnold. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
[7] Dubey, Isha. (2021. ‘Remembering, forgetting and memorialising: 1947, 1971 and the state of memory studies in South Asia’ Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14736489.2021.1993709
[8] Erll, Astrid. (2010). ‘Cultural Memory Studies: An Introduction’, A Companion to Cultural Memory Studies. Astrid Erll/Ansgar Nunning (eds.), Berlin/New York: De Gruyter. 1-15.
[9] Eubanks, Philip. 1999 “The Story of Conceptual Metaphors. What motivates metaphoric Mapping? In Poetics Today 20.3, 419-442.
[10] Fludernik. Monika. (1996). Towards a Natural Narratology. London and New York: Routledge.
[11] Neumann, Birgit. (2010). ‘The Literary Representations of Memory.’ A Companion to Cultural Memory Studies. Astrid Erll/Ansgar Nunning (eds.), Berlin/NY: De Gruyter. 333-343.
[12] Nunning, Ansgar. (2005). ‘On the Discursive Construction of Empire of the Mind: Metaphorical Re-membering as means of Narrativizing and Naturalizing Cultural Transformations.’ In: Jurgen Schlager (ed.). Real 20. Metamorphosis Structures of Cultural Transformations. Tubingen: Narr Francke Verlag. 59-99.
[13] Nunning, Ansgar. (2009). ‘Surveying Contextualist and Cultural Narratologies: Towards an Outline of Approaches, Concepts and Potentials’. In: Narratology in the Age of Cross-Disciplinary Narrative Research. Sandra Heinen and Roy Sommer. (eds.). Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter. 48.70.
[14] Nunning, Vera and Nunning, Ansgar. (2004). An Introduction to the Study of English and American Literature. Sturttgart: Klett.
[15] Nunning, Vera and Nunning, Ansgar. (1996). ‘Fictions of Empire and the Making of Imperialist Mentalities: Colonial Discourse and Postcolonial Criticism as a Paradigm for Intercultural Studies.’ In: Intercultural Studies: Fictions of Empire. Vera and Ansgar Nunning (eds). Heidelburg: Universitatsverlag. 7-31.
[16] Watson, Reginald. (2001). Images of blackness in the works of Charlotte and Emily Brontë. CLA Journal, 44 (4), 451-70. Retrieved, 11 June, 2023.
[17] Winter, Jay. (2010). ‘Sites of Memory and the Shadow of War.’, In: A Companion to Cultural Memory Studies. Astrid Erll/Ansgar Nunning (eds.), Berlin/New York: De Gruyter. 61-74.
[18] Xypolia, IIia. (2022). ‘From the White Man’s Burden to the Responsible Saviour: Justifying Humanitarian Intervention in Libya.’ Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/author/Xypolia%2C+Ilia
[19] Zwick, Jim (2023) ‘The White Man’s Burden’ and Its Critics’, SHEC: Resources for Teachers. Available at: https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/Items/show/505
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    Nforbin Gerald Niba. (2023). Fictions of (Cultural) Memory: Re-inventing British Imperial Memory in Kipling’s ‘The White Man’s Burden’ and Lord Byron’s ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 11(4), 159-169. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.11

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    Nforbin Gerald Niba. Fictions of (Cultural) Memory: Re-inventing British Imperial Memory in Kipling’s ‘The White Man’s Burden’ and Lord Byron’s ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2023, 11(4), 159-169. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.11

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    AMA Style

    Nforbin Gerald Niba. Fictions of (Cultural) Memory: Re-inventing British Imperial Memory in Kipling’s ‘The White Man’s Burden’ and Lord Byron’s ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’. Int J Lit Arts. 2023;11(4):159-169. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.11,
      author = {Nforbin Gerald Niba},
      title = {Fictions of (Cultural) Memory: Re-inventing British Imperial Memory in Kipling’s ‘The White Man’s Burden’ and Lord Byron’s ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’},
      journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
      volume = {11},
      number = {4},
      pages = {159-169},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20231104.11},
      abstract = {This study explores the representations of British cultural memory and identity in two British Poems—Kipling’s ‘The White Man’s burden’ and Lord Byron’s ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’, with the aim of demonstrating that, as ‘fictions of memory’ these literary works teem with a memory of British political/imperial history in the form of linguistic parameters, ideological and cultural discourses, myths, images and mainly metaphors of imperial history or what most critics generally refer to as, ‘fictions of empire’ or ‘metaphors of empire’. The selected texts from the British colonial context are linked by their historical affinity to, and memory of British colonialism and the history of slavery. This paper answers the following research questions: Whose memory of the past is textually articulated through the chosen texts? Or, which specific versions of memory are textually inscribed? What approaches are available for research focusing on British imperial memory in literary studies? What functions do the texts fulfil as fictions of memory? In answering these questions, the study further demonstrates that the representation of memory in texts can be located via narrative strategies. Narratology thus plays a significant role in constructing versions of the past and the identities of given social groups or cultural communities.},
     year = {2023}
    }
    

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    AB  - This study explores the representations of British cultural memory and identity in two British Poems—Kipling’s ‘The White Man’s burden’ and Lord Byron’s ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’, with the aim of demonstrating that, as ‘fictions of memory’ these literary works teem with a memory of British political/imperial history in the form of linguistic parameters, ideological and cultural discourses, myths, images and mainly metaphors of imperial history or what most critics generally refer to as, ‘fictions of empire’ or ‘metaphors of empire’. The selected texts from the British colonial context are linked by their historical affinity to, and memory of British colonialism and the history of slavery. This paper answers the following research questions: Whose memory of the past is textually articulated through the chosen texts? Or, which specific versions of memory are textually inscribed? What approaches are available for research focusing on British imperial memory in literary studies? What functions do the texts fulfil as fictions of memory? In answering these questions, the study further demonstrates that the representation of memory in texts can be located via narrative strategies. Narratology thus plays a significant role in constructing versions of the past and the identities of given social groups or cultural communities.
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Author Information
  • Department of English and Foreign Languages, University of Douala, Douala, Cameroon

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