The Aftermath of Trauma: Postmemory in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun

Abstract

A novel that delves into the trauma of the Biafran War and the relation of this trauma to collective and personal memory is Half of Yellow Sun. The Nigerian author, Chimamanda Adichie addresses the traumatic past of her parents during the Biafran War in this novel. I will try to form an understanding of the ways in which Half of a Yellow Sun adheres to, or sometimes rejects, postmemory by focusing on Hirsch’s theory and the critique on her theory.