Crossing the Water: Fanon in Naipaul and Rushdie

Abstract

This MA thesis sets out to explore the influences of Fanon's The Wretched and Black Skin on postcolonial literature by Indian-English writers. Fanon's theory regarding the colonial subject resonates in the literature of Naipaul and Rushdie, albeit on different levels. Naipaul's and Rushdie's narratives represent opposites in the postcolonial literary scene, and this opposition can be highlighted in the light of Fanon's theory considering cultural assimilation and the native intellectual and is also further explained by looking at the social-cultural, and historical context of both Naipaul and Rushdie. A literary analysis of their work provides insight in the literary treatment of the former colonial subject and this treatment supports Fanon's theory.