The Post-colonial Christ Paradox: Literary Transfigurations of a Trickster God Gurbir Singh Jolly A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Graduate Program in Humanities York University Toronto, Ontario May 2019 © Gurbir Singh Jolly, 2019 Abstract Within English post-colonial literary studies, Christianity has often been characterized as principally a colonial imposition and, therefore, only modestly theorized as a post-colonial religion that lends itself to complex post- colonial literary renderings. However, the literary implications of post-colonial Christianity will demand increasing attention as Christianity, according to demographic trends, will over the course of the twenty-first century be practiced more widely by peoples who fall under the rubric of post-colonial studies than by peoples of European ancestry. My dissertation considers how four texts—Thomas King’s 1993 novel, Green Grass Running Water, Derek Walcott’s 1967 play, The Dream on Monkey Mountain, Arundhati Roy’s 1996 novel, The God of Small Things, and Chigozie Obioma’s 2015 novel, The Fishermen—feature Christ-like figures whose post-colonial significance resides in the classical Christological paradoxes with which each is identified. Critically, each of these texts pairs Christological paradoxes with paradoxes associated with pre- colonial trickster figures or trickster spirituality. In imagining the Christ as a paradoxical, post-colonial trickster, my core texts address ambiguities and anxieties attending post-colonial pursuits of empowerment. The mixture of Christological and trickster paradoxes in these texts questions post-colonial understandings of power that remain constrained within a colonially-reinforced imaginary inclined to recognize power chiefly as an exercise in subjugation. Because Christology remains central to Christian understandings of personhood, these texts’ probing of post-colonial empowerment also remains deeply invested in their explorations of what post-colonial personhood can mean in the wake of dehumanizing colonialism. My core texts bear witness to diverse histories of English colonialism, the unevenness of their attendant Christianizing agendas and the particular, contextual post-colonial currency of the Christological and trickster paradoxes invoked. My dissertation posits that the ambiguity generated by these paradoxes, far from inhibiting ethical action, catalyzes inclusiveness by troubling lingering, colonially established or reinforced hierarchies premised on rigid stratification. In so doing, my dissertation also demonstrates how post-colonial literary Christologies—in my case, those with trickster intonations—can merit extended literary and theological study. ii For Jessica. Who has faith. iii Acknowledgements Thank you, Dr. Becky Lee, for your powerful, gentle patience. Thank you, Dr. Patrick Taylor, my oldest academic mentor, for introducing me to—and warning me about— tricksters. Thank you, Prof. Jamie Scott, my advisor, for the countless hours of rigorous debate, attentive guidance and enduring encouragement. One day, hopefully, I will be as much of a blessing to others as all of you have been to me. Thank you, Arun Mukherjee, Frank Birbalsingh, Tom Cohen, Bernard Lightman, Cheryl Cowdy, and Joan Steigerwald: at its best, I hope my work is a testament to your investment in my curiosity. Thank you, Andrea Penney: for stretching my mind with kindness. Thank you, Joe Hodes, Sailaja Krishnamurti, Leilani Stewart, Joshua Syenko, Concetta Principe, Carla Ionesco, Dale Shin, Raywat Deonandan, Prasad Bidaye, and Harjeet Badwall: my imagination would be a stunted lump without you. Thank you, Abby Shabtay and Sara Thompson: you kept me going, with so much laughter. Thank you, Zenia Wadhwani: would I have published a word without you? Thank you, Meera Sethi: for the confidences and confidence. Thank you, Anne Whyte: for the intercession. Thank to my students: for helping me keep it real. And thank you, Asha Jolly and Audrey Lengyel: my trickster mothers extraordinaire. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract.................................................................................................................................................ii Dedication............................................................................................................................................iii Acknowledgments................................................................................................................................iv Table of Contents .................................................................................................................................v Foreword: Post-Colonial Literary Christology and Its Interdisciplinary Trickster Intersections...........................1 1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................1 2. Chapter Outlines..........................................................................................................................3 Chapter One: Introduction—Paradoxes of Post-Colonial Christianity, Christology, and the Trickster....................11 1. Introduction: Why is Post-Colonial Christology Worth Our Attention?..................................11 2. Mechanisms of Christological Paradox.....................................................................................17 3. Surveying Paradox and Christology across Christian Traditions..............................................23 4. Paradox and Pluralism: Treating Christologies as a Hermeneutics of Paradox........................31 5. Culmination and Conclusion: The Trickster as a Subject of Christological Study...................43 Chapter Two: A Tale of Two Tricksters—The Christ and Coyote as Stranger and Friend in Thomas King’s Green Grass RunningWater................................................................................................................52 1. Introduction ..............................................................................................................................52 2. Expository Strategies Engaging Paradoxes of the Christ as Stranger and Friend.....................55 2.1. Hospitality and Traditions of Hermeneutic Pluralism.........................................................54 2.2. The Friend’s Disguise as the Satirized Straw-Man Stranger...............................................56 2.3. The Hermeneutics of Holy Humour....................................................................................62 3. Culmination and Conclusion—The Christology of Coyote’s Dreamy Linguistic Tricks.........69 Chapter Three: Lion and Monkey—Perichoretic Tricks and Revolutionary Personhood in Derek Walcott’s The Dream on Monkey Mountain...............................................................................................................80 1. Introduction ..............................................................................................................................80 2. Expository Strategies Engaging Paradoxes of the Christ as Lion and Lamb............................82 2.1. Lion Imagery.......................................................................................................................82 2.2. Monkey Imagery..................................................................................................................86 2.3. Perichoresis..........................................................................................................................90 2.4. Carnival...............................................................................................................................96 2.5. Masks...................................................................................................................................98 2.6. A Close Reading of The Dream on MonkeyMountain......................................................103 3. Culmination and Conclusion—Makak’sAwakening..............................................................126 Chapter Four: The God of Small Doubts—Deixis and Deification in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things................................................................................................................................................138 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................133 v 2. Expository Strategies Engaging Paradoxes of the Christ’s Human and Divine.....................136 2.1. The Tricksters in Question................................................................................................136 2.2. Ambiguities and Ambiguations of British Christian Imperialism.....................................147 2.3. The Christians of India......................................................................................................152 2.4. Narrative Planes, Diegesis and Theosis.............................................................................156 2.5. Deixis and the Exposition of Deification...........................................................................159 2.6. Doubt: A Literary Exposition of Things Seen Differently................................................165 2.7. The Inheritance of Ambiguity: Comparing “Skyblue” and “Blue Sky Church”...............171 3. Culmination and Conclusion: The Inheritance of Ambiguity and the Theosis