The Ex-Isle Reinvention: Postcolonial Trauma and Recovery in Contemporary Island Literature
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The Ex-isle Reinvention: Postcolonial Trauma and Recovery in Contemporary Island Literature by Marilena Zackheos B.A., 2003, University of Virginia M.A., 2004, Queen Mary, University of London M.Phil., 2010, The George Washington University A Dissertation submitted to The Faculty of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. August 31, 2011 Dissertation directed by Marshall W. Alcorn Jr. Professor of English and Human Sciences The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University certifies that Marilena Zackheos has passed the Final Examination for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy as of May 18, 2011. This is the final and approved form of the dissertation. The Ex-isle Reinvention: Postcolonial Trauma and Recovery in Contemporary Island Literature Marilena Zackheos Dissertation Research Committee: Marshall W. Alcorn Jr., Professor of English and Human Sciences, Dissertation Director Kavita Daiya, Associate Professor of English, Committee Member Antonio Mahatma Lopez, Assistant Professor of English, Committee Member ii Copyright 2011 by Marilena Zackheos All rights reserved iii Acknowledgments This dissertation is all about the importance of social connections. First and foremost, I must thank my dissertation director, Marshall Alcorn, for his invaluable patience and attentive mentoring. No words can truly express my respect and gratitude to him. I want to thank Antonio Lopez for urging me to proceed with this project from the onset as an island brother. I am grateful to Kavita Daiya for taking me under her wing. My appreciation also goes to Holly Dugan and Andrew Zimmerman for enthusiastically engaging with my work. I am also obliged to Sonali Wijeyaratne and Neloufer De Mel for their Sri Lankan literature recommendations and for helping me obtain these books from the island. Ruth Keshishian from the Moufflon Bookshop also graciously assisted me in accumulating Cypriot texts for my research. A special debt of gratitude is owed to confidants and my GWU peers who kept me on track both personally and academically. Jennifer Cho supported me from the first stages of solitary research. Elizabeth Pittman, Julia McCrossin, Maureen Kentoff, Natalie Carter, Constance Woodard Green, and Naglaa Mahmood receptively welcomed me in their dissertation group. Harris Mylonas, Lowell Duckert, Theodora Danylevich, Mark de Cicco, Helen Gineris, Victor Sumin, Erica Carson, and Katerina Leris were there whenever I emerged from my fishbowl. Fortunately, Jessica Vollrath often insisted in also joining me there. She listened to me ramble for hours. She was my muse when I most needed help to organize manic thoughts on paper. In the stressful final stages, Brady Feutz kept me in love and tranquility. Throughout this process, my brother, Constantinos lifted my spirits with his whimsical humor. Finally, I must dedicate this to my parents. The project’s politically ethical and iv healing sensibility is theirs. Like father, like daughter. And mother, you can sound the church bells now. v Abstract of Dissertation The Ex-Isle Reinvention: Postcolonial Trauma And Recovery In Contemporary Island Literature This dissertation investigates narrative representations of traumatic recovery in contemporary poetry and prose by islanders from Cyprus, Puerto Rico, and Sri Lanka. These three islands are all to a great extent English-speaking, largely under-represented, and have suffered national trauma from repeated invasions and colonizations. This legacy has produced ethnically mixed and often clashing populations as well as a discordant nationhood. Cyprus is currently a divided island with separated Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot communities, Puerto Rico has an ambiguous national status as an unincorporated territory of the US, and Sri Lanka has been plagued by violent ethnic conflict between the Sinhalese and the Tamil. The islands’ political struggles have ex- isled islanders from and within the island home. This ex-isle has taken the form of psychological as well as physical displacement (as factors such as inter-communal hostility and discrimination, physical separation of island communities, and large-scale migration attest). Although Cyprus, Puerto Rico, and Sri Lanka have all, in their histories, been colonized by English-speaking cultures, and have been incorporated in an English- speaking world, they have most often been misrepresented or discounted in English literature and the global public sphere. Nonetheless, many island texts show a recuperative sensibility in negotiating this neglect and ex-isle. Exploring a range of islanders’ texts from writers like Taner Baybars, Luz María Umpierre-Herrera, and Shyam Selvadurai, this dissertation uncovers how islanders themselves challenge their specific historical oppressions – their touristic construction as an idealized island space, vi their traumatic history of violent invasions, and conflicted nationalist belonging. This work traces islanders’ resistance to debilitating ideologies that pigeonhole island subjectivity at the expense of their recovery from trauma. Drawing on work from postcolonial, trauma, queer, and diasporic studies, this dissertation examines islanders’ recuperative narratives as ways of negotiating debilitating attachments to space, history, and the nation; particularly in terms of revising the conception of an idealized island space, the tendency to monumentalize traumatic history, and the adherence to nationalist scripts which work to separate island communities. vii Table of Contents Acknowledgments………………………………………………………………...……...iv Abstract of Dissertation………………………………………………..............................vi Table of Contents……………………………………………………..............................viii Prolegomenon……………………………………………………………………………..1 Chapter 1: Identification with the Island Space………………………………………….31 Chapter 2: Recuperative Narrative Revisions of Traumatic History…………………….69 Chapter 3: Queer Island Recovery……………………………………………………...136 Coda…………………………………………………………………………………….230 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………....237 viii Prolegomenon I. Island Representation in the Anglophone World: Whose Islands? In a “Top Adventures” survey conducted at the travel exhibition Adventures NYC, Galapagos Islands was voted the most desired adventure travel destination in 2011, followed by the South Island of New Zealand (Koumelis). It is the island space that promises Anglophone travelers something amazing: “Come explore the beautiful shores of an island where its diverse and rich culture will take you to places you’ve only imagined,” coaxes an ad for traveling to Tobago (The Division of Tourism and Transportation, Tobago House of Assembly); “Private, Secluded, Beautiful: Our island paradise is close to reef, ruins & rainforest” vows St. George’s Caye Resort, the self- proclaimed “Gem of Belize”; the Mayan Princess Beach & Dive Resort in Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras advises to “Come see for yourself why this gem of Honduras is only now truly being discovered,” urging readers to imagine themselves as island discoverers; for the “happy island” of Aruba, a parent confirms that “‘The one thing that makes kids smile the most here is going snorkeling.’ ‘And playing beach tag.’ ‘And seeing the butterfly farm.’ ‘Wait, can we pick more than one thing?’” (Aruba Tourism Authority); on the back cover of the August 2011 issue of “Islands” magazine, the British Virgin Islands’ ad reads: Turquoise sea, white sandy beaches, hidden coves, swaying palm trees, tropical fragrances, pastel colours, but best of all –nobody around. Could paradise be any better? An archipelago of 60 close islands and cays, each 1 one will weave its special magic as you island-hop between them. But wherever you go, you’ll receive a warm welcome from the islanders delighted to introduce you to their particular brand of Caribbean music, food and drink. And to share with you their little bit of heaven. As in most enticing island tourism ads, the British Virgin Islands or “Nature’s Little Secrets” (BVI Tourism) here promises private edenic seclusion from the rest of the world save for the most welcoming of islanders, delighted to serve visitors and share their “little bit” of idyllic land. Islands have long now been associated with holiday getaways, pleasurable remoteness, utopia, and precious unknowns that are up for grabs, waiting to be discovered by visitors. Today, the purchase of island vacation packages and timeshares is on the rise. So is the purchase of properties on islands and even of private islands. The title of “Islands” magazine’s 2011 featured top article perhaps best describes the impetus behind this trend: “20 Best Islands to Live On: Retire early, live like a local, raise a family or start over. Pick your next life. It begins now.” Island living promises an idyllic escape out of the contemporary world’s problems. It is hard to know exactly when islands became places of mythic possibility for the Anglophone world. It does seem clear that around the time of the Age of Exploration, islands became places especially charged with the dynamics of a rich projective imagination. Sir Thomas More’s Utopia , Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, and Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe all depict human experience at the extreme margins of what is imaginable. Yet, like Said’s account of the Western construction of the Orient, islands represented by the English world have largely become constructions of colonial