Same Traumas, Different Texts

The famous British writer Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness is a recognized classic, reflecting western colonization in Africa. Likewise, Oscar and Lucinda, written by the preeminent young writer Peter Carey, also touches upon western colonization, specifically that of Australia by the British Empire.So far, the research in Heart of Darkness has made fruitful achievements, though there has been much controversy about this novella. Oscar and Lucinda, on the other hand, has also become critics' focus of attention. However, little comparative study is done on the two works in the perspective of Postcolonialism. Through an elaborate reading, the author of this thesis intends to make an in-depth study of them against the colonial history from postcolonialism and tries to demonstrate the contributions two authors have made to reveal the traumas caused by colonialism and present the authors' different insights into that history as reflected in the oeuvres written in different times.A careful reading and detailed comparison enables us to see that there are many similarities between the two works, particularly in revealing the traumas caused by Colonialism. The traumas reflected are not confined to the oppression and exploitation of the colonized, but also encompass the loss of ideal and the dehumanization on the part of the colonizer.Besides, the two works also reveal their marked differences:the different perceptions and attitudes of the authors in their respective texts. Out of different historical backgrounds and different personal experiences, Conrad in his Heart of Darkness reveals palpably the hypocrisy and darkness of the colonial history, but living in the heyday of colonialism and imperialism, he is influenced by "Orientalism" and is inadvertently inhibited; while writing decades later, in a quite different time and afforded an up-dated perspective, Peter Carey in his Oscar and Lucinda succeeds in transcending imperialism and completely subverting the colonial history. It is through this kind of comparison that we can have a deeper understanding of the two works and a better perception of the colonial history. This thesis, from the perspective of Postcolonialism, makes a comparison and contrast between Heart of Darkness and Oscar and Lucinda in the hope of shedding some light in this respect. The main contents are as follows:In the first chapter, after a brief introduction about the authors and literature review, the theory of Orientalism is provided and some remarks about the necessity and significance of the thesis are made. Chapter Two dwells upon the "same traumas", which is the part that reveals the similarities of the two novels in that both reflect the traumas caused by colonialism, including the corruption of "self" and the disaster of "the other". This is the contribution that both novels have made to the exposure of the evils of colonialism. Chapter Three focuses on the differences of the two works, revealing different perceptions or attitudes of the authors, i.e., Orientalism under imperialism in Heart of Darkness and transcendence and subversion of the colonial history in Oscar and Lucinda, a significant progress from Orientalism to postcolonialism. The fourth chapter traces two causes for these features in two works. One is historical, having to do with the background of the time, and the other is personal, related to the authors' own experiences. The last chapter is a conclusion recapitulating that both works reveal the traumas caused by colonialism, but due to different historical background and authors' experiences, there exist marked differences in the presentation. While Heart of Darkness touches upon Orientalism with judicious restraint, Oscar and Lucinda offers deeper insights into the colonial history and relentlessly subverts it.