A New Historicist Interpretation Of Flight To Canada

Ishmael Reed, an important writer in contemporary African-American literature circle, has made outstanding achievement in the cultural field, such as novel, poem and drama. Reed devotes himself to satirize social evils and challenge the dominant power with strong political metaphor in his writing, which makes Reed one of the most reviewed Afro-American authors. As Reed’s most intelligent novel, Flight to Canada is very popular and attracts a lot of attention from scholars and readers. Up to now, researches of the novel mainly focus on the following aspects:the theme and plot, New Hoodoo Aesthetic and multiculturalism, neo-slave narratives, postmodernism and comparative studies with another works. Owing to the obvious historical feature in the novel, the historical discussion is always the supporting details of another orientation without systematical study. In view of research condition, the dissertation is to explore the relationship between the novel and American history, society and culture from the perspective of new historicism by adopting "textuality of history" and "historicity of texts" theory.Firstly, representations of textuality of history in Flight to Canada have been discussed in the dissertation. The concept of textuality of history thinks that history is not the single gigantic History, but the plural histories with heterogeneity, fragmentation and discontinuity. Within the historical difference flows the confrontation among different power discourse. The historical textuality will be analyzed on the basis of comparison between historical narratives in the novel and the records in official history to uncover the one-sidedness of image built in mainstream history, disclose the hypocrisy of American democratic politics and deconstruct historical narratives in official grand history. Secondly, the representations of historicity of Flight to Canada have been talked about. The texts are not only produced in certain historical and cultural context according to the concept of "historicity of texts". Therefore, Reed’s life and social experience, the black power movement and the black arts movement have been discussed in the dissertation. Thirdly, the novel Flight to Canada is also a part of history, which exerts the fashionable effects on the contemporary society and makes an impact on the reconstruction of black image and reflection on the pursuit of true freedom.It finds that Reed revisits the historical events and parodies historical figures, such as, the Civil War and President Lincoln in Flight to Canada from the perspective of new historicism. Thus, it creatively connects with the pursuit of slavery freedom. Different from the documentary history, historical narratives in the novel is constructed to question its reliability. The discussion of Flight, to Canada in historical and cultural context manifests the intertextual relationship between literature and history. The hidden profound meanings make us realize that Reed channels great energy into speaking up for voiceless Afro-American history as an intellectual with wintry conscience, which is designed to provide a new perspective for the novel and reference for future study.