A Study Of The Postmodern Historical Narrative Writing In The Underground Railroad

After Postmodernism touched the realm of historical philosophy,the truthfulness and authority of grand historical narrative were questioned universally.Researchers started to think anew the essence of history and the mission of history writing in terms of "reality" and "fiction".Historical writing is subjected to power relation and ideology.The renewed awareness for historical issues and historical narrative extends from the field of historical philosophy to the dimension of literature.The fictions constructed in postmodernism are inclined to return to history and interrogate history,infused with distinct self-reflexivity and attempt to reveal cultural politics implication hidden behind history.The Underground Railroad written by African-American writer Colson Whitehead calls historically attention to the social background of antebellum America,fully stimulates imagination and invents fictional characters and plot,which mirrors the survival condition of black slaves and conveys author’s deep concern about the destiny of marginalized black communities.This thesis puts The Underground Railroad into the postmodern historical context,and utilizes the notion of Hayden White’s postmodern historical narratology and Linda Hutcheon’s historiographic metafiction as a theoretical framework to discuss the narrative techniques of postmodern historical writing and thus delve into Whitehead’s cultural politics intentions and strategies.Above all,the novel is decoded from the perspective of"historiographic metafiction" because it conceives intense self-reference and yet paradoxically points to historical reality.Based on the history and reality,Whitehead employs postmodern irony and parody to achieve self-reflexivity which highlights the subjectivity and fictionality and exposes power relation and ideological inclination.Besides,this thesis probes into author’s postmodern historical consciousness through the power relations revealed in the text by postmodern irony and parody.Furthermore,through postmodern irony and parody,Whitehead criticizes dominant ideologies including colonialism,racism and patriarchy.Since historical writing is narrative,Whitehead believes marginalized groups are able to use "small narratives" to undermine official historical writing and rewrite their own history in an endeavor to acquire cultural identity and social recognition.