| Bernadine Evaristo(1959-)is one of the most distinctive ethnic writers in contemporary Britain and she occupies an important position in contemporary British literature due to the rich themes and unique writing style in her works.The issue of the historical autonomy of blacks has always been the focus of Evaristo‘s novels.Soul Tourists is her third novel on black history,dealing with the reconstruction of black history on the European continent.Based on Halbwachs‘ theory of collective memory and Pierre Nora‘s concept of sites of memory,this thesis analyzes the subversion of the official European history by black groups and the active use of memory theory by black groups to reconstruct the history of black Europeans.This thesis can be divided into five chapters.Chapter One is an introduction,which mainly provides a brief introduction to Bernardine Evaristo and her work Soul Tourists,a literature review of the novel both at home and abroad,as well as the thesis statement containing the main point of this thesis.The next three chapters are the body of the whole thesis.Chapter Two focuses on the subversion and reconstruction of European court history with individual memory.The black ghost successfully uses individual memory to subvert the white court history written by the European court,confirms the existence of black people in the court,and reconstructs the history of the black court in Europe.Chapter Three deeply interprets the subversion and reconstruction of the European slave history by collective memory.The black collective gradually reconstruct disappearing or deformed social frameworks at the moment of meeting with its peers,and subverts the slave trade and slavery written by the superior through the Black Power movement,hence reconstructing the history of black slavery in Europe.Chapter Four analyzes in detail the subversion and reconstruction of the history of European art with the site memory.With the help of the concept of ―sites of memory‖,the black people collectively reproduce the black people‘s contribution to the European architectural history and literary history,subverting the blacks‘ absence in European history of architecture.And the mainstream historical view of art history is supplemented with the black art history of Europe.Chapter Five is the summary of the thesis.The conclusion points out that memory is of great significance for restoring the truth of black history and reconstructing the history of black Europe.Soul Tourists takes history as the starting point and describes the subversion and reconstruction of court history,slave history and art history by black groups,revealing that memory,as a bridge connecting the past,present and future,plays an important role in the construction of black European history.At the same time,it also enhances the sense of belonging and homeland of the descendants of immigrants living in a mixed environment. |
