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"A No Man´s Land of the Ages": Colonialismo, dinâmicas de poder e transculturalidade na ficção breve do Pacífico Sul, de Robert Louis Stevenson
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Ao longo de grande parte do século XX, a reputação de Robert Louis Stevenson foi fortemente condicionada pelo foco prevalecente na sua ficção de aventura para rapazes, o que resultou numa marginalização da sua obra no âmbito do panorama literário vitoriano. A presente dissertação pretende contribuir para uma tendência recente na crítica literária, de re-interpretação e re-valorização do trabalho do autor, expondo uma parcela anteriormente esquecida da sua obra ― a ficção breve do Pacífico Sul — a um olhar contemporâneo pós-colonial.
No sentido de demonstrar a relevância destas narrativas ― seleccionadas e editadas por Roslyn Jolly em South Sea Tales (publicado pela Oxford World Classics, em 1996) ―, para os estudos da Literatura sobre o Império, procedeu-se a uma análise das representações ficcionadas das várias facetas da sociedade colonial do Pacífico, bem como das relações estabelecidas entre colonizado e colonizador, à luz da retórica imperial e recorrendo à conceptualização pós-colonial como ponto de referência para a interpretação dos seus elementos mais subversivos.
Contextualizando previamente a análise dos textos através de uma breve abordagem desconstrucionista do discurso colonial oitocentista, bem como de um trabalho de leitura e dissecação da escrita de não ficção do autor, produzida durante a sua estada em Samoa, parte-se seguidamente para a interpretação das representações propostas por Stevenson das consequências mais imediatas do processo de colonização sobre a realidade social das ilhas do Pacífico, examinando os textos em que a perspectiva das personagens indígenas é dominante. Numa segunda fase, o foco recairá sobre os seus retratos de fenómenos de hibridização, típicos das sociedades transculturais, com particular destaque para as narrativas que colocam o ponto de vista do homem branco em primeiro plano, procurando, por meio de uma análise articulada, demonstrar a clarividência e sobriedade que caracterizam o olhar do autor na sua reprodução ficcional das complexas dinâmicas interculturais estabelecidas nas zonas de contacto.
Através desta leitura inter-relacionada dos textos, pretende-se alcançar uma visão panoramica da representação fragmentada que Stevenson elabora do Pacífico colonial, captando, desta forma, a dimensão subversiva dos seus retratos face à ideologia do Império e expondo as preocupações acerca do futuro pós-colonial da região, que se manifestam nas entrelinhas de cada história. O objectivo final é, assim, comprovar que a última parcela da produção ficcional de Stevenson não só contém sementes embrionárias de um discurso literário anti-império, como coloca questões que permanecem surpreendentemente actuais acerca do funcionamento das sociedades globalizadas.
For many decades following his death, Robert Louis Stevenson’s name was haunted by his reputation as a writer of adventure fiction for boys, which cost him his place within the pantheon of Victorian authors for a considerable amount of time. A recent trend in literary criticism has sought to re-examine and re-evaluate Stevenson’s work, as well as its place within the Victorian literary landscape. This dissertation aims to contribute to these new perceptions of the author’s legacy, by providing a contemporary postcolonial perspective on a previously neglected portion of his writings: his short Pacific fiction. The texts under analysis were compiled and edited by Roslyn Jolly in the book South Sea Tales, published by Oxford World Classics in 1996. In order to prove their relevance to the studies of Imperial Literature, this dissertation examines the multilayered colonial society portrayed by Stevenson, as well as the relationships established between colonizers and colonized. The narratives are scrutinized in relation to the basic premisses of colonial discourse and through the filter of postcolonial theory, working as a tool for the interpretation of the texts’ most subversive elements.The textual analysis is therefore preceded by a short deconstructionist approach to nineteenth-century colonial discourse and a careful reading of the author’s non-fictional writings produced during his stay in Samoa. Moving on to the fictional texts, the third chapter considers Stevenson’s depiction of the immediate consequences of the colonial process upon Pacific traditional societies, as seen through the perspective of indigenous characters. The fourth chapter focuses on narratives told by the white man’s standpoint and examines the portrayals of cultural encounters and hybridity, a specific phenomenon of transcultural societies. This overall analysis seeks to highlight the author’s perceptiveness and sobriety in representing the complex intercultural dynamics taking place in contact zones. The final aim of this dissertation is to provide a global, cohesive picture of Stevenson’s fragmented portrayal of colonial Pacific, by recognizing the patterns in his multiple depictions of colonial society and identifying his camouflaged concerns for the region’s postcolonial future. It argues unequivocally that the last portion of Stevenson’s fictional production not only contains the seeds of an anti-colonial literary discourse, but also raises questions about global society that remain surprisingly relevant today.
For many decades following his death, Robert Louis Stevenson’s name was haunted by his reputation as a writer of adventure fiction for boys, which cost him his place within the pantheon of Victorian authors for a considerable amount of time. A recent trend in literary criticism has sought to re-examine and re-evaluate Stevenson’s work, as well as its place within the Victorian literary landscape. This dissertation aims to contribute to these new perceptions of the author’s legacy, by providing a contemporary postcolonial perspective on a previously neglected portion of his writings: his short Pacific fiction. The texts under analysis were compiled and edited by Roslyn Jolly in the book South Sea Tales, published by Oxford World Classics in 1996. In order to prove their relevance to the studies of Imperial Literature, this dissertation examines the multilayered colonial society portrayed by Stevenson, as well as the relationships established between colonizers and colonized. The narratives are scrutinized in relation to the basic premisses of colonial discourse and through the filter of postcolonial theory, working as a tool for the interpretation of the texts’ most subversive elements.The textual analysis is therefore preceded by a short deconstructionist approach to nineteenth-century colonial discourse and a careful reading of the author’s non-fictional writings produced during his stay in Samoa. Moving on to the fictional texts, the third chapter considers Stevenson’s depiction of the immediate consequences of the colonial process upon Pacific traditional societies, as seen through the perspective of indigenous characters. The fourth chapter focuses on narratives told by the white man’s standpoint and examines the portrayals of cultural encounters and hybridity, a specific phenomenon of transcultural societies. This overall analysis seeks to highlight the author’s perceptiveness and sobriety in representing the complex intercultural dynamics taking place in contact zones. The final aim of this dissertation is to provide a global, cohesive picture of Stevenson’s fragmented portrayal of colonial Pacific, by recognizing the patterns in his multiple depictions of colonial society and identifying his camouflaged concerns for the region’s postcolonial future. It argues unequivocally that the last portion of Stevenson’s fictional production not only contains the seeds of an anti-colonial literary discourse, but also raises questions about global society that remain surprisingly relevant today.
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Colonialismo A No Man´s Land of the Ages Robert Louis Stevenson Pós-colonialismo Pacífico Sul Império Transculturalidade Aculturação Hibridismo Miscigenação Globalização postcolonialism South Pacific Empire Transculturation Acculturation Hybridity Miscegenation Globalization