Language Politics in Dev Virahsawmy's Toufann , a Postcolonial Rewriting of The Tempest

Bibliographic Data

ID9003955
AuthorsRoshni Mooneeram (University of Central England, Birmingham, UK, corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume41
Issue3
Pages67-81
Publication date2006-08-17
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of Commonwealth Literature (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-9894 • E-ISSN: 1741-6442
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0021989406068735
OpenAlexW2040633192
LanguageEN
Citations received1

This article is located at the crossroads between language and literature which postcolonial studies is beginning to confront. I explore language politics in a postcolonial context through an analysis of codeswitching in Dev Virahsawmy's Toufann (1991), a rewriting of Shakespeare's The Tempest in Mauritian Creole. I argue that in Virahsawmy's play the prominent juxtaposition of different languages, over and above different registers, fulfils important metaphorical functions. I investigate, in particular, how the strategic deployment of languages by Virahsawmy not only affects the perceived identity of his characters and his own narrative voice, but also interacts with the wider ideological framework within which he writes. Finally Virahsawmy's codeswitching strategy sheds light on the enabling if persistently ambivalent role of Shakespeare in a postcolonial context

Aesthetics · Ambivalence · Art · Colonialism · Context (archaeology · Defamiliarization · Identity (music · Ideology · Linguistics · Literature · Narrative · Political science · Politics · Postcolonial literature · Rewriting · Sociology · Tempest · African history and culture studies · Computer Science · History · Language, Linguistics, Cultural Analysis · Philosophy · Psychology

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub