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Postcolonial Carnival: The Carnivalesque Subversion in Derek Walcott’s Play Pantomime

. Asrar Hassan, Muhammad Afzal Faheem & Ifrah Khan


Abstract

This research article aims to explore Derek Walcott’s play Pantomime from the carnivalesque mode of literary expression developed by Russian literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin. The paper argues that the grotesque ‘carnivalesque’ humor, satire, and parody in Pantomime provide a postcolonial framework for Caribbean creole authors like Walcott as a means of challenging and subverting (neo)colonial discourses. The tradition of Bakhtin’s carni­valesque is drawn on the interpretation of Medieval European history and the works of author François Rabelais, however, tracing the history of carnival traditions in the Caribbean and Africa finds the carnivalesque decentered from its conventional Eurocentric origin story. As employed in Pantomime, the carnivalesque as a postcolonial mode of writing allows the mixed-race creole language, culture, and identity in the Caribbean to be reshaped and redefined. Further, the study explores the reimagining of hybrid creole language and identity from the philosophical perspective of Walcott’s ‘Adamic imagination’—longing for a return to an authentic, and sustainable way of life, free from the corrupting legacy of colonialism.                          

Index Terms- Carnivalesque, Postcolonialism, Caribbean, Bakhtin, Walcott.

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