„All this Exotic World..." The Anti-Colonial Signifacance of Zofia Nałkowska's Novel „Choucas"
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31261/RSL.2023.33.01Keywords:
Zofia Nałkowska, internationalism, imperialism, Choucas, anti-colonialism, exoticismAbstract
Choucas, a lesser-known novel by Zofia Nałkowska published in 1927, directs the criticism and irony against the imperial politics of France and Spain of the early 20th century. The article addresses the way in which this criticism is formulated, the working assumption being that it is important not only to decipher the historical contexts that Nałkowska uses in her work, or her private views on the issues of war and colonization (an examination of these issues was undertaken by Włodzimierz Wójcik), but also to analyze the language used by the novel’s protagonists, Mrs. de Carfort and Mr. Carrizales, to defend, justify or praise colonial policies. In particular, the meaning of two adjectives, “exotic” and “racial,” is analyzed in detail; they are used very frequently in the narrative, usually to characterize the appearance of the characters. The author puts forth the hypothesis that this abundant use of these two words does not simply manifest stylistic deficiencies of the novel or a kind of unconscious mannerism of Nałkowska, but a way of criticizing concepts which she, Nałkowska, identifies and regards as empty signifiers. Absorbing various meanings in the course of the narrative and occurring in ever-changing contexts, these words reveal their arbitrariness and unrepresentability.
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