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Heritage and innovation - Polynesian literature in English
Binarová, Teata ; Nováková, Soňa (advisor) ; Kolinská, Klára (referee)
Polynesian literature in English is being defined as a post-colonial literature written by indigenous writers living in the former colonies of Great Britain in the geo- cultural area of Polynesia. This new literature emerged in the 1960's and became part of the pan-Polynesian movement. It sprang as the articulation of the autochthons' resistance against the manifestations of colonial hegemony, political or cultural, and at the same time, as the expression of their struggle for self-assertion and independence. In their works, the Polynesian writers strive to form a new Polynesian literature and culture and to find a proper cultural identity: they innovate the indigenous oral tradition by putting it in relationship with contemporary life in post-colonial Polynesia and by introducing it into their writing in English. The most representative authors who fulfil this new literary direction are the prose writers Witi Ihimaera and Albert Wendt in their respective novels Tangi (1973) and Sons for the Return Home (1973) together with the poet Alistair Te Ariki Campbell in his poetry collection The Dark Lord of Savaiki (1980). However, they are not alone in their strife, which is evidenced by the series of other names such as Patricia Grace, Epeli Hau'ofa, Keri Hulme and others. All the given prose writers...
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