Fictions of (Cultural) Memory: Re-inventing British Imperial Memory in Kipling’s ‘The White Man’s Burden’ and Lord Byron’s ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’

Nforbin Gerald Niba

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.11

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Fictions of (Cultural) Memory: Re-inventing British Imperial Memory in Kipling’s ‘The White Man’s Burden’ and Lord Byron’s ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’

Nforbin Gerald Niba

Published in International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 11, Issue 4)

Received: 15 June 2023 Accepted: 3 July 2023 Published: 11 July 2023

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Abstract

This study explores the representations of British cultural memory and identity in two British Poems—Kipling’s ‘The White Man’s burden’ and Lord Byron’s ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’, with the aim of demonstrating that, as ‘fictions of memory’ these literary works teem with a memory of British political/imperial history in the form of linguistic parameters, ideological and cultural discourses, myths, images and mainly metaphors of imperial history or what most critics generally refer to as, ‘fictions of empire’ or ‘metaphors of empire’. The selected texts from the British colonial context are linked by their historical affinity to, and memory of British colonialism and the history of slavery. This paper answers the following research questions: Whose memory of the past is textually articulated through the chosen texts? Or, which specific versions of memory are textually inscribed? What approaches are available for research focusing on British imperial memory in literary studies? What functions do the texts fulfil as fictions of memory? In answering these questions, the study further demonstrates that the representation of memory in texts can be located via narrative strategies. Narratology thus plays a significant role in constructing versions of the past and the identities of given social groups or cultural communities.

Published in	International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 11, Issue 4)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.11
Page(s)	159-169
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Fictions of Memory, Cultural Memory, Identity, Kipling, Byron

References

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[4]	Confino, Alon. (2010). ‘Memory and the History of Mentalities’. In: A Companion to Cultural Memory Studies. Astrid Erll/Ansgar Nunning (eds.), Berlin/Ney York: De Gruyter. 77-84.
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[8]	Erll, Astrid. (2010). ‘Cultural Memory Studies: An Introduction’, A Companion to Cultural Memory Studies. Astrid Erll/Ansgar Nunning (eds.), Berlin/New York: De Gruyter. 1-15.
[9]	Eubanks, Philip. 1999 “The Story of Conceptual Metaphors. What motivates metaphoric Mapping? In Poetics Today 20.3, 419-442.
[10]	Fludernik. Monika. (1996). Towards a Natural Narratology. London and New York: Routledge.
[11]	Neumann, Birgit. (2010). ‘The Literary Representations of Memory.’ A Companion to Cultural Memory Studies. Astrid Erll/Ansgar Nunning (eds.), Berlin/NY: De Gruyter. 333-343.
[12]	Nunning, Ansgar. (2005). ‘On the Discursive Construction of Empire of the Mind: Metaphorical Re-membering as means of Narrativizing and Naturalizing Cultural Transformations.’ In: Jurgen Schlager (ed.). Real 20. Metamorphosis Structures of Cultural Transformations. Tubingen: Narr Francke Verlag. 59-99.
[13]	Nunning, Ansgar. (2009). ‘Surveying Contextualist and Cultural Narratologies: Towards an Outline of Approaches, Concepts and Potentials’. In: Narratology in the Age of Cross-Disciplinary Narrative Research. Sandra Heinen and Roy Sommer. (eds.). Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter. 48.70.
[14]	Nunning, Vera and Nunning, Ansgar. (2004). An Introduction to the Study of English and American Literature. Sturttgart: Klett.
[15]	Nunning, Vera and Nunning, Ansgar. (1996). ‘Fictions of Empire and the Making of Imperialist Mentalities: Colonial Discourse and Postcolonial Criticism as a Paradigm for Intercultural Studies.’ In: Intercultural Studies: Fictions of Empire. Vera and Ansgar Nunning (eds). Heidelburg: Universitatsverlag. 7-31.
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Nforbin Gerald Niba. (2023). Fictions of (Cultural) Memory: Re-inventing British Imperial Memory in Kipling’s ‘The White Man’s Burden’ and Lord Byron’s ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 11(4), 159-169. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.11

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Nforbin Gerald Niba. Fictions of (Cultural) Memory: Re-inventing British Imperial Memory in Kipling’s ‘The White Man’s Burden’ and Lord Byron’s ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2023, 11(4), 159-169. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.11

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Nforbin Gerald Niba. Fictions of (Cultural) Memory: Re-inventing British Imperial Memory in Kipling’s ‘The White Man’s Burden’ and Lord Byron’s ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’. Int J Lit Arts. 2023;11(4):159-169. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.11

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@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.11,
  author = {Nforbin Gerald Niba},
  title = {Fictions of (Cultural) Memory: Re-inventing British Imperial Memory in Kipling’s ‘The White Man’s Burden’ and Lord Byron’s ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’},
  journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
  volume = {11},
  number = {4},
  pages = {159-169},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20231104.11},
  abstract = {This study explores the representations of British cultural memory and identity in two British Poems—Kipling’s ‘The White Man’s burden’ and Lord Byron’s ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’, with the aim of demonstrating that, as ‘fictions of memory’ these literary works teem with a memory of British political/imperial history in the form of linguistic parameters, ideological and cultural discourses, myths, images and mainly metaphors of imperial history or what most critics generally refer to as, ‘fictions of empire’ or ‘metaphors of empire’. The selected texts from the British colonial context are linked by their historical affinity to, and memory of British colonialism and the history of slavery. This paper answers the following research questions: Whose memory of the past is textually articulated through the chosen texts? Or, which specific versions of memory are textually inscribed? What approaches are available for research focusing on British imperial memory in literary studies? What functions do the texts fulfil as fictions of memory? In answering these questions, the study further demonstrates that the representation of memory in texts can be located via narrative strategies. Narratology thus plays a significant role in constructing versions of the past and the identities of given social groups or cultural communities.},
 year = {2023}
}

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T1  - Fictions of (Cultural) Memory: Re-inventing British Imperial Memory in Kipling’s ‘The White Man’s Burden’ and Lord Byron’s ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’
AU  - Nforbin Gerald Niba
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Author Information

Nforbin Gerald Niba

Department of English and Foreign Languages, University of Douala, Douala, Cameroon

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Plain Text BibTeX RIS

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Nforbin Gerald Niba. (2023). Fictions of (Cultural) Memory: Re-inventing British Imperial Memory in Kipling’s ‘The White Man’s Burden’ and Lord Byron’s ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 11(4), 159-169. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.11

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ACS Style

Nforbin Gerald Niba. Fictions of (Cultural) Memory: Re-inventing British Imperial Memory in Kipling’s ‘The White Man’s Burden’ and Lord Byron’s ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2023, 11(4), 159-169. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.11

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AMA Style

Nforbin Gerald Niba. Fictions of (Cultural) Memory: Re-inventing British Imperial Memory in Kipling’s ‘The White Man’s Burden’ and Lord Byron’s ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’. Int J Lit Arts. 2023;11(4):159-169. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.11

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@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.11,
  author = {Nforbin Gerald Niba},
  title = {Fictions of (Cultural) Memory: Re-inventing British Imperial Memory in Kipling’s ‘The White Man’s Burden’ and Lord Byron’s ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’},
  journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
  volume = {11},
  number = {4},
  pages = {159-169},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20231104.11},
  abstract = {This study explores the representations of British cultural memory and identity in two British Poems—Kipling’s ‘The White Man’s burden’ and Lord Byron’s ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’, with the aim of demonstrating that, as ‘fictions of memory’ these literary works teem with a memory of British political/imperial history in the form of linguistic parameters, ideological and cultural discourses, myths, images and mainly metaphors of imperial history or what most critics generally refer to as, ‘fictions of empire’ or ‘metaphors of empire’. The selected texts from the British colonial context are linked by their historical affinity to, and memory of British colonialism and the history of slavery. This paper answers the following research questions: Whose memory of the past is textually articulated through the chosen texts? Or, which specific versions of memory are textually inscribed? What approaches are available for research focusing on British imperial memory in literary studies? What functions do the texts fulfil as fictions of memory? In answering these questions, the study further demonstrates that the representation of memory in texts can be located via narrative strategies. Narratology thus plays a significant role in constructing versions of the past and the identities of given social groups or cultural communities.},
 year = {2023}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Fictions of (Cultural) Memory: Re-inventing British Imperial Memory in Kipling’s ‘The White Man’s Burden’ and Lord Byron’s ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’
AU  - Nforbin Gerald Niba
Y1  - 2023/07/11
PY  - 2023
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.11
T2  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JF  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JO  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
SP  - 159
EP  - 169
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2331-057X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.11
AB  - This study explores the representations of British cultural memory and identity in two British Poems—Kipling’s ‘The White Man’s burden’ and Lord Byron’s ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’, with the aim of demonstrating that, as ‘fictions of memory’ these literary works teem with a memory of British political/imperial history in the form of linguistic parameters, ideological and cultural discourses, myths, images and mainly metaphors of imperial history or what most critics generally refer to as, ‘fictions of empire’ or ‘metaphors of empire’. The selected texts from the British colonial context are linked by their historical affinity to, and memory of British colonialism and the history of slavery. This paper answers the following research questions: Whose memory of the past is textually articulated through the chosen texts? Or, which specific versions of memory are textually inscribed? What approaches are available for research focusing on British imperial memory in literary studies? What functions do the texts fulfil as fictions of memory? In answering these questions, the study further demonstrates that the representation of memory in texts can be located via narrative strategies. Narratology thus plays a significant role in constructing versions of the past and the identities of given social groups or cultural communities.
VL  - 11
IS  - 4
ER  -

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