Postcolonial Hauntings: Ghostly Presence in Jamaica Kincaid’s The Autobiography of My Mother

Authors

• Simone A. James Alexander, Seton Hall UniversityFollow

Abstract

The Autobiography of My Mother tells the story of loss, abandonment, survival, and resistance. This chapter explores the haunting or ghostly presence of both the living and the dead. The ghosts  of slavery and colonialism haunt the character/s and the text; in retaliation, Xuela/Kincaid  performs a “ghosting” by defying narrative conventions, by blurring the line between fiction, myth,  biography, and autobiography.

Recommended Citation

Alexander, Simone A. James (2018) "Postcolonial Hauntings: Ghostly Presence in Jamaica Kincaid’s The Autobiography of My Mother," Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women's & Gender Studies: Vol. 19: Iss. 1, Article 9.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.cortland.edu/wagadu/vol19/iss1/9