The Subaltern Can Speak: Revisiting Spivak’s Concept in the Case of Death and the King’s Horseman and Joe Turner's Come and Gone

Hamza, Rasha Farouk Mahmoud

doi:10.21608/ejlt.2022.170050.1017

The Subaltern Can Speak: Revisiting Spivak’s Concept in the Case of Death and the King’s Horseman and Joe Turner's Come and Gone

Document Type : Research in linguistic and literary studies

Author

Rasha Farouk Mahmoud Hamza

English Language Department, Faculty of Al-Alsun, Luxor University, Luxor, Egypt.

10.21608/ejlt.2022.170050.1017

Abstract

The term postcolonial literature refers to the literary works of the inhabitants of the ex-colonies. The theory of post colonialism and colonial studies gained momentum during the previous century. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (b.1942-) is considered to be one of the most important postcolonial literary critics. Her phenomenal essay: “Can the Subaltern Speak?” revolutionized the postcolonial theory, and created the branch of postcolonial studies. In this essay, Spivak, came to the conclusion that: sadly, the subalterns cannot speak, because they will never be heard by the colonizer. This paper, challenges Spivak’s concept of the “silenced subaltern”. The dramatic works of both the Nigerian playwright, Wole Soyinka and the African-American playwright, August Wilson are living examples of the representation of the cultural identity of the colonizer. The paper takes Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman and Wilson’s Joe Turner's Come and Gone as examples of the “unsilenced postcolonial literature”. The paper employs the analytic comparative method, within the framework of the postcolonial theory. The study reaches the conclusion that: postcolonial dramatist in their plays include African rituals and traditions in their works, as means of upholding their own cultural identity. Their dramatic works demonstrates the subaltern’s ability to show their heritage, and their emotional and psychological independence from the colonizer’s hegemony.

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