In order to understand the concept of postcolonial literature it is necessary to

be familiar with colonialism which is, according to Boehmer, "associated with

the expansion of the European nation-state in the nineteenth century".285
There is, however, no precise definition of the term 'colonial literature' because
it does not belong to the literary canon and "because it is so
heterogeneous."286 Boehmer argues that colonial literature is "writing
concerned with colonial perceptions and experience, (...) mainly by
metropolitans, but also by creoles and indigenes during colonial times [and]
therefore includes literature written in Britain as well as in the rest of the
Empire".287 In this regard, she distinguishes between colonial and colonialist
literature which is written "from the imperialists' point of view".288 Colonialist
works include for example Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, Joseph Conrad's
Heart of Darkness, Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, and E.M.
Forster's A Passage to India.289 In the late eighteenth century, Europe was
regarded as the "leading exemplum of scientific humanity - which was believed
to be humanity in its most achieved form."290 The nineteenth century novel,
then, introduced a world picture with Britain at the centre.291 Therefore,
colonies belong to the margin.

In the age of decolonisation, postcolonial literature is considered as critical

reflection of colonial experience. Postcolonialism implies a historically based
value judgement because colonialism is "a 'bad' manifestation of power
politics".292 The beginnings of postcolonial studies date back into the
1970s.293 Petraglia-Bahri believes that "the 'postcolonial' (...) seems to
describe the second half of the twentieth-century in general as a period in the
aftermath of the heyday of colonialism."294 Authors look for "a self-constituted
identity"295 and independence. In this respect, the use of language is a
predominant issue in postcolonial theory. On the one hand, writers abandon
the coloniser's language in order to rediscover their roots. On the other hand,
the use of English implies "the fusion of cultures"296 because "the meeting of
two cultures, and in particular the way in which an indigenous order has been
usurped by alien and intrusive values"297 is one of the dominant themes in
postcolonial literature. Authors regard "language as a medium of power"298
but instead of using Standard English, they employ a national variety in order
to reconstruct and deconstruct the English language.299 Therefore, "post-
colonial writing abrogates the privileged centrality of 'English' by using
language to signify difference while employing a sameness which allows it to
be understood."300 A reason for this deconstruction process is the imperial
power's "control over the means of communication rather than the control over
life and property".301 Authors try to express their difference and use writing
as an instrument of power to establish a position against the imperialists,
because writing is one of the most important instruments of communication.
Ashcroft et al. add that "[i]n many post-colonial societies, it was not the
English language which had the greatest effect, but writing itself."302 They
continue arguing that the "seizing of the means of communication and the
liberation of post-colonial writing by the appropriation of the written word
become crucial features of the process of self-assertion and of the ability to
reconstruct the world as an unfolding historical process."303