Magic,Trauma And Resistance

André Brink, a prestigious South African contemporary novelist, has been attracting wide critical attention in the international academic circle for a long time. His twenty-first novel Philida, set in South African Cape Colony in the 1820 s and 1830 s, shortly before the abolition of slavery, tells the story of a slave woman named Philida, who endures brutal oppression and extreme misery, but still keeps struggling in her special way to retrieve her freedom and independence. This thesis tries to interpret Philida comprehensively within the theoretical framework of new historicism. Through a detailed textual analysis of the novel, this study explores how Brink rebels against South African grand history, reconstructs the individual history and subject identity of the marginalized Other, and rewrites the vulnerable group back into South African history; it also ponders upon the intents and purposes of the author?s historical writing.This thesis is composed of five chapters. Chapter One includes the introduction to the author and his works, the previous research findings, the theoretical framework and the significance and structure of this thesis. Chapter Two conducts a deep analysis on why and how Brink employs the narrative mode of African magic realism in the course of reconstructing the history and subject identity of the marginalized Other. Chapter Three elucidates Brink?s exploration of the trauma suffered by the marginalized Other, and digs out three important focal points displayed in his trauma writing. Chapter Four explores the power relations and political implications contained in the everyday resistant acts of the marginalized Other. Chapter Five is the conclusion which indicates: Brink?s Philida has set a good example for the imaginative historical reconstruction on the basis of the new values of history advocated by new historicism; with magic writing, trauma writing and resistance writing, Brink presents an extremely clear and concrete life track of the black female Philida, exposes the real living state of the weak black slaves, and rewrites the silenced and devoiced back into South African history; Brink?s rewriting and reflection of history in Philida has its own present and practical significance, clearly showing the writer?s intense senses of social responsibility and historical mission.