The Reappearance And Reconstruction Of History:An Interpretation Of Half Of A Yellow Sun From The Perspective Of New Historicism

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is considered to be a rising star of female writers in Nigeria,whose works have a clear characteristics of her time and bear her political beliefs.That is why she is believed to be“the successor as another great Igbo novelist Chinua Achebe in the 21^st century”.Her works are based on the history and realistic issues of Nigeria and aim to reflect the society and people's living conditions of Nigeria with the help of realistic writing.Half of a Yellow Sun,one of the most famous novels of Adichie,has aroused wide attention and received acclaims around the world since its publication.This novel is the panorama of Nigeria before and after the 1960s.By depicting three leading characters?Ugwu,Olanna and the British Richard?,the novel shows the plight,ethnic strife,discrimination and other themes that the people of different ethnics have gone through before and during the Biafra War.This thesis will combine the“textuality of history”and“historicity of texts”of new historicist theory to study the relationship between the text and history in Half of a Yellow Sun.It aims to interpret the experience and encounter of three protagonists in different social stratum?Ugwu represents the lowest class;Olanna represents women;Richard represents foreigners?.“The historicity of texts”lies in reappearance.It re-narrates a large number of historical figures and events of Biafran civil war in this novel.At the same time,it reappears the multi-ethnic conflict,Igbo massacre and Biafra war through personal histories of characters,aiming to expose the damage of the war to Nigerian people's life both physical and mental.In this way,it elucidates that texts are not only affected by author's personal experience and history but also they as a part of history can shape development and form of the history and society.“The textuality of history”rests with reconstruction.By describing the daily life of three protagonists,Adichie makes the oppressed voice of people heard and reinterpret the history.What's the purpose of it is to expose and reconstruct the true history which is covered for the sake of ruling class.Meanwhile,it probes into how Adichie narrates history by the literary methods of non-linear narrative and intertextuality,which meets the demand of textuality of history that history is narrated.This thesis,through“historicity of texts”and“textuality of history”,provides a new research perspective on this novel by analysis on the relationship of historical facts and texts in Half of a Yellow Sun.Simultaneously,it will help the readers more directly understand the history of Nigeria.