| Summary: | This book explores creative works that respond to the Homeric Odyssey. Considering what the ancient Greek epic has signified for those struggling to emerge from the shadow of Western imperialism, and how it has inspired anticolonial poets, novelists, playwrights, and directors. This study examines twentieth- and twenty first-century works by artists from Africa and the African diaspora, including the Caribbean and the United States. In seeking to discover why the Odyssey has been of such interest to these artists, the great plurality of responses becomes clear: there is no 'postcolonial response' to Homer, nor even an 'anticolonial response' to the Odyssey; rather, there is a multitude of postcolonial and anticolonial responses that differ dramatically from each other, even in the attitude adopted towards Odysseus himself. Since Aimé Césaire's seminal 1939 poem, Cahier d'un retour au pays natal, the Odyssey's homecoming trope and quest for identity have inspired writers who are simultaneously striving against and appropriating the very forms that had been used to oppress them. Following in the wake of Césaire, this volume proceeds chronologically, considering works by Ralph Ellison, Derek Walcott, Jon Amiel, Wilson Harris, Njabulo Ndebele, and Jatinder Verma, extending up to the present day in a geographical scope that is defined by the African diaspora.
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