A study of a Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) as a “writing back” of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847)

Abstract

During the post-colonial period, many authors from previously colonized countries emerged to “write back” to the European canonical texts. This research paper examined postcolonial “rewriting” of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847) by Jean Rhys in Wide Sargasso Sea (1966). It explored the concepts of “subversion”, “rewriting” and “displacement” used by Rhys in order to counter Brontë’s colonial discourse introduced in her work. To reach the purpose, I have applied Ashcroft et al.’s theory of The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-colonial Literatures. In the discussion, I have studied the historical context of both novels in order to understand the writers’ ideology. I have attempted to undertake a comparative study between the two works in which I have displayed how “writing back” manifests in the postcolonial text. After having examined the two novels, I have come to the conclusion that Rhys has rewritten Brontë’s work by subverting its main elements which are characters and themes.