Deconstructing Myth of Imperialism in Peter Carey’s Oscar and Lucinda

Abstract

Peter Carey’s Oscar and Lucindais reimagination andrecreation of colonial version of Australian history. As a criticism of imperialism, it dismantles the centre/ periphery opposition of imperial culture with multiple possibilities relating it to personal and communal histories hinting a complexity which enforces the imperial colonial linear version of history to diversify. The account of colonial past of Australia through the description of the old country carries over the meaning from the imperial myth, ascription of dimensionality of histories of postcolonial period. The process of replacing colonial imperial history with a multiplicity of Australian historiesis carried out by their owners and their descendents.Though these histories do not suit each other but at least they can raise the irvoicein honor of their own past.