CHRISTOPHER HOPE: THE GREAT SATIRIST OF THE DEEPLY ROOTED COLONIAL DISCOURSE

Abstract

In the novel Darkest England (1996), Christopher Hope using satire and irony, constantly present in his works, completely subverts the familiar colonial image by reversing the roles and sending an African researcher on a “noble” mission to England. The novel is an excellent example of a procedure in which the reader’s expectations are completely disappointed due to the reversal and dismantling of the colonial and colonizing discourse. Bushman’s David Mungo Bui explores an often narcissistic nation that, although it has lost its empire, has not lost its imperial arrogance and self-assurance. The writer does not forget some of the burning problems of contemporary English society: juvenile delinquency, teenage pregnancies, the collapse of marriage and traditional families, as well as complete alienation.Thanks to its devastating irony, but also its rewardinghumour, the novel Darkest England, remains an excellent study of cultural differences.