Can the ‘Other half’ Be Told? Brodber’s Myal

Abstract

In the previous two chapters, I suggested some of the ways in which postcolonial narratives have dealt with the problem of narrating alterity: I indicated that, while this effort is necessary and has certain benefits, it also runs the danger of reducing alterity to more of the Self-same. In this chapter, with a detailed focus on Erna Brodber’s Myal — a fascinating novel that resolutely and brilliantly attempts to tell the ‘other half’ of the story and has been considered radical in this endeavour within postcolonialism — I will explore the matter further, particularly (but not only) with reference to the ongoing discussion of ‘Obeah’ and ‘Vodou’ as problematic ‘colonial’ markers of Otherness.