Postmemory in Diasporic Narration: A Study of Caryl Phillips’ Crossing the River

The study examines the post-colonial novel Crossing the River, written by Caryl Phillips, a renowned Kittitian–British novelist. In this novel, the author delineates and reimagines the voyages that the African diaspora took years back and takes it back to the present discourse. The study uses the concept of postmemory, as defined by its proponent, Marianne Hirsch, to indicate the connection between the generations. The present generation experiences and empathises with the trauma that their ancestors felt, through the images and stories that the former are growing up with. The study aims to demonstrate that the novel employs the concept of postmemory to convey the trauma experienced by the African diaspora to the younger generation. By using a polyphonic narrative, the author tries to symbolise a fractured past and identity, and also makes a creative reconstruction by weaving together a collective identity that spans across time and space.