Afterlives of colonialism: Nostalgia, reader’s response and the case of Noel Barber’s Tanamera

Abstract

Noel Barber’s Tanamera plots the story of Singapore during World War II as an adventure and interracial romance. Published in 1981, Tanamera enjoyed immense popularity along with other colonial romances that circulated at the time. This article explores readers’ continuing fascination with the genre of colonial romance. Read in light of the postcolonial theory, the study turns to the way the reading public outside academia responds to the colonial imaginary and the extent to which it shapes the collective memory of the empire. The article focuses on Tanamera as a case study for its representations of history and memory of colonialism.