مجلة إشكالات في اللغة و الأدب
Volume 15, Numéro 1, Pages 547-566
2026-03-02

Navigating Identity: The Postcolonial Bildungsroman In Adichie's Purple Hibiscus And Atta's Everything Good Will Come

Authors : Bensadok Hadia . Maoui Hocine .

Abstract

The present paper focuses on Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus and Sefi Atta’s Everything Good will Come as Bildungsromane of women written from a postcolonial outlook. Through critical readings of the studied texts, the study reveals how issues concerning postcolonial writers- decolonization, sovereignty, trauma, war and identity- become integral parts of the genre’s "rewriting." An examination of the critical history about the genre reveals that the cultural and ideological foundations of the genre have been altered and questioned as a result of the genre's appropriation by authors who write outside of its traditional boundaries. The traditional Bildungsroman is rooted in ideologies that may not resonate with postcolonial contexts. African women writers must navigate the genre’s Eurocentric and patriarchal frameworks while attempting to reflect their own cultural realities and social issues.

Keywords

Bildungsroman ; postcolonialism ; identity ; gender ; third generation African women writers ; Nigeria