“A GHOST TOWN IN THE BROWN FOG”: PROBLEMS OF POSTCOLONIAL IDENTITY IN S. SELVON’S NOVEL “LONELY LONDONERS”

Abstract

The novel “Lonely Londoners” (1956) by British prose writer Samuel Selvon (1923-1994) is one of key literary texts depicting the life of immigrants of the “Windrush generation” in the capital of Great Britain. The work of the Anglo-Trinidadian writer raises the problems of building the collective identity of black immigrants in the postcolonial space in connection with the problem of marginalization, that is, the displacement of population groups to the margins of society and the restriction of their access to resources, power and opportunities. The process of marginalization is usually based on social factors such as race, ethnicity, religion, social class and other attributes that are at odds with the dominant culture and its norms, and although Selvon’s work was written in the middle of the last century, the problem in many aspects remains extremely relevant today.