The Diachronic Analysis of the Anglophone Invasion Narrative and Its Counter-Narrative Forms in Fiction and Film

Abstract

The paper gives an overview of the diachronic development of the invasion narrative (IVN) and the invasion counter-narrative (IVCN). The analysis focuses on story-discourse patterns, the evolving conceptualizations of invasion in fictional scenarios, and a cognitive approach which analyzes the IVN’s modes of othering in the representation of invader figures. The IVN evolved gradually by spreading across multiple genres of fiction (realism, science fiction, fantasy, ecohorror, postcolonial fiction). Whilst it has not so far been recognized as a coherent genre, the similarity of story-discourse patterns in its emergent forms across a broad Anglophone corpus since 1871 shows that this is the case. As the IVN develops it moves away from real-world patterns of military warfare and creates new plots dominated by scenarios of infiltration and subterfuge. In terms of story closure the IVN has two divergent forms: defeat, occupation or potentially complete annihilation by the invading group, or a more patriotic variant depicting, ultimately, successful resistance and defense of the homeland. Different representational forms of the invasion story include retrospective narratives of defeat and subsequent occupation, which focus most extensively on loss and transformation, as well as suspenseful but patriotic narratives of victory. The apex of the IVN’s diversification is the 1950s; this period also sees the emergence of invasion counter-narratives, which “write back” to the IVN by reconfiguring their stories, reversing their ideology of othering, and critiquing their hegemonic center. IVCNs emerged in the genre of science fiction, which was in a state of rapid imaginative expansion in the mid-twentieth century, influenced by and even anticipating postcolonial concepts.