The Postcolonial Dimension of War in the Novels Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Endling by Maria Reva

Abstract

The article examines the postcolonial dimension of war in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun (2006) and Maria Reva’s Endling (2025). The study compares Nigerian and Ukrainian experiences of war through the lens of postcolonial theory, drawing on the concepts of Edward Said, Homi Bhabha, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, and Michael Rothberg. In these novels, war is represented not merely as a political or ethnic conflict, but as a process shaped by prolonged colonial and imperial influences, which in turn affect collective memory, cultural identity, and intergenerational trauma. Adichie’s novel illustrates how colonial legacies and ethnic divisions in Nigeria culminated in the Biafran catastrophe, intertwining private narratives of the characters with the scale of national disaster. Reva’s work portrays contemporary Ukrainian war and Russia’s imperial influence through the prism of women’s experiences, gendered exploitation, and global power imbalances, particularly in the contexts of diaspora and colonial linguistic heritage. The comparative analysis highlights typological parallels between the two historical contexts: war emerges as both a manifestation of structural violence rooted in colonial pasts and a space for the formation of new models of national and cultural identity. At the same time, differences in national memory, diasporic perspectives, and literary strategies of representing trauma underscore the unique approaches of the authors and the specificities of their historical and cultural contexts. The study emphasizes literature’s role as a tool for processing traumatic experiences, restoring the voices of marginalized subjects, and transforming collective memory. The article contributes to scholarly knowledge by highlighting the postcolonial aspect of war and comparing Ukrainian and African historical experiences through literary texts that reveal the interplay of local history, global colonial legacies, and intergenerational trauma.