Re-reading Mary Seacole’s Wonderful Adventures through Bernardine Evaristo’s Soul Tourists

Abstract

The essay illustrates the ways in which the incorporation of authentic excerpts from Mary Seacole’s autobiography in Bernardine Evaristo’s novel Soul Tourists acquires a significant cultural value within the novel’s representational strategies. The essay also explores the extent to which Seacole — together with her work — can be thought of as a litmus paper in the context of Britain’s self–representation and strategies of identity delineation.