Approaching Postcolonial And Psychoanalytic Criticism In Literary Studies An Illustration Of An Analysis Of A Malaysian Novel

This book is a contribution to the growing body of work on identity studies. It encompasses the analysis of common themes found in many Malaysian novels, i.e. identity and the self. These themes are examined through postcolonial and psychoanalytical lenses. The book provides an illustration of the intricacies that go into the analysis of identity and sense of self, as well as the manner in which textual studies and analysis is conceptualized and carried out. It is hoped that this book will provide Language Studies students with guidance on the manner in which textual analysis could be approached.

Psychoanalytic theory has been the critical instrument of choice for colonial critics. This book examines why critics who are otherwise suspicious of Western forms of knowledge are drawn to psychoanalytic theories, and whether it is possible to use such theories without reproducing the colonial discourse that also structures psychoanalytic thought.

Critics have argued that the field of postcolonial studies has become melancholic due to its institutionalization in recent years. This book identifies some limits of postcolonial studies and suggests ways of coming to terms with this issue via a renewed engagement with the literary dimension in the postcolonial text.

The essays in this collection, first published in 1987, represent a collective attempt to listen with the third ear to the underhand ways the unspoken has of speaking, and to speak of these ways. By focusing on ‘discourse’ the volume is distinguished from traditional literature by its emphasis on rhetorical structures and textual strategies, and the investment of these structures with desire, power and other aspects of subjectivity, rather than the personality of the artist or the creative process. However, in this book the human dimension is not lost. By claiming that the structures in question are not merely linguistic, semiotic, or narratological (although they are all of these), the human dimension is returned- not ‘in the raw’, as in traditional approaches, but through the traces it leaves in the text, as activated by its reading. This book is ideal for students of literature and psychoanalytical theory.

First published in 2002. Modes and categories inherited from the past no longer seem to fit the reality experienced by a new generation. ‘New Accents’ is intended as a positive response to the initiative offered by such a situation. Each volume in the series will seek to encourage rather than resist the process of change, to stretch rather than reinforce the boundaries that currently define literature and its academic study. The purpose of this book is to give a critical overview of what has become a very wide field: the relationship of psychoanalytic theory to the theories of literature and the arts, and the way that developments in both domains have brought about changes in critical practice.

Critics have argued that the field of postcolonial studies has become melancholic due to its institutionalization in recent years. This book identifies some limits of postcolonial studies and suggests ways of coming to terms with this issue via a renewed engagement with the literary dimension in the postcolonial text.

Provides examples of the literary criticism which has emerged from the conjunction between psychoanalysis and post-structuralism. The book defines concepts and methods by tracing the role the story of Oedipus has played in the development of psychoanalytic theory and criticism.

Offers a lucid introduction to postcolonial studies, one of the most important strands in recent literary theory and cultural studies.