Postcolonial Fiction And Colonial Time

Postcolonial Fiction and Colonial Time reveals the fundamental, constitutive role of the temporal dimensions of waiting in colonial regimes of time, as well as in postcolonial framings of time, history and agency.

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

Fiction from the old British Commonwealth once took second place to the literature of England and the United States, but his is no longer the case. Writers from around the globe-Africa, Canada, Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, and the Caribbean-have recorded their encounters with colonialism from its beginnings to its collapse and aftermath to produce an impressive body of work that internationalizes literature in English. Colonial and Postcolonial Fiction in English draws from this great common wealth of writing of offer 35 selections by major writers from both indigenous and settler cultures, from the nineteenth century through the contemporary era. The anthology is organized into sets of short stories and stand-alone selections from significant novels; colonial, postcolonial, immigrant, and personal encounters are represented. Each section includes a general introduction to help readers place the works in historical and cultural perspective. Biographical and critical material is provided for each writer, along with commentary on each selection. This anthology is an appropriate textbook for courses in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies and in Literature and Cultural Studies. It will also interest general readers.

This Companion provides an engaging account of the postcolonial novel, from Joseph Conrad to Jean Rhys. Covering subjects from disability and diaspora to the sublime and the city, this Companion reveals the myriad traditions that have shaped the postcolonial literary landscape.

In this monograph Theodor Adorno’s philosophy engages with postcolonial texts and authors that emerge out of situations of political extremity – apartheid South Africa, war-torn Sri Lanka, Pinochet’s dictatorship, and the Greek military junta. This book is ground-breaking in two key ways: first, it argues that Adorno can speak to texts with which he is not historically associated; and second, it uses Adorno’s theory to unlock the liberatory potential of authors or novels traditionally understood to be "apolitical". While addressing Adorno’s uneven critical response and dissemination in the Anglophone literary world, the book also showcases Adorno’s unique reading of the literary text both in terms of its innate historical content and formal aesthetic attributes. Such a reading refuses to read postcolonial texts exclusively as political documents, a problematic (but changing) tendency within postcolonial studies. In short, the book operates as a two-way conversation asking: "What can Adorno’s concepts give to certain literary texts?" but also reciprocally, "What can those texts give to our conventional understanding of Adorno and his applicability?" This book is an act of rethinking the literary in Adornian terms, and rethinking Adorno through the literary.

Provides a new way of reading Western tragedy alongside texts from the postcolonial world so as to cross-illuminate each other.

In What Is a World? Pheng Cheah, a leading theorist of cosmopolitanism, offers the first critical consideration of world literature’s cosmopolitan vocation. Addressing the failure of recent theories of world literature to inquire about the meaning of world, Cheah articulates a normative theory of literature’s world-making power by creatively synthesizing four philosophical accounts of the world as a temporal process: idealism, Marxist materialism, phenomenology, and deconstruction. Literature opens worlds, he provocatively suggests, because it is a force of receptivity. Cheah compellingly argues for postcolonial literature’s exemplarity as world literature through readings of narrative fiction by Michelle Cliff, Amitav Ghosh, Nuruddin Farah, Ninotchka Rosca, and Timothy Mo that show how these texts open up new possibilities for remaking the world by negotiating with the inhuman force that gives time and deploying alternative temporalities to resist capitalist globalization.

Introduces postcolonial literary studies through close readings of a wide range of fiction and poetryThis guide places the literary works themselves at the centre of its discussions, examining how writers from Africa, Australasia, the Caribbean, Canada, Ireland, and South Asia have engaged with the challenges that beset postcolonial societies. Dave Gunning discusses many of the most-studied works of postcolonial literature, from Chinua Achebes Things Fall Apart to Salman Rushdies The Satanic Verses, as well as works by more recent writers like Chris Abani, Tahmima Anam and Shani Mootoo. Each chapter explores a key theme through drawing together works from various times and places. The book concludes with an extensive guide to further reading and tips on how to write about postcolonial literature successfully.Key FeaturesClose analysis of texts including, Sam Selvons The Lonely Londoners, J.M Coetzees Disgrace, Roddy Doyles A Star Called Henry, Shani Mootoos Cereus Blooms at Night, Tsitsi Dangarembgas Nervous Conditions, Zadie Smiths White Teeth, Mohsin Hamids The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Tahmima Anams A Golden Age, Michael Ondaatjes Anils Ghost, and Amitav Ghoshs In an Antique Land, as well as poetry by Derek Walcott, Eavan Boland, Agha Shahid Ali, Chris Abani and others.Discusses important new themes in postcolonial literature including global Islam, postcolonial sexualities and the representation of military conflict.Includes a Chronology, a Guide to Further Reading, and Tips on Writing about Postcolonial Literature.