Engagements with Postcolonial Literature and Theory

Engagements with Postcolonial Literature and Theory offers a detailed exploration of the debates, theories, texts, and themes that have shaped the evolution of postcolonial literary studies. Encompassing prose, poetry, and drama, this book navigates the history of postcolonial literature and its criticism.

Each chapter is framed by a postcolonial author’s own literary ‘engagement’. Case studies on Chinua Achebe, Kamau Brathwaite, Derek Walcott, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Junot Diaz, Jean Rhys, Hari Kunzru, Arundhati Roy, and J. M. Coetzee elucidate each chapter’s central concepts and themes: colonial subjects and rebels; nations and nationalism after decolonisation; postcolonial difference; and subaltern representation. In this book, Lorna Burns tracks the evolution of postcolonial theory from anti-colonialism (Albert Memmi and Frantz Fanon) to the poststructuralist first wave (Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak, and Homi Bhabha), the Marxist counter-response (Aijaz Ahmad and Benita Parry), and, finally, looks ahead to new directions in postcolonial theory.

Aimed at students and scholars who are new to postcolonialism, as well as those returning to it for fresh insights and inspiration, this book engages with the complexity of both postcolonial theory and literature to furnish the reader with a fuller understanding of their significance and value, as well as the connections to be forged between them.