Postcolonial Criticism: History, Theory and the Work of Fiction

Postcolonial Criticism: History, Theory and the Work of Fiction
ISBN-10
0745621813
ISBN-13
9780745621814
Category
Literary Criticism
Pages
232
Language
English
Published
2003-04-18
Publisher
Polity
Author
Nicholas Harrison

Description

In the field of postcolonial studies, the full richness and complexity of the connections between literature, history and ideology are often overlooked by critics hurrying to stake out their political positions. As a result, many arguments are built on unjustified assumptions about the sort of work that literature -- and criticism -- can and cannot do. In this important and timely book, Harrison sheds new light on what is actually at issue in postcolonial criticism. Focusing on a series of major works, from Conrad's Heart of Darkness to Djebar's autobiography, via Camus's The Outsider and Fanon's polemics, the book draws on and elucidates a wide range of theoretical and critical work. To students unfamiliar with postcolonial criticism it offers a way into the field via key issues and specific examples rather than abstract theoretical summary, while for those already working in the area it raises crucial questions about the very basis of postcolonial critical practice. Postcolonial Criticism is a major intervention in the field of postcolonial studies which re-examines critical suppositions about reading and representation, and which calls into question established notions about the relations between literature and colonialism.

Other editions

Similar books