Literatures in English (1)

Literatures in English: 

Literatures in English The Postcolonial Novel

Slide 2: 

British Empire in 1897 [British colonial possessions are coloured in pink.]

From Post-colonial studies: the key-concepts, (Ashcroft et al., 2007): 

From Post-colonial studies : the key-concepts , (Ashcroft et al., 2007) Edward Said offers the following distinction : imperialism means the practice , the theory , and the attitudes of a dominating metrpolitan centre ruling a distant territory ; colonialism , which is almost always a consequence of imperialism , is the implementing of settlements on distant territory . (E. Said , 1993: 8)

problems of terminology and categorisation: 

problems of terminology and categorisation Commonwealth literatures Third World literatures (New) Litertures in English Post-colonial / Postcolonial literatures Shared features should not obscure the specificity of multiple and different experiences of colonialism

Some shared features of postcolonial texts:: 

Some shared features of postcolonial texts : Preoccupation with history The (re)construction of national identity The centrality of language Confrontation with the Western Canon and its modes of representation Examining conditions of migration, exile and diaspora

B. Ashcroft, G. Griffiths and Helen Tiffin, from The Empire Writes Back, 1989:: 

B. Ashcroft, G. Griffiths and Helen Tiffin , from The Empire Writes Back , 1989: “What each of these literatures has in common beyond their special and distinctive regional characteristics is that they emerged in their present form out of the experience of colonization and asserted themselves by foregrounding the tension with the imperial power, and by emphasizing their differences from the assumptions of the imperial centre. It is this which makes them distinctively post-colonial.”

Some African novelists: 

Some African novelists Chinua Achebe (1930-) Things Fall Apart (1958) No Longer at Ease (1960) The Arrow of God (1965) A Man of the People (1966) Anthills of the Savannah (1987)

From “the African Writer and the English Language”, 1975: 

From “the African Writer and the English Language ”, 1975 “ Those of us who have inherited the English language may not be in a position to appreciate the value of the inheritance . Or we may go on resenting it because it came as part of a package deal which included many other items of doubtful value and the positive atrocity of racial arrogance and prejudice which may yet set the world on fire . But let us not in rejecting the evil throw out the good with it .”

Some African novelists: 

Some African novelists Ngugi wa Thiong ’o (1938-) A Grain of Wheat (1967) Petals of Blood (1977) Devil on the Cross (English translation of Caitaani mutharaba-Ini ) (1982) Wizard of the Crow ( Murogi wa Kagogo ) (2006)

From Decolonising the Mind, 1986: 

From Decolonising the Mind , 1986 “ Language carries culture, and culture carries , particularly through orature and literature , the entire body of values by which we come to perceive ourselves and our place in the world.”

Some African novelists: 

Some African novelists Ben Okri (1959-) Flowers and Shadows (1980) The Famished Road (1991) Songs of Enchantment (1993) Dangerous Love (1996) In Arcadia (2002) Starbook (2007)

South African novelists: 

South African novelists Nadine Gordimer (1923-) The Conversationist (1974) Burger ’s Daughter (1979) July ’s People (1981) The Pickup (2001) John Maxwell Coetzee (1940-) Waiting for Barbarians (1980) Life and Times of Michael K. (1983) Foe (1986) Disgrace (1999) Elizabeth Costello (2003)

Some Australian novelists: 

Some Australian novelists Patrick White (1912-1990) The Aunt ’s Story (1948) Voss (1957) Riders in the Chariot (1961) The Vivisector (1970) A Fringe of Lea ves (1976) Peter Carey (1943-) Bliss (1981) Oscar and Lucinda (1988) Jack Maggs (1997)

Some Caribbean novelists: 

Some Caribbean novelists Samuel Selvon (1923-1994) A Brighter Sun (1962) An Island Is a World (1955) The Lonely Londoners (1956) The Plains of C aroni (1970) Moses Ascending (1975) Moses Migrating (1983)

Ida Kar, Samuel Selvon (1956): 

Ida Kar , Samuel Selvon (1956)

Some Caribbean novelists: 

Some Caribbean novelists George Lamming (1927-) In the Castle of My Skin (1953) The Emigrants (1954) Water with Berries (1971) The Natives of My Person (1972)

From The Pleasures of Exile, 1960: 

From The Pleasures of Exile , 1960 "For I am a direct descendant of slaves, too near to the actual enterprise to believe that its echoes are over with the reign of emancipation. Moreover, I am a direct descendant of Prospero worshipping in the same temple of endeavour , using his legacy of language -- not to curse our meeting -- but to push it further, reminding the descendants of both sides that what's done is done, and can only be seen as a soil from which other gifts, or the same gift endowed with different meanings, may grow towards a future which is colonised by our acts in this moment, but which must always remain open."

Some Caribbean novelists: 

Some Caribbean novelists Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul (1932-) The Mystic Masseur (1957) Miguel Street (1959) A House for Mr Biswas (1961) The Mimic Men (1967) Guerillas (1975) The Enigma of Arrival (1987) A Way in the World (1994) Half a Life (2001)

Some Indian novelists: 

Some Indian novelists Anita Desai (1937-) Fire on the Mountain (1977) In Custody (1981) Baumgartner ’s Bombay (1988) Fasting , Feasting (1999)

Some Indian novelists: 

Some Indian novelists Amitav Gosh (1957-) The Shadow Lines (1988) In an Antique Land (1992) The Calcutta Chromosome (1995) The Glass Palace (2001) Vikram Seth (1952-) The Golden Gate (1986) A Suitable Boy (1993) An Equal Music (1999)

Slide 21: 

Salman Rushdie (1947-) Midnight ’s Children (1981) Shame (1983) The Satanic Verses (1988) The Moor ’s Last Sigh (1995) The Ground Beneath Her Feet (1999) Shalimar the Clown (2005) The Enchantress of Florence (2008)