Postcolonial Con-Texts: Writing Back to the Canon

Description

This is an overview of responses to literary texts overtly associated with the colonial project or the construction of "race" (The Tempest, Robinson Crusoe, Heart of Darkness and Othello), as well as to texts where the interaction between culture and imperialism is less obvious (Great Expectations, Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights). The postcolonial con-texts are located within their social and cultural backgrounds, and the different forms their responses take to their pre-texts are explored. Thieme argues that "writing back" is seldom adversarial. Rather, it operates along a continuum between complicity and oppositionality. He also suggests that post-colonial appropriations of canonical pre-texts frequently generate re-readings of their "originals". The book concludes by considering the implications of this argument for discussions of identity politics and literary genealogies more generally.

John Thieme is currently Senior Fellow at UEA, UK. He previously held Chairs at the University of Hull and London South Bank University and his previous books include Postcolonial Con-Texts: Writing Back to the Canon, Postcolonial Literary Geographies, Postcolonial Literary Geographies, and studies of Derek Walcott, V.S. Naipaul and R.K. Narayan.

"Postcolonial Con-texts addresses one of the most relevant and exciting issues of postcolonial discourse: the relationship between postcolonial writing and the English canon, providing a broad overview of how intertextuality works between colonial and postcolonial texts... ...The whole study...carries a complicated network of cross-references between the texts, skilfully handled by the author. Despite the huge and complicated material, Thieme keeps the structure of the study transparent by constantly reinforcing his thesis and looking back to his findings and conclusions. He writes in an easily apprehensible, eloquent scholarly style. The book contains a substantial bibliography, suggesting further reading material for scholars and students. I recommend this book to a professional readership of postcolonial scholars, critics, and students whose scope of research includes intertextuality or any of the texts (re)considered. Even those who have not immersed themselves in postcolonial studies will find it worth reading." HJEAS, 2005