Postcolonial Literature

by Justin D. Edwards

This Guide analyses the criticism of English-language literature from the major regions of the postcolonial world. Criticism on works by writers such as Jean Rhys, V.S. Naipaul and Salman Rushdie, is discussed to illustrate the themes and concepts essential to an understanding of postcolonial literature and the development of criticism in the field

Genres: Post Colonial

204 pages, Paperback

First published July 15, 2008

Reviews

[Eva · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of: When I started reading this, I wasn't interested in Postcolonialism. At all.
And now I am. I even feel a bit ashamed about how few I knew about it half a year ago.

When I attended a course about Postcolonialism at University, we had to weekly read a chapter of this book in addition to one or two short stories and an other theoretical text, which were usually both mentioned by Edwards. Edwards was always used as an introduction to a new topic, e.g. diaspora, gender or theorizing race. Now it's rather difficult for me to rate this book (and the book alone), not the entire class I took. Maybe other readers will feel like Edwards doesn't explain things properly, doesn't leave place for own thoughts or treats the topic in a too shallow way – but I don't think so, maybe because these assumptions are wrong or because I always read (at least excerpts of the majority of) all the texts he cites and writes about and joined discussions about the treated topics.

So I can recommend this book to basically everyone. What shouldn't be forgotten is that it is a theoretical text, about literary theories and politics – which doesn't exactly make the book an easy read (although Edwards doesn't write complicated at all!). And it's worth reading just for the better overall understanding of our world and knowledge you'll get out of it.

[Céline Holmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Udemærket introduktion til postkolonial litteraturteori. Letlæselig og med mange relevante eksempler fra litteraturens verden.