Colonial and Postcolonial Literature

Migrant Metaphors

Second Edition

Elleke Boehmer

As a critical overview of colonial writing and of postcolonialism, this title remains unparalleled for its historical breadth and the clarity of its theoretical discussion. Ten years after first publication it continues to be prescribed on undergraduate and MA courses around the world and has helped to establish and define the postcolonial field. The expanded and revised edition will confirm this standing.
An accessible historical narrative (backed up by a useful Chronology, 1719-2003) situates key colonial and postcolonial developments, texts and cultural figures, from Joseph Conrad and R. L. Stevenson, through to Salman Rushdie and Manju Kapur.
In a notoriously complex field, important theoretical terms and issues are illuminated by way of close readings of key texts, but without ever losing subtlety in favour of accessibility.
The updated, fully annotated bibliography comprises a uniquely valuable teaching tool.
An expanded final chapter and conclusion explore the challenges facing postcolonial studies in the twenty-first century.

New to this Edition:

A new final chapter and conclusion outline the leading new debates in the postcolonial field concerning such issues as transnationalism, globalisation, sexuality, and local resistance.
The book as a whole gives even more attention than before to the widely taught area of colonial and postcolonial women's writing.
The significantly expanded, updated, and fully annoted bibliography will consolidate the book's standing as a foremost postcolonial teaching tool.
The often-cited Chronology has been expanded and extended up to 2004.
The text will include discussion of many recent writings such as Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things.

Colonial and Postcolonial Literature

Migrant Metaphors

Second Edition

Elleke Boehmer

Description

Colonial and Postcolonial Literature is the leading critical overview of and historical introduction to colonial and postcolonial literary studies. Highly praised from the time of its first publication for its lucidity, breadth, and insight, the book has itself played a crucial part in founding and shaping this rapidly expanding field. The author, an internationally renowned postcolonial critic, provides a broad contextualizing narrative about the evolution of colonial and postcolonial writing in English. Illuminating close readings of texts by a wide variety of writers - from Kipling and Conrad through to Kincaid, from Ngugi to Noonuccal and Naipaul - explicate key theoretical terms such as 'subaltern', 'colonial resistance', 'writing back', and 'hybridity'. This revised edition includes new critiques of postcolonial women's writing, an expanded and fully annotated bibliography, and a new chapter and conclusion on postcolonialism exploring keynote debates in the field relating to sexuality, transnationalism, and local resistance.

Colonial and Postcolonial Literature

Migrant Metaphors

Second Edition

Elleke Boehmer

Colonial and Postcolonial Literature

Migrant Metaphors

Second Edition

Elleke Boehmer

Author Information

Elleke Boehmer, Professor of World Literature in English, University of Oxford

Colonial and Postcolonial Literature

Migrant Metaphors

Second Edition

Elleke Boehmer

Reviews and Awards

Review from previous edition I imagine the book will continue to be an important resource for many years. - Durrant

One of the best introductions to colonialism and literature I have ever read...I urge Oxford University Press to produce a second edition of Colonial and Postcolonial Literature....As a literary history of postcolonialism, it has no equal. - Zwicker

A well-organized, accessible, and tightly-constructed text that reads very well and gives one both coverage and a sense of historical depth. - Ghosh