Comedy, Fantasy and Colonialism

Graeme Harper is Professor of Creative Writing and Dean of The Honors College at Oakland University, Michigan, USA. He is Editor of the Approaches to Writing Series at Bloomsbury, Editor of the New Writing journal and is Chair of the Creative Writing Studies Organization (CWSO) in the USA. He was also inaugural Chair of HE at the UK’s National Association of Writers in Education (NAWE) and is an award-winning fiction writer, Professor and Honorary Professor.

"What we are presented with here is a collection of essays that address various literary texts which might be understood, in some way or another, to fall under the banner of (post-) colonial writing. ... The thirteen essays presented here do, each in their own way, offer insights... Each taken on their own, they are of interest and do raise important questions for the study of literature and its reception. ... That said, as a work of reference, to dip in and out of, depending on one's interest, there is a great deal of value on offer here." -Calum Neill, Janus Head 7.1, 2004

• TOCContents 1. Comedy, Fantasy and Colonialism Graeme Harper 2. Ukcombekcantsini and the Fantastic: Zulu Narratives and Colonial Culture Mark Lilleleht, University of Wisconsin-Madison 3. The Game is Up: British Women's Comic Novels at the End of Empire Phyllis Lassner, Northwestern University 4. The Dreamtime of Humour: Fantasy, Aboriginals and the Comicstrip in Wartime Australia Grant Stone, Murdoch University, Australia 5. Cubans on the Moon: Fantasy and Nationalism in Cuba Jill Lane, New York University 6. Fairy's on the Veld: Foreign Stories and Indigenous Folk Tales in South Africa Elwyn Jenkins, University of South Africa 7. Gautier's Parodic Exotic: 'Egyptomanie' and the Visual Landscapes of Orientalism Promita Chatterji, University of California at Berkeley 8. Across Cultures: History, Colonialism and Magic Realism Mary Hartje, Angelo State University 9. Mr Punch's Crinoline Anxiety: Indian Colonial Satire Terri Hasseler, Bryant College 10. The Cape to Cairo: Africa in Jest, Fancy Dress and Pageantry Peter Merrington, University of Western Cape 11. Laughing Matters: The Comic Timing of Irish Joking Laura Salisbury, University of London 12. Subverting a Carnivalesque Nation: Malta Under British Rule Toni Sant, New York University and Vicki Ann Cremona, University of Malta 13. Native American Humour: The Comedy of Survival Jonna Mackin, University of Vermont 14. Comedy and Fantasy in the 'Far East' (contributor to be confirmed) 15. Comic Mode and Fantasy World: The Fabulous and Funny in Colonial Cultures Graeme Harper