Introduces postcolonial literary studies through close readings of a wide range of fiction and poetryThis guide places the literary works themselves at the centre of its discussions, examining how writers from Africa, Australasia, the Caribbean, Canada, Ireland, and South Asia have engaged with the challenges that beset postcolonial societies. Dave Gunning discusses many of the most-studied works of postcolonial literature, from Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart to Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, as well as works by more recent writers like Chris Abani, Tahmima Anam and Shani Mootoo. Each chapter explores a key theme through drawing together works from various times and places. The book concludes with an extensive guide to further reading and tips on how to write about postcolonial literature successfully.Key FeaturesClose analysis of texts including, Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners, J.M Coetzee’s Disgrace, Roddy Doyle’s A Star Called Henry, Shani Mootoo’s Cereus Blooms at Night, Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions, Zadie Smith’s White Teeth, Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Tahmima Anam’s A Golden Age, Michael Ondaatje’s Anil’s Ghost, and Amitav Ghosh’s In an Antique Land, as well as poetry by Derek Walcott, Eavan Boland, Agha Shahid Ali, Chris Abani and others.Discusses important new themes in postcolonial literature including global Islam, postcolonial sexualities and the representation of military conflict.Includes a Chronology, a Guide to Further Reading, and Tips on Writing about Postcolonial Literature.

'Race and Antiracism in Black British and British Asian Literature' offers the first extended exploration of the cultural impact of the politics of race and antiracism in Britain through focussing on a selection of recent novels by black British and British Asian writers. The study argues that an understanding of how race and ethnicity function in contemporary Britain can only be gained through attention to antiracism: the politics of opposing discrimination that manifest at the level of state legislation, within local and national activism, and inside the scholarly exploration of race. It is antiracism that now most strongly conditions the emergence of racial categorisations but also of racial identities and models of behaviour. This sense of how antiracism may determine the form and content of both political debate and individual identity is traced through an examination of ten novels by black British and British Asian writers. These authors range from the well known to the critically neglected: works by Monica Ali, Nadeem Aslam, Fred D’Aguiar, Ferdinand Dennis, Hanif Kureishi, Gautam Malkani, Caryl Phillips, Mike Phillips, Zadie Smith, and Meera Syal are carefully read to explore the impacts of antiracism. These literary studies are grouped into three main themes, each of which is central to the direction of racial political identities over the last two decades in Britain: the use of the continent of Africa as a symbolic focus for black political culture; the changing forms of Muslim culture in Britain; and the emergence of a multiculturalist ethos based around the notion of ethnic communities.

Introduces postcolonial literary studies through close readings of a wide range of fiction and poetryThis guide places the literary works themselves at the centre of its discussions, examining how writers from Africa, Australasia, the Caribbean, Canada, Ireland, and South Asia have engaged with the challenges that beset postcolonial societies. Dave Gunning discusses many of the most-studied works of postcolonial literature, from Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart to Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, as well as works by more recent writers like Chris Abani, Tahmima Anam and Shani Mootoo. Each chapter explores a key theme through drawing together works from various times and places. The book concludes with an extensive guide to further reading and tips on how to write about postcolonial literature successfully.Key FeaturesClose analysis of texts including, Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners, J.M Coetzee’s Disgrace, Roddy Doyle’s A Star Called Henry, Shani Mootoo’s Cereus Blooms at Night, Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions, Zadie Smith’s White Teeth, Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Tahmima Anam’s A Golden Age, Michael Ondaatje’s Anil’s Ghost, and Amitav Ghosh’s In an Antique Land, as well as poetry by Derek Walcott, Eavan Boland, Agha Shahid Ali, Chris Abani and others.Discusses important new themes in postcolonial literature including global Islam, postcolonial sexualities and the representation of military conflict.Includes a Chronology, a Guide to Further Reading, and Tips on Writing about Postcolonial Literature.

'Race and Antiracism in Black British and British Asian Literature' offers the first extended exploration of the cultural impact of the politics of race and antiracism in Britain through focussing on a selection of recent novels by black British and British Asian writers. The study argues that an understanding of how race and ethnicity function in contemporary Britain can only be gained through attention to antiracism: the politics of opposing discrimination that manifest at the level of state legislation, within local and national activism, and inside the scholarly exploration of race. It is antiracism that now most strongly conditions the emergence of racial categorisations but also of racial identities and models of behaviour. This sense of how antiracism may determine the form and content of both political debate and individual identity is traced through an examination of ten novels by black British and British Asian writers. These authors range from the well known to the critically neglected: works by Monica Ali, Nadeem Aslam, Fred D’Aguiar, Ferdinand Dennis, Hanif Kureishi, Gautam Malkani, Caryl Phillips, Mike Phillips, Zadie Smith, and Meera Syal are carefully read to explore the impacts of antiracism. These literary studies are grouped into three main themes, each of which is central to the direction of racial political identities over the last two decades in Britain: the use of the continent of Africa as a symbolic focus for black political culture; the changing forms of Muslim culture in Britain; and the emergence of a multiculturalist ethos based around the notion of ethnic communities.