The Postcolonial British Novel
James English profile
TR 3-4:30
This course is intended as a general introduction to the postcolonial
novel of England and the UK, and as an occasion for exploring some
questions--about the relations that obtain among race, nation, empire,
identity, language, and literature--which postcolonial fiction has
helped to raise. As a way of situating the main part of the reading
list, we will begin with two canonical British novels of the colonial
period: Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness (1899) and Rudyard Kipling's
Kim (1901). We will then read recent novels by Doris Lessing, George
Lamming, Anita Desai, Keri Hulme, Farukkh Dhondy, Timothy Mo, Salman
Rushdie, and perhaps one or two other writers, as well as critical and
theoretical engagements with the question of postcoloniality by such
writers as Chinua Achebe, Fredric Jameson, Abdul JanMohamed, Sara
Suleri, Paul Gilroy, Stuart Hall, and Jenny Sharpe. One aim of the
course will be to identify some of the limitations or failures of
literary and cultural study that organizes its thinking around the
notion of "postcoloniality." Assignments will include six brief exams,
a short paper of 5-6 pages, and a longer research paper of 10-12
pages.
updated 2006-10-12
