Starting with a re-examination of the role of the colonial/racial Other in mainstream Gothic (colonial) fiction, this book goes on to engage with the problem of narrating the 'subaltern' in the post-colonial context. It engages with the problems of representing 'difference' in lucid conceptual terms, with much attention to primary texts, and highlights the strengths and weaknesses of colonial discourses as well as postcolonialist attempts to 'write back.' While providing rich readings of Conrad, Kipling, Melville, Emily Brontë, Erna Brodber, Jean Rhys and others, it offers new perspectives on Otherness, difference and identity, re-examines the role of emotions in literature, and suggests productive ways of engaging with contemporary global and postcolonial issues.
'This is a fascinating, diverse and rich book which combines across the Gothic and the postcolonial in its concern with varieties of colonial and imperial Gothic 'Other', at different times, introducing a focus on the "war on terror" as a topical "hook." Khair places the foreign Other as a central function in the Gothic in texts set both in Britain and the ex-colonies, particularly in the Caribbean, where British influence is revealed as frequently demonic.' - Gina Wisker, Head of the Centre for Learning and Teaching, University of Brighton, UK
Acknowledgements
Introduction: The Gothic, Postcolonialism and Otherness
PART I: THE GOTHIC AND OTHERNESS
Ghosts from the Colonies
The Devil and the Racial Other
Heathcliff as Terrorist
Smoke and Darkness: The Heart of Conrad
Emotions and the Gothic
PART II: POSTCOLONIALISM AND OTHERNESS
Can the Other Speak?
Negotiating Vodou: Some Caribbean Narratives of Otherness
Can the 'Other half' be told?: Brodber's Myal
The Option of Magical Realism
Narration, Literary Language and the Post/Colonial
Conclusion: Summing Up
Notes
Index
TABISH KHAIR was born and educated mostly in India, and is a poet, novelist, critic and children's writer. Winner of the All India Poetry Prize and short-listed for the Encore Award, he has been awarded fellowships at Cambridge University, UK, Baptist University of Hong Kong and JMI (Delhi). He teaches at Aarhus University, Denmark.
Description
Starting with a re-examination of the role of the colonial/racial Other in mainstream Gothic (colonial) fiction, this book goes on to engage with the problem of narrating the 'subaltern' in the post-colonial context. It engages with the problems of representing 'difference' in lucid conceptual terms, with much attention to primary texts, and highlights the strengths and weaknesses of colonial discourses as well as postcolonialist attempts to 'write back.' While providing rich readings of Conrad, Kipling, Melville, Emily Brontë, Erna Brodber, Jean Rhys and others, it offers new perspectives on Otherness, difference and identity, re-examines the role of emotions in literature, and suggests productive ways of engaging with contemporary global and postcolonial issues.
Reviews
'This is a fascinating, diverse and rich book which combines across the Gothic and the postcolonial in its concern with varieties of colonial and imperial Gothic 'Other', at different times, introducing a focus on the "war on terror" as a topical "hook." Khair places the foreign Other as a central function in the Gothic in texts set both in Britain and the ex-colonies, particularly in the Caribbean, where British influence is revealed as frequently demonic.' - Gina Wisker, Head of the Centre for Learning and Teaching, University of Brighton, UK
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction: The Gothic, Postcolonialism and Otherness
PART I: THE GOTHIC AND OTHERNESS
Ghosts from the Colonies
The Devil and the Racial Other
Heathcliff as Terrorist
Smoke and Darkness: The Heart of Conrad
Emotions and the Gothic
PART II: POSTCOLONIALISM AND OTHERNESS
Can the Other Speak?
Negotiating Vodou: Some Caribbean Narratives of Otherness
Can the 'Other half' be told?: Brodber's Myal
The Option of Magical Realism
Narration, Literary Language and the Post/Colonial
Conclusion: Summing Up
Notes
Index
Authors
TABISH KHAIR was born and educated mostly in India, and is a poet, novelist, critic and children's writer. Winner of the All India Poetry Prize and short-listed for the Encore Award, he has been awarded fellowships at Cambridge University, UK, Baptist University of Hong Kong and JMI (Delhi). He teaches at Aarhus University, Denmark.
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