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Human Rights and Literature

Writing Rights

Palgrave Macmillan

Authors:

  • Considers key human rights issues through a wide range of literary texts, fiction, plays and poetry
  • Contends that literature documents both the basic human aspirations of happiness, security and hope, as well as the violation of these aspirations
  • Examines violated bodies and subjects, and the settings and environments in which these are embedded

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Table of contents (4 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xix
  2. Unmade Worlds: Emplacement

    • Pramod K. Nayar
    Pages 1-35
  3. Unmade Subjects: Embodiment

    • Pramod K. Nayar
    Pages 37-70
  4. Witnessing

    • Pramod K. Nayar
    Pages 71-107
  5. Collectives

    • Pramod K. Nayar
    Pages 109-145
  6. Back Matter

    Pages 147-155

About this book

Set at the intersection of Human Rights, social justice and Literature, this cutting edge book examines a range of literary texts, fiction, plays and poetry, and through them considers representations of Human Rights and their violations. Examining violated bodies and subjects, the settings and environments in which these are embedded and the witnessing of atrocities, it considers how the ‘subject’ (or ‘person’ of Human Rights) emerges within fiction or poetry. Structured so as to move outward from the individual body to the world, the study progresses from the preconditions or settings for Human Rights violations through to atrocity, from witnessing to the making of a specific kind of public around traumatic recall. It addresses representations of destroyed corporeality and subjectivity, the violations and dissolution of the subject and the construction of trauma-memory citizenship to the making of communities of mourning. Through a broad study of texts from different genres, this text reveals how Literature both documents the basic human aspirations of happiness, security and hope, but also the limitations and the violations of these aspirations.

Authors and Affiliations

  • University of Hyderabad , Hyderabad, India

    Pramod K. Nayar

About the author

Pramod K Nayar teaches at the Department of English, University of Hyderabad, India. His most recent books include The Indian Graphic Novel (2016), The Transnational in English Literature: Shakespeare to the Modern (2015), The Postcolonial Studies Dictionary (2015), Citizenship and Identity in the Age of Surveillance ( 2015) and the edited Postcolonial Studies Anthology (2015) and Writing Wrongs: The Cultural Construction of Human Rights in India (2012).  

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Human Rights and Literature

  • Book Subtitle: Writing Rights

  • Authors: Pramod K. Nayar

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-50432-6

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan New York

  • eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-137-50431-9Published: 24 November 2016

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-1-349-70021-9Published: 28 September 2020

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-137-50432-6Published: 23 November 2016

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIX, 155

  • Topics: Social Justice, Equality and Human Rights, Comparative Literature, Sociology of Culture

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 49.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 64.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 55.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access