In Theory: Classes, Nations, LiteraturesSince the Second World War, nationalism has emerged as a principal expression of resistance to Western imperialism from the Indian subcontinent to Africa, from Latin America to the Pacific rim. In the aftermath of decolonization and with the emergence of independent states in Asia and Africa, many of Europe's former colonies banded together to form a common bloc, aligned neither with the advanced capitalist 'First World' nor with the socialist 'Second World'. In this historical context, the category of 'Third World literature' emerged, a category which has spawned a whole industry of scholarly and critical studies, largely in the metropolitan West, and notably through the work of migrant 'Third World' intellectuals residing in the West. Through detailed considerations of the work of Fredric Jameson, Edward Said and Salman Rushdie, and of migrant intellectuals generally, In Theory provides incisive analyses of the principal developments in literary theory since the 1960s, of the concept of Indian literature, of the genealogy of the term 'Third World', and of the conditions under which so-called 'colonial discourse theory' emerged in metropolitan intellectual circles. Setting himself against the growing tendency to homogenize 'Third World' literatures and cultures, Aijaz Ahmad has produced a spirited critique of the major theoretical statements on 'colonial discourse' and 'post-colonialism', dismantling many of the commonplaces and conceits that dominate contemporary cultural criticism. Erudite and lucid, Ahmad's remapping of the terrain of current cultural theory is certain to provoke passionate response. |
Contents
Some Contexts | 43 |
LANGUAGEs of Class Ideologies of IMMIGRATION | 73 |
JAMESONS Rhetoric of Otherness and the National | 95 |
Copyright | |
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academic American anti-colonial archive Asian Bandung bourgeois British canonical capitalist century chapter colony and empire complex constituted counter-canon course criticism cultural nationalism cultural production decolonization discourse dominant economy emergence emphasize English essay Europe European fact formation Foucault Fredric Jameson fundamental global Guha Ibn Rushd idea ideology immigration imperialism imperialist India Indian Literature individual intellectual intelligentsia Islam issue Jameson kind knowledge language Left liberation linguistic literary theory Maoist Marx Marx's Marxism metropolitan countries Midnight's Children modern movements narrative national allegory national bourgeoisie nationalist Nehru novel one's Orientalism Orientalist origin particular period political position post-colonial postmodernism poststructuralism poststructuralist question radical Ranajit Guha reading representation Revolution revolutionary Rushdie Rushdie's Said's Salman Rushdie sense simply social socialist society Soviet Union speak structure texts textual theoretical theorists Third World Literature Third-Worldist thought Three Worlds Theory tion tradition Urdu Western whole words writing