Native Intelligence: Aesthetics, Politics, and Postcolonial LiteratureA compelling reclamation of the place of aesthetics in postcolonial literature. "Literature" though it may be, postcolonial literature is studied and understood largely--and often solely--in social and political terms. In neglecting its aesthetic dimension, as this book forcefully demonstrates, we are overlooking not only an essential aspect of this literature but even a critical perspective on its sociopolitical function and value. In Native Intelligence, Deepika Bahri focuses on postcolonial literature's formal and aesthetic negotiations with sociopolitical concerns. How, Bahri asks, do aesthetic considerations contest the social function of postcolonial literature? In answering, her book takes on two tasks: First, it identifies the burden of representation borne by post-colonial literature through its progressive politicization. Second, it draws on Frankfurt School critical theory to reclaim a place for aesthetics in literary representation by closely engaging works of Rohinton Mistry, Salman Rushdie, and Arundhati Roy. Throughout, Bahri shows how attention to the aesthetic innovations and utopian impulses of postcolonial works uncovers their complex and uneven relationship to ideology, reanimating their potential to make novel contributions to the larger project of social liberation. |
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Native Intelligence: Aesthetics, Politics, and Postcolonial Literature Deepika Bahri No preview available - 2003 |
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Adorno Aesthetic Dimension Aesthetic Theory Antaeus argues artistic artwork Benjamin capitalism challenge colonial complex concept constitute contemporary context Critical Theory critique cultural dialectical difference discourse discussion dominant empire experience field formal Frankfurt School global Grimus Gustad Heaney Heaney's Hercules human hybridity ideas identity ideological Imaginary Homelands imperial Indian insists Ireland Irish journey Kathakali language literary logic Marcuse Marcuse's Marxist memory Midnight's Children mimesis Mistry's mode modernity Moor's Last Sigh narrative narrator nation native intelligence nature nevertheless novel object Parsi particular past poem poetic political possible postcolo postcolonial critic postcolonial literature postcolonial studies postcolonial text postmodern potential production reader reading reality relation remembrance representation resistance Roy's Rushdie Rushdie's Salman Rushdie sense Small Things social sort space stance story storyteller structure struggle subaltern Sufiya suggests Theodor Adorno theorists Third World tion transformation ture understanding utopia Velutha wall Walter Benjamin writing