The Gothic, Postcolonialism and Otherness: Ghosts from Elsewhere

by T. Khair

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781349313518
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	11/04/2009
Edition description:	1st ed. 2009
Pages:	198
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Tabish Khair is Associate Professor at Aarhus University, Denmark. A novelist, poet, journalist and scholar, he was born and educated in India. His novels and poems have won various awards, and his critical studies have marked crucial interventions in Indian English literature, postcolonialism, Gothic fiction, and the study of xenophobia.

Table of 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

Editorial Reviews

"This is a very important book. But, before I attempt to describe some of this importance, I should also register that it is a joy to read: it is eloquent in ways which constantly surprise, yet should not, since its author is, as well as a critic, a poet and writer of fiction. The writing here is adventurous yet lucid, full of critical detail yet admirably concise...In conclusion: I found this a brilliant and most exciting book. In the subtitle, 'Ghosts from Elsewhere', I have no idea where this particular 'elsewhere' might be but perhaps that is the point." - David Punter, Gothic Studies

"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

From the Publisher