Women and Contemporary World Literature: Power, Fragmentation, and Metaphor

by Deborah Weagel

Overview

Many women in cultures throughout the world exhibit resilience and power in the face of obstacles and vicissitudes. From colonial New Spain to postcolonial Africa and India, Women and Contemporary World Literature examines ways in which women in literature function within their specific culture and circumstances to confront the challenges they encounter. In spite of fragmentation in their lives - much like quiltmakers - they piece together the scraps of their existence to form an integrated and complete whole. With its focus on power, fragmentation, and metaphor, and a strong interdisciplinary approach, this book offers a unique perspective to scholars, teachers, and students of comparative literature, contemporary world literature, colonial and postcolonial literature, women's studies, interdisciplinary studies, and literature and cultural studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781433104831
Publisher:	Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers
Publication date:	05/27/2009
Series:	American University Studies: Series 3: Comparative Literature , #62
Pages:	129
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

The Author: Deborah Weagel teaches part-time at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. She holds a bachelor’s degree in art, master’s degrees in music and French, and a Ph.D. in English. Drawing upon her interdisciplinary background, she has published articles in a variety of academic journals. She is co-editor of a special topic issue of the South Asian Review entitled «Perspectives on South Asian Women’s Writing» and is the author of Interconnections: Essays on Music, Art, Literature, and Gender.

Table of Contents

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Editorial Reviews

«Deborah Weagel has written an excellent theoretical study of postcolonial women and women characters starting from perhaps the earliest woman to express postcolonial sentiments, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Sor Juana is a forerunner of the ideas of chronologically postcolonial names such as Camara Laye’s mother, Dâman Sadan, and the women characters in the work of Mariama Bâ, Salman Rushdie, Bharati Mukherjee, and Rohinton Mistry. With swift and sure theoretical command, Weagel studies the negotiations of power between and among binaries. Her book will make a serious and significant contribution to the study of postcolonial and comparative literatures and also to women’s studies. I recommend the work to scholars and students alike.» (Feroza Jussawalla, Author of ‘Family Quarrels: Towards a Criticism of Indian Writing in English’ and Editor of ‘Interviews with Writers of the Postcolonial World’)

From the Publisher