| Description |
223 pages ; 22 cm |
|
regular print |
| Contents |
Prologue: writing new nations -- Nationalism today -- Westminster abroad: conflicts of politics and authority in new states -- Crossings: intersections of East and West in time and space -- From Raj to republics in India and Pakistan: imperial and national models -- Migration as a change of skies: making new nations from old in South Asia and Australia -- Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and the Pacific: diaspora, new nationalisms and the struggle to belong -- Australia: mythology into history: old ways of knowing made new |
| Summary |
The nation states of Asia and the South Pacific that were formerly ruled by Britain or the United States have in common their colonial past and the civil institutions inherited from it, the widespread use of the English language, and the problem of building new nations amid cultural, ethnic, religious and linguistic diversity. This study examines the ways writers in English have dealt with these problems in India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Australia, where nationalism remains a potent force, alternatively responsible for save bloodletting and for supporting a frame of order within which citizens can go freely about their business. Constitutions designed on the Westminster model attempt to preserve between individual and communal rights a balance that is challenged by the presence of competing ethnic, linguistic or religious groups. Governments in these societies can impose order by power, but they can achieve authority only by developing open forms of nationality that give legitimacy to variety. This nationality may be based on an appeal to a common tradition in the past or to a vision of openness in the future. The works of fiction examined here are all characterised by attempts to locate the time of varying pasts in particular locations in the present and to imagine viable nations for the future. The book concludes with a suggestion of an open form of nationalism as an alternative to exclusive nationalisms that serve only to exclude much of the populations they call to solidarity |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Subject |
English fiction -- Developing countries -- History and criticism.
|
|
Commonwealth fiction (English) -- History and criticism.
|
|
English fiction -- Great Britain -- History and criticism -- Colonies.
|
|
Philippine fiction (English) -- History and criticism.
|
|
Colonies in literature.
|
|
Australian fiction -- History and criticism.
|
|
Australian literature -- 20th century -- History and criticism.
|
|
English literature -- South Asian authors -- History and criticism.
|
|
South Asian literature -- History and criticism.
|
|
Australian literature -- History and criticism.
|
|
Nationalism in literature.
|
|
Multiculturalism in literature.
|
| LC no. |
2002293870 |
| ISBN |
8175511206 |
|
1875606912 ASP |
|
