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Author Gikandi, Simon.

Title Writing in limbo : modernism and Caribbean literature / Simon Gikandi
Published Ithaca, N.Y. : Cornell University Press, 1992

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Description 1 online resource (x, 260 pages)
Contents Caribbean modernist discourse : writing, exile, and tradition -- From exile to nationalism : the early novels of George Lamming -- Beyond the Kala-pani : the Trinidad novels of Samuel Selvon -- Deformation of modernism : the allegory of history in Carpentier's El siglo de las luces -- Modernism and the masks of history : the novels of Paule Marshall -- Writing after colonialism : Crick crack, Monkey and Beka lamb -- Narration at the postcolonial moment : history and representation in Abeng
Summary "In Simon Gikandi's view, Caribbean literature (and postcolonial literature more generally) negotiate an uneasy relationship with the concepts of modernism and modernity--a relationship in which the Caribbean writer, unable to escape a history encoded by Europe, accepts the challenge of rewriting it. On the one hand, Gikandi says, the Caribbean was central to Europe's conceptions of its own modernity, and Caribbean writers, in turn, borrowed European' modernist techniques to define their own decolonized identity. On the other hand, even though many texts from the Caribbean use narrative techniques and discursive practices that seem modern or postmodern, the ideology underlying their use is strongly revisionist. According to Gikandi, Caribbean literature simultaneously appropriates and subverts European notions of modernism and modernity." "Drawing on contemporary deconstructionist theory, Gikandi looks at how such Caribbean writers as George Lamming, Samuel Selvon, Alejo Carpentier, C.L.R. James, Paule Marshall, Merle Hodge, Zee Edgell, and Michelle Cliff have attempted to confront European modernism. Gikandi also calls into question the universal claims of European modernism and modernity by examining the unique sets of problems these concepts generate once they have been transferred to the "margins" of the modern world. Because modernity, Gikandi asserts, is a colonial legacy, the concept of modernism in the Caribbean is invariably linked to the cultures and ideologies of colonialism and nationalism." "Writing in Limbo reveals how postcolonial literature and theory compel us to revise the protocols that govern the reading of modern literature. It will be welcomed by scholars in the fields of literary theory, postcolonial literature, cultural studies, and Caribbean studies."--Jacket
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL
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Subject Carpentier, Alejo, 1904-1980. Siglo de las luces
SUBJECT Carpentier, Alejo, 1904-1980. Siglo de las luces
Carpentier, Alejo 1904-1980 El siglo de las luces gnd
Siglo de las luces (Carpentier, Alejo) fast
Subject Caribbean fiction (English) -- History and criticism
West Indian fiction (English) -- History and criticism
Modernism (Literature) -- Caribbean Area
Modernism (Literature) -- West Indies
Caribbean fiction (English)
Modernism (Literature)
West Indian fiction (English)
Englisch
Literatur
Caribbean Area
West Indies
England
Karibik
Westindien
Englisch.
Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Form Electronic book
LC no. 91023284
ISBN 9781501722936
150172293X
1501719904
9781501719905