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Bestseller
BestsellerE-book
Author Gikandi, Simon.

Title Writing in limbo : modernism and Caribbean literature / Simon Gikandi.

Publication Info. Ithaca, N.Y. : Cornell University Press, 1992.

Item Status

Description 1 online resource (x, 260 pages)
data file
Physical Medium monochrome
Series Book collections on Project MUSE.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index.
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.
Access Use copy Restrictions unspecified MiAaHDL
Reproduction Electronic reproduction. [S.l.] : HathiTrust Digital Library, 2011. MiAaHDL
System Details 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
Processing Action digitized 2011 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve MiAaHDL
Local Note JSTOR Books at JSTOR Open Access
Subject Carpentier, Alejo, 1904-1980. Siglo de las luces.
Siglo de las luces (Carpentier, Alejo)
Caribbean fiction (English) -- History and criticism.
Caribbean fiction (English)
West Indian fiction (English) -- History and criticism.
West Indian fiction (English)
Modernism (Literature) -- Caribbean Area.
Modernism (Literature)
Caribbean Area.
Modernism (Literature) -- West Indies.
West Indies.
Genre/Form Electronic book.
Electronic books.
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Other Form: Print version: Gikandi, Simon. Writing in limbo. Ithaca, N.Y. : Cornell University Press, 1992 (DLC) 91023284 (OCoLC)24010431
ISBN 9781501722936 (electronic book)
150172293X (electronic book)
0801425751 (alkaline paper)
9780801425752 (alkaline paper)
9781501719905
9781501722943
1501719904
9781501719905