A Historical Companion to Postcolonial Literatures in English

Prem Poddar is Alexander von Humboldt Senior Fellow at Zentrum Moderner Orient in Berlin. He is the author of Violent Civilities (2002) and has edited Translating Nations (2000) and Empire and After: Englishness in Postcolonial Perspective (2007). David Johnson is Senior Lecturer in the Department of English at The Open University. He is the author of Shakespeare and South Africa (Clarendon Press, 1996), with Richard Danson Brown, of Shakespeare 1609: Cymbeline and the Sonnets (Macmillan, 2000) and, with Steve Pete and Max Du Plessis, of Jurisprudence: A South African Perspective (Butterworths, 2001).

Critics weary of the universalising tendencies of much of postcolonial theory will welcome this volume's emphasis on a multiplicity of histories... An approachable, informed guide through critical debates, events, ideas and movements, this volume encourages critical vigour and highlights the continuing relevance of postcolonial theory in a changing world. -- Maeve Tynan, Wasafiri The Companion is without doubt a major achievement. Bringing together an impressive range of scholars drawn from across the postcolonial world as well as from the metropolitan academy, the Companion provides a remarkably rich overview of many of the key historical trajectories that inform postcolonial literature in the English-speaking world. -- Graham MacPhee, College Literature Are individual entries of high quality? The answer is basically yes ! almost all struck me as informative. -- Simon During, Australian Literary Studies Certainly one of the better guides, with its historically grounded approach contributing to the movement away from overarching accounts of postcolonial practices .! This remains an authoritative work. -- The Journal of Commonwealth Literature A work of this nature, whose raison d'etre is a firm commitment to historical contextualisation, is a very welcome addition to the field...an approachable informed guide. -- Wasatri 52 This volume I will keep in my personal reference collection and I recommend it to all undergraduate students of post colonial literature and their teachers. -- Terry Barringer African Research & Documentation Critics weary of the universalising tendencies of much of postcolonial theory will welcome this volume's emphasis on a multiplicity of histories... An approachable, informed guide through critical debates, events, ideas and movements, this volume encourages critical vigour and highlights the continuing relevance of postcolonial theory in a changing world. The Companion is without doubt a major achievement. Bringing together an impressive range of scholars drawn from across the postcolonial world as well as from the metropolitan academy, the Companion provides a remarkably rich overview of many of the key historical trajectories that inform postcolonial literature in the English-speaking world. Are individual entries of high quality? The answer is basically yes ! almost all struck me as informative. Certainly one of the better guides, with its historically grounded approach contributing to the movement away from overarching accounts of postcolonial practices .! This remains an authoritative work. A work of this nature, whose raison d'etre is a firm commitment to historical contextualisation, is a very welcome addition to the field...an approachable informed guide. This volume I will keep in my personal reference collection and I recommend it to all undergraduate students of post colonial literature and their teachers.