Postcolonialism After World Literature: Relation, Equality, Dissent (New Horizons in Contemporary Writing)

How is postcolonial criticism challenged by contemporary world literature approaches? And how must world literature be rethought in light of the legacies of postcolonialism? Exploring their fault lines and their affinities, Postcolonialism After World Literature brings these two critical schools into conversation to renew our understanding of how contemporary literature responds to the challenges of globalization. Bringing postcolonial perspectives to bear on the work of important world literature critics such as Franco Moretti and Pascale Casanova and drawing on contemporary philosophical thought in the work of Deleuze and Ranciére, Lorna Burns argues for a new framework for writing about literary responses to key issues such as cosmopolitanism, the nation state and global culture. Writers covered include: Roberto Bolaño, J.M. Coetzee, Kamel Daoud, Rawi Hage, Moshin Hamid, Yuri Herrera, Marlon James and Pauline Melville" Read more... Postcolonial studies took shape in response to the nationalist and decolonization movements of the twentieth century. Today, a resurgent interest in world literature reflects an increased awareness of globalization. These twin projects are torn between a criticism that finds in the text the trace of capitalist modernity and one that accounts for the revolutionary potential of literature to challenge our global present. Postcolonialism After World Literature exposes what is at stake in this critical choice through a line of philosophical enquiry – Bruno Latour, Gilles Deleuze, and Jacques Rancière – that poses an alternative to the materialist strand of world literary criticism pioneered by Pascale Casanova and Franco Moretti. Engaging with these theorists and others, Lorna Burns contests world-systems theory as the basis for thinking about contemporary postcolonial and world literatures, and proposes a renewed framework that promotes literature's capacity to provoke dissent; to imagine new forms of belonging and relation for both national and world citizens; and to stage the shared equality of all. Moving between theory and the novels of Roberto Bolaño, J. M. Coetzee, Kamel Daoud, Dany Laferrière, Pauline Melville, Arundhati Roy and Kamila Shamsie, Postcolonialism After World Literature presents the case for rethinking world literature in light of the legacies of postcolonialism, and for reshaping postcolonial studies in an era of world literature. Lorna Burns is Lecturer in Postcolonial Literatures at the University of St Andrews, UK. She is the author of Contemporary Caribbean Writing and Deleuze (Bloomsbury, 2012). "Postcolonial studies took shape in response to the nationalist and decolonization movements of the twentieth century. Today, a resurgent interest in world literature reflects an increased awareness of globalization. These twin projects are torn between a criticism that finds in the text the trace of capitalist modernity and one that accounts for the revolutionary potential of literature to challenge our global present. Postcolonialism After World Literature exposes what is at stake in this critical choice through a line of philosophical enquiry - Bruno Latour, Gilles Deleuze, and Jacques Rancière - that poses an alternative to the materialist strand of world literary criticism pioneered by Pascale Casanova and Franco Moretti. Engaging with these theorists and others, Lorna Burns contests world-systems theory as the basis for thinking about contemporary postcolonial and world literatures, and proposes a renewed framework that promotes literature's capacity to provoke dissent; to imagine new forms of belonging and relation for both national and world citizens; and to stage the shared equality of all. Moving between theory and the novels of Roberto Bolaño, J. M. Coetzee, Kamel Daoud, Dany Laferrière, Pauline Melville, Arundhati Roy and Kamila Shamsie, Postcolonialism After World Literature presents the case for rethinking world literature in light of the legacies of postcolonialism, and for reshaping postcolonial studies in an era of world literature"--Bloomsbury Publishing. "How is postcolonial criticism challenged by contemporary world literature approaches? And how must world literature be rethought in light of the legacies of postcolonialism? Exploring their fault lines and their affinities, Postcolonialism After World Literature brings these two critical schools into conversation to renew our understanding of how contemporary literature responds to the challenges of globalization. Bringing postcolonial perspectives to bear on the work of important world literature critics such as Franco Moretti and Pascale Casanova and drawing on contemporary philosophical thought in the work of Deleuze and Ranciére, Lorna Burns argues for a new framework for writing about literary responses to key issues such as cosmopolitanism, the nation state and global culture. Writers covered include: Roberto Bolaño, J.M. Coetzee, Kamel Daoud, Rawi Hage, Moshin Hamid, Yuri Herrera, Marlon James and Pauline Melville"-- Provided by publisher Introduction: Why world literature needs postcolonial theory -- A world empire of letters: theories of world literature from nation to world-system -- Modernity in relation: rethinking the sociology of world literature -- Globalizing dissent: active resistance and the politics of relation in postcolonial and world literatures -- Enacting equality: postcolonialism after world literature