Postcolonial literatures can be defined as the body of creative work written by authors whose lands were formerly subjugated to colonial rule. In previous volumes of this series, the research literature of former British colonies Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand have been addressed. This volume offers guidance for those researching the postcolonial literature of the former British colonies in Africa, the Caribbean, and South Asia. Among the forty nations represented in this volume are South Africa, India, Pakistan, Ghana, Jamaica, Swaziland, Belize, and Namibia. With the exception of South Africa (which formed the Union of South Africa in 1910), this guide picks up its coverage in 1947, when both India and Pakistan gained their independence. The literature created by writers from these nations represents the diverse experiences in the postcolonial condition and are the subject of this book. The volume provides best-practice suggestions for the research process and discusses how to take advantage of primary text resources in a variety of formats, both digital and paper based: bibliographies, indexes, research guides, archives, special collections, and microforms.

Endeavouring To Accomplish An Intract-Able Tight Rope Walking, Indian English Literature Seeks To Incorporate Indian Themes And Experience In A Blend Of Indian And Western Aesthetics. What The Diverse Dimensions Of The Indian Experience And The Evolving Literary Form Are And Whether The Former Reconciles With The Latter Or Not Is Sought To Be Examined In The Present Volume Of This Anthology. A Strikingly Fresh Perspective On The Hitherto Unexplored Areas Of Old Works. A Bold And Incisive Critique Of New Works.

Cultural Imperialism and the Indo-English Novel focuses on the novels of R. K. Narayan, Anita Desai, Kamala Markandaya, and Salman Rushdie and explores the tension in these novels between ideology and the generic fictive strategies that shape ideology or are shaped by it. Fawzia Afzal-Khan raises the important question of how much the usage of certain ideological strategies actually helps the ex-colonized writer deal effectively with postcolonial and postindependence trauma and whether or not the choice of a particular genre or mode employed by a writer presupposes the extent to which that writer will be successful in challenging the ideological strategies of &"containment&" perpetuated by most Western &"orientalist&" texts and writers. She argues that the formal or generic choices of the four writers studied here reveal that they are using genre as an ideological &"strategy of liberation&" to help free their peoples and cultures from the hegemonic strategies of &"containment&" imposed upon them. She concludes that the works studied here constitute an ideological rebuttal of Western writers' denigrating &"containment&" of non-Western cultures. She also notes that self-criticism, as implied in Rushdie's works, is not be confused with self-hatred, a theme found in Naipaul's work.

Professor Braj Kachru (b. 1932) has pioneered, shaped and defined the scholarly field of world Englishes. He is the founder and co-editor of World Englishes, the associate editor of the Oxford Companion to the English Language and contributor to the Cambridge History of the English Language. His research on world Englishes, the Kashmiri language and literature, and theoretical and applied studies on language and society has resulted in more than 25 authored and edited volumes and more than 100 research papers, review articles, and reviews. The first volume of these Collected Works brings together a number of Kachru's key papers from 1976 to 1990, covering Kachru's early work in the development of World Englishes as a concept and his exploration of non-native varieties of English.

Krishna Kumari: The Tragedy of India introduces readers to the first English language play in modern India. Written in 1826 by English Subba Rao, one of the first Indians to be schooled in English, Krishna Kumari depicts the true story of a princess of Udaipur who is forced to commit suicide in order to end a war started by her suitors, the rulers of the neighboring kingdoms of Jaipur and Jodhpur. Tragically, her death proves to be in vain because the mercenaries recruited by the contending rulers nevertheless proceed to plunder the region. All three kingdoms are then compelled to seek the protection of the East India Company, bringing their independence to an end. Sharp and witty, Krishna Kumari was intended to warn Indian principalities against the follies that led to the downfall of the Rajputs. Unfortunately, the play scarcely saw the light of day. Angered by Subba Rao's opposition to their power, the British forced him to withdraw from public life. This is why audiences have never heard of Krishna Kumari-until now. Building on extensive archival research, this volume brings Subba Rao's pioneering drama back to life. The introductory essay by Rahul Sagar, a leading scholar of nineteenth century India, familiarizes readers with the remarkable characters in the play and the violent era in which they lived. By shedding light on Subba Rao's extraordinary life and career, it also reveals how important principalities like Tanjore and Travancore were in battling colonialism and shaping modern India.

The Republic of India is the second most populous, the seventh largest by geographical area, and has the fourth largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity in the world. While it has always been an important country, it has often been neglected. Of late, however, there has been much talk of the 'new' India, one with greater economic dynamism, a more active foreign policy, and the emergence of a huge middle class. With over a hundred new cross-referenced dictionary entries-the majority of which pertain to the last decade-and updating others, the second edition of the Historical Dictionary of India illustrates the rapidly evolving situation without neglecting the country's ancient past. The chronology has been brought up to date, the introduction expanded, and the bibliography includes numerous new titles.

Pick up The New York Public Library Literature Companion to check the dates of Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past or to find out how James Joyce's Ulysses changed U.S. obscenity laws, and you may find yourself hours later absorbed in the imaginary worlds of Camelot and The Matrix or sidetracked by the fascinating history of The New Yorker. Designed to satisfy the curious browser as well as the serious researcher, this exciting new resource offers the most up-to-date information on literature available in English from around the world, from the invention of writing to the age of the computer. Interwoven throughout the more than 2,500 succinct and insightful entries on Creators, Works of Literature, and Literary Facts and Resources are the fascinating facts and quirky biographical details that make literature come alive. Readers will discover, for instance, that Walt Whitman was fired from his government job after his personal copy of Leaves of Grass was discovered in his desk by the Secretary of the Interior, who was scandalized by it; that James Baldwin remembered listening to blues singer Bessie Smith ("playing her till I fell asleep") when he was writing his first book; and that a publisher turned down the serialization rights to Gone with the Wind, saying, "Who needs the Civil War now -- who cares?" Looking for information about book burning or how many Nobel laureates have come from Japan? You'll find it here. Trying to remember the name of that movie based on a favorite book? Read the "Variations" section -- you'll be amazed at the pervasive presence of great literature in today's entertainment. From Aristophanes to Allende, from Bergson to Bloom, the biographical entries will inform readers about the men and women who have shaped -- and are shaping -- the literary world. Look into "Works of Literature" to discover the significance of Beowulf, The Fountainhead, Doctor Zhivago, and nearly 1,000 other titles. Check the "Dictionary of Literature" to find out what the critics and theorists are talking about. And if you wish to delve even deeper, "Websites for Literature" and "Literary Factbooks and Handbooks" are just two of the bibliographies that will point readers in the right direction. Unique in scope and design and easy to use, The New York Public Library Literature Companion will be at home on every reader's shelf. Whether you are immersed in Stephen King or King Lear, this book has the insights, facts, and fascinating stories that will enrich your reading forever. With four major research centers and 85 branch libraries, The New York Public Library is internationally recognized as one of the greatest institutions of its kind. Founded in 1895, the library now holds more than 50 million items, including several world-renowned collections of literary manuscripts and rare books. Among the books published from the library in recent years are The New York Public Library Desk Reference (1998); The Hand of the Poet (1997); Letters of Transit: Reflections on Exile, Identity, Language, and Loss (1999); A Secret Location on the Lower East Side: Adventures in Writing, 1960-1980 (1998); and Utopia: The Search for the Ideal Society in the Western World (2000).

Compared to how it looked 150 years ago at the eve of the colonial conquest, today’s India is almost completely unrecognizable. A sovereign nation, with a teeming, industrious population, it is an economic powerhouse and the world’s largest democracy. It can boast of robust legal institutions and a dizzying plurality of cultures, in addition to a lively and unrestricted print and electronic media. The question is how did it get to where it is now? Covering the period from 1800 to 1950, this study of about a dozen makers of modern India is a valuable addition to India’s cultural and intellectual history. More specifically, it shows how through the very act of writing, often in English, these thought leaders reconfigured Indian society. The very act of writing itself became endowed with almost a charismatic authority, which continued to influence generations that came after the exit of the authors from the national stage. By examining the lives and works of key players in the making of contemporary India, this study assesses their relationships with British colonialism and Indian traditions. Moreover, it analyzes how their use of the English language helped shape Indian modernity, thus giving rise to a uniquely Indian version of liberalism. The period was the fiery crucible from which an almost impossibly diverse and pluralistic new nation emerged through debate, dialogue, conflict, confrontation, and reconciliation. The author shows how the struggle for India was not only with British colonialism and imperialism, but also with itself and its past. He traces the religious and social reforms that laid the groundwork for the modern sub-continental state, proposed and advocated in English by the native voices that influenced the formation India’s society. Merging culture, politics, language, and literature, this is a path breaking volume that adds much to our understanding of a nation that looks set to achieve much in the coming century.