This study contextualizes magical realism within current debates and theories of postcoloniality and examines the fiction of three of its West African pioneers: Syl Cheney-Coker of Sierra Leone, Ben Okri of Nigeria and Kojo Laing of Ghana. Brenda Cooper explores the distinct elements of the genre in a West African context, and in relation to: * a range of global expressions of magical realism, from the work of Gabriel Garcia Marquez to that of Salman Rushdie * wider contemporary trends in African writing, with particular attention to how the realism of authors such as Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka has been connected with nationalist agendas. This is a fascinating and important work for all those working on African literature, magical realism, or postcoloniality.
What makes John Rechy a Chicano writer? To be Latino, must writing have a touch of 'magical realism'? Can one talk of US Latina/o identity, considering the diversity of the Latina/o experience? Through the analysis of nine recent Latino/a novels, Karen Christian answers these and other questions, thereby adding a fresh, bold voice to the anti-essentialist debate surrounding ethnic and gender identity. Christian melds the theory of 'performativity' with the latest scholarship on ethnicity and ethnic literature to create a framework for viewing identity as a continuous process that cannot be reduced to static categories. Through their narrative 'performances', US Latina/o writers and their characters move among communities and identities in an ongoing challenge to the notion of Latina/o essence. This study is also among the first to examine trends across the spectrum of cultures represented in US Latina/o literature -- from Chicano to Cuban to Puerto Rican to Dominican. This book is essential for any serious student of Latina/o literature and identity.
From the ancient texts and medieval illuminated manuscripts to 20th century poetry, painting, drama, stories, and novels, Irish writers and artists have found the fantastic not only congenial but necessary to their art. This collection of fifteen essays focuses on the fantastic in Irish literature and the arts, showing how the use of the fantastic mode has allowed Irish writers and artists to express ideas, emotions, and insights not available through the direct imitation of everyday reality. The works of Yeats, Field, Shelley, Synge, Beckett, Swift, Coleridge, and others are examined in incisive chapters written from the point of view of the fantastic.
Praise for earlier editions: "Deserves serious consideration for use at the undergraduate level.... Will provide undergraduates with a broad understanding of the evolution of the issues & theoretical frameworks that have been at the center of this field of study." Journal of Third World Studies "The articles are short, up-to-date, & concise. Exactly what is needed for introductory students. The range of material it covers is thorough. It offers both cross-cutting articles by theme as well as country-by-country material. The writing style throughout is clear & easy to understand.... A most worthwhile book!" Pauline Hansen-Vaillancourt Universite du Quebec a Montreal "A fine job.... This book should meet the need for today's increasingly multidisciplinary courses introducing North American students to the vast & varied region of Latin America." William E. Melvin Memphis State University
The collapse of empires has resulted in a greater appreciation for indigenous cultures in former colonies and a renaissance of creativity. More than 150 alphabetically arranged entries by expert contributors overview and assess the effects of globalization on literary and cultural studies in the 21st century. Attempting to counter what some have seen as the anglophone bias of postcolonial studies, the volume emphasizes the common heritage of resistance in francophone, hispanophone, and other literatures, including the literatures of nonEuropean postimperial states.