Poststructuralism and Postcoloniality: The Anxiety of Theory
Hiddleston, JaneAuthor
Liverpool : Liverpool University Press,
2010.
This book explores the relation between poststructuralist thought and postcoloniality, and identifies in that interaction the expression of a particular anxiety concerning the form of theoretical writing. Many so-called poststructuralist thinkers, such as Derrida, Cixous, Lyotard, Barthes, Kristeva and Spivak, have turned their attention at some point in their career towards questions either of postcolonialism, or of cultural domination and difference. For all these thinkers, however, a reflection on such questions has generated a sense of unease concerning the assumed neutrality of theoretical discourse, and the inevitable subjective or autobiographical investments of the writing self. The book argues that this anxiety betrays an unprecedented lucidity concerning the particular challenges of writing about ourselves and others at a time of postcolonial upheaval.
Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
Poststructuralism in Algeria: Derrida in exile : philosophy, postcolonialism, and the call for a singular universalism ; In or out? : the dislocations of Hélène Cixous ; Lyotard's Algeria : theory and/or politics -- Theory and culltural difference: Displacing Barthes : self, other, and the theorist's uneasy belonging ; National identity and etrangeté : Kristeva's search for a language of otherness ; Spivak's echo : autobiography, narcissism, and the theoretical voice -- Conclusion.
This book explores the relation between poststructuralist thought and postcoloniality, and identifies in that interaction the expression of a particular anxiety concerning the form of theoretical writing. Many so-called poststructuralist thinkers, such as Derrida, Cixous, Lyotard, Barthes, Kristeva and Spivak, have turned their attention at some point in their career towards questions either of postcolonialism, or of cultural domination and difference. For all these thinkers, however, a reflection on such questions has generated a sense of unease concerning the assumed neutrality of theoretical discourse, and the inevitable subjective or autobiographical investments of the writing self. The book argues that this anxiety betrays an unprecedented lucidity concerning the particular challenges of writing about ourselves and others at a time of postcolonial upheaval.
Description based on print version record.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Postcolonialism in literature.
Poststructuralism.