Literary formations
Subtitle: post-colonialism, nationalism, globalism
By: Anne Brewster.
Series: Interpretations,; Interpretations (Carlton, Vic.)
Publisher: Melbourne University Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Carlton South, Vic
Language: eng
Number of pages: 152
Subjects: Australian prose literature -- Aboriginal Australian authors -- History and criticism; Australian prose literature -- Women authors -- History and criticism; Women, Aboriginal Australian -- Biography -- History and criticism; Literature, Comparative -- Australian and foreign; Literature, Comparative -- Foreign and Australian; Aboriginal Australians -- Intellectual life; Aboriginal Australians in literature; Women and literature -- Australia; Postcolonialism in literature; Postcolonialism -- Australia; Decolonization in literature; Nationalism and literature -- Australia; Feminism and literature -- Australia
Description: The world, we are told, is becoming increasingly global in its economy, culture and outlook. Yet nationalism enables marginal groups to assert their identity against dominance by cosmopolitan centres. Literary Formations provides an insight into this paradoxical process through its detailed examination of post-colonial literatures and post-colonial literary theory.

Anne Brewster, writing from a feminist perspective, introduces the issue of gender into a field of study that has been widely dominated by questions of race and nationalism. Inspired by the work of Gayatri Spivak and Trinh Minh-ha, she investigates the genre of Aboriginal women's autobiography and its reception. She also looks at the contrasting positions in relation to nationalism of two 'ethnic' women writers - Bharati Mukherjee in the USA and Ania Walwicz in Australia.

Scrutinising the processes of neo-colonisation, the ways in which indigenous, diasporic and multicultural writing are reappropriated by the canon, and the impact of postmodernism, Literary Formations is a valuable introduction to this important area of critical thinking.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 124-146) and index.