About the Book

The book is a comprehensive and critical account of postcolonial criticism and theory by an Indian. This is particularly significant as the Orient, of which India is a segment, is at the centre of postcolonial critical engagement. The book does not simply state facts and outline ideas but also attempts an evaluative critical appraisal of the three major practitioners of this critical trend – Edward Said, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Homi K. Bhabha.

Contents

PART  I

1 The Rise of Postcolonial Criticism and Theory

2 Edward Said and Postcolonial Theory

3 Edward Said: Resistance and Reconciliation

PART II

4 Language, Reality and Criticism: A Critique of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak

5 Who is a Subaltern and What Language does S/He Speak? Interrogating Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak

6 Homi K. Bhabha’s Ambivalent Speculations

PART III

7 Postcolonial Criticism and the Aesthetic Dimension

8 Postocolonial Criticism and Culture

9 T.S. Eliot and Postcolonialism: A Reading of The Cocktail Party

Appendix: Colonialism, Postcolonialism, and English Teaching and Research in India

About the Author / Editor

Rajnath, former Professor of English, University of Allahabad, has a Ph.D. from the University of Leeds, and was a postdoctoral fellow and Adjunct Professor of English at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Recipient of British Council Scholarship, ACLS-Senior Fulbright and American Research Fellowship, he was the Founder Editor of international Journal of Literary Criticism. His publications include T.S. Eliot’s Theory of Poetry, Critical Speculations, The Identity of Literature and essays contributed to scholarly journals in India and abroad.