Fiction Across Borders : : Imagining the Lives of Others in Late-Twentieth-Century Novels / / Shameem Black.

Theorists of Orientalism and postcolonialism argue that novelists betray political and cultural anxieties when characterizing "the Other." Shameem Black takes a different stance. Turning a fresh eye toward several key contemporary novelists, she reveals how "border-crossing" fict...

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Superior document:Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Columbia University Press eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013
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Place / Publishing House:New York, NY : : Columbia University Press, , [2010]
©2010
Year of Publication:2010
Language:English
Online Access:
Physical Description:1 online resource (332 p.)
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Other title:Frontmatter --
Contents --
Acknowledgments --
Introduction. Toward an Ethics of Border- Crossing Fiction --
1 Crowded Self and Crowded Style --
2 Everyday Sentiment --
3 Ethnic Reversals --
4 Middle Grounds --
5 Challenging Language --
6 Sacrificing the Self --
Postscript --
Appendix --
Notes --
Bibliography --
Index
Summary:Theorists of Orientalism and postcolonialism argue that novelists betray political and cultural anxieties when characterizing "the Other." Shameem Black takes a different stance. Turning a fresh eye toward several key contemporary novelists, she reveals how "border-crossing" fiction represents socially diverse groups without resorting to stereotype, idealization, or other forms of imaginative constraint. Focusing on the work of J. M. Coetzee, Amitav Ghosh, Jeffrey Eugenides, Ruth Ozeki, Charles Johnson, Gish Jen, and Rupa Bajwa, Black introduces an interpretative lens that captures the ways in which these authors envision an ethics of representing social difference. They not only offer sympathetic portrayals of the lives of others but also detail the processes of imagining social difference. Whether depicting the multilingual worlds of South and Southeast Asia, the exportation of American culture abroad, or the racial tension of postapartheid South Africa, these transcultural representations explore social and political hierarchies in constructive ways. Boldly confronting the orthodoxies of recent literary criticism, Fiction Across Borders builds upon such seminal works as Edward Said's Orientalism and offers a provocative new study of the late twentieth-century novel.
Format:Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
ISBN:9780231520614
9783110442472
DOI:10.7312/blac14978
Access:restricted access
Hierarchical level:Monograph
Statement of Responsibility: Shameem Black.