‘This is a fascinating, diverse and rich book which combines across the Gothic and the postcolonial in its concern with varieties of colonial and imperial Gothic “Other”, at different times, introducing a focus on the “war on terror” as a topical “hook”. Khair places the foreign Other as a central function in the Gothic in texts set both in Britain and the ex-colonies, particularly in the Caribbean, where British influence is revealed as frequently demonic.’ – Gina Wisker, Head of the Centre for Learning and Teaching, University of Brighton, UK
‘I found this a brilliant and most exciting book.’ – David Punter, University of Bristol, in GOTHIC STUDIES 12/2.
Starting with an examination of the role of the colonial/racial Other in mainstream Gothic (colonial) fiction, this book goes on to engage with the problem of narrating the ‘subaltern’ in the post-colonial context. It engages with the problems of representing ‘difference’ in lucid conceptual terms, with much attention to primary texts, and highlights the strengths and weaknesses of colonial discourses as well as postcolonialist attempts to ‘write back’. While providing rich readings of Conrad, Kipling, Melville, Emily Brontë, Erna Brodber, Jean Rhys and others, it offers new perspectives on Otherness, difference and identity, re-examines the role of emotions in literature, and suggests productive ways of engaging with contemporary global and postcolonial issues.
For further details, see http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?PID=368170
ISBN 978-0-230-23406-2 www.palgrave.com Printed in Great Britain Cover illustration © iStockphoto.com
