Colonialism, Modernity, and Literature - (Future of Minority Studies) by S Mohanty (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Mohanty has assembled an innovative volume of essays situated at the intersection of at least three multi-disciplinary fields: postcolonial and subaltern theory; comparative literary analysis, especially with a South Asian and transnational focus; and the study of "alternative" and "indigenous" modernities. Contributors emphasize the strategies of resistance that are encoded in third world literary texts; comparative literary analysis, across cultures and regions - both within the "Global South" and beyond; the forms of indigenous modernity that preceded the colonial encounter, and thus provide alternatives to the modernity that was imposed through the colonial encounter with Europe; feminist perspectives in traditional and contemporary literature; and "realist" theoretical analyses of the epistemic implications of literary forms. This definitive new work grounds the political insights of postcolonial and subaltern theory in close textual analysis, and rather than make general pronouncements about "alternative modernities," it looks at their specifically textual (literary and cultural) manifestations"--

Book Synopsis

The product of years of cross-border and cross-disciplinary collaboration, this is an innovative volume of essays situated at the intersection of multi-disciplinary fields: postcolonial/subaltern theory; comparative literary analysis, especially with a South Asian and transnational focus; the study of 'alternative' and 'indigenous' modernities

Review Quotes

"Senapati's brilliant novel Six Acres and a Third performs a rare feat, weaving early modern traditions of social critique with an anti-colonial modern sensibility that seems almost post-modern in its reflexivity. This wonderfully stimulating collection of essays brings out the multiple facets of the novel with almost equal freedom by juxtaposing and comparing it to novels across time, regions as well as cultures. Surely a first in postcolonial studies!" - Vasudha Dalmia, Professor of Hindi and Modern South Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley

"This volume of critical essays on colonialism and modernity revisits the episteme of 'modernity' in a new way by taking into account its non-Western roots. The kind of modernity that Professor Mohanty and other contributors to this volume have identified in the writings of Fakir Mohan Senapati and other Indian writers in the 19th century seems more vibrant and open-ended than its Western counterpart. By combining a pragmatic and empirical approach with a vision of a possible theory of comparative literature born out of an encounter between indigenous and colonial forces, the central thesis of this volume provides a new orientation to comparative literary studies at the present time. Its publication is certainly a landmark event for literary studies." - Prafulla Kar, Director, Centre for Contemporary Theory, Baroda, and former Professor of English, University of Baroda, India.

"The subaltern speaks inthis path-breaking collection on comparative modernities and the interlocking literatures it spawned in the late nineteenth-century colonial period. Senapati's Six Acres and a Third is fascinating for its blend of realist and experimental narrative modes deployed for satire of not only colonialism but also the structures of greed and resistance in Orissan village society. Encompassing a variety of theoretical and historical approaches, the essays attest to Senapati's enduring significance while modeling a comparatism that remaps transnational modernist studies." - Susan Stanford Friedman, Virginia Woolf Professor of English and Women's Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison

About the Author

SATYA MOHANTY Professor of English and Minority Studies, Cornell University, USA.