The Cambridge Companion to British Black and Asian Literature (1945–2010)

This Companion offers a comprehensive account of the influence of contemporary British Black and Asian writing in British culture.

Deirdre Osborne (Edited by)

9781107139244, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 19 October 2016

280 pages
23.5 x 15.5 x 2 cm, 0.56 kg

'This volume will be helpful to undergraduates by providing original and challenging scholarship, and an excellent chronology and guide to further reading. It will also be useful to researchers looking for new frameworks to approach contemporary English literature.' Wasafiri

This Companion offers a comprehensive account of the influence of contemporary British Black and Asian writing in British culture. While there are a number of anthologies covering Black and Asian literature, there is no volume that comparatively addresses fiction, poetry, plays and performance, and provides critical accounts of the qualities and impact within one book. It charts the distinctive Black and Asian voices within the body of British writing and examines the creative and cultural impact that African, Caribbean and South Asian writers have had on British literature. It analyzes literary works from a broad range of genres, while also covering performance writing and non-fiction. It offers pertinent historical context throughout, and new critical perspectives on such key themes as multiculturalism and evolving cultural identities in contemporary British literature. This Companion explores race, politics, gender, sexuality, identity, amongst other key literary themes in Black and Asian British literature. It will serve as a key resource for scholars, graduates, teachers and students alike.

Introduction Deirdre Osborne
Part I. Traces and Routes: 1. (1940s–70s) Susheila Nasta
2. British Black and Asian writing since 1980 Chris Weedon
Part II. Translocations and Transformations: 3. Liberationist political poetics Birgit Neumann
4. Women's fiction and literary (self) determination Pallavi Rastogi
5. Brutalised lives and brutalist realism Modhumita Roy
6. Stages of representation D. Keith Peacock
Part III. Restorations and Renovations: 7. Recalibrating the past James Procter
8. Black women subjects in auto/biographical discourse Suzanne Scafe
9. British Black and Asian LGBTQ writing Kanika Batra
10. The poetics and politics of spoken word poetry Corinne Fowler
11. Post-colonial plurality in fiction Malachi McIntosh
Part IV. National, International, Trans-global: 12. 'Adoption aesthetics' John McLeod
13. Genre crossings: rewriting 'the lyric' in Black British poetry Romana Huk
14. 'Other' voices and the British literary canon Bénédicte Ledent
15. Critical outlooks Paul Warmington.

Subject Areas: Modern & contemporary fiction [post c 1945 FA], Literary studies: general [DSB], Literature & literary studies [D]