Empire and Poetic Voice: Cognitive and Cultural Studies of Literary Tradition and Colonialism (Suny Series: Explorations in Postcolonial Studies)

By Patrick Colm Hogan and Assistant Professor of English Patrick Colm Hogan

Book Overview

Explores the relation of post-colonization authors to literary traditions.

In Empire and Poetic Voice Patrick Colm Hogan draws on a broad and detailed knowledge of Indian, African, and European literary cultures to explore the way colonized writers respond to the subtle and contradictory pressures of both metropolitan and indigenous traditions. He examines the work of two influential theorists of identity, Judith Butler and Homi Bhabha, and presents a revised evaluation of the important Nigerian critics, Chinweizu, Jemie, and Madubuike. In the process, he presents a novel theory of literary identity based equally on recent work in cognitive science and culture studies. This theory argues that literary and cultural traditions, like languages, are entirely personal and only appear to be a matter of groups due to our assertions of categorical identity, which are ultimately both false and dangerous.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0791459632
• ISBN13: 9780791459638
• Release Date: December 2003
• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Length: 299 Pages
• Weight: 1.13 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.6" x 9.1"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher