Absolutely postcolonial: Writing between the singular and the specific (Angelaki Humanities) - Softcover

Book 6 of 9: Angelaki Humanities

Hallward, Peter

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9780719061264: Absolutely postcolonial: Writing between the singular and the specific (Angelaki Humanities)
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0719061261 ISBN 13: 9780719061264
Publisher: Manchester University Press, 2002

Synopsis

We may yet find a precise use for the notoriously elusive category ‘postcolonial’, but only on the condition that we abandon its usual associations with plurality, fragmentation, particularity and resistance. This book argues that the category is best used to describe an ultimately singular configuration. A singularity is something that generates the medium of its own existence, in the eventual absence of external criteria and other existences. Like other singularities – pertinent comparisons include aspects of Buddhism and Islam, as well as concepts drawn from the philosophies of Gilles Deleuze and Alain Badiou – what is distinctive about a postcolonial discourse or literature is its abstraction from the domain of relationality. Here, Hallward offers a new conceptual distinction between singular and specific modes of differentiation, which should prove influential in a range of discourses.

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About the Author

Peter Hallward is Professor Of Modern European Philosophy at Kingston University, London, and is the author of Subject to Truth: The Philosophy of Alain Badiou (2002)

From the Back Cover

Contrary to its usual characterisation in terms of plurality, particularity and resistance, this book argues that the post-colonial is best understood as an ultimately singular or non-relational category. A singularity is something that generates the medium of its own existence, to the eventual exclusion of other existences. Drawing on the philosophies of Gilles Deleuze and Alain Badiou and guided by comparisons with Buddhism and Islam, Absolutely postcolonial defends this approach both through a detailed critique of postcolonial theory and through comparative, comprehensive readings of four very different contemporary writers: Edouard Glissant, Charles Johnson, Mohammed Dib, and Severo Sarduy. Along the way, it also looks to some of these same writers for resources with which we might develop a relational or specific alternative to the postcolonial paradigm that has become so influential in literary and cultural studies.

From the Inside Flap

Contrary to its usual characterisation in terms of plurality, particularity and resistance, this book argues that the post-colonial is best understood as an ultimately singular or non-relational category. A singularity is something that generates the medium of its own existence, to the eventual exclusion of other existences. Drawing on the philosophies of Gilles Deleuze and Alain Badiou and guided by comparisons with Buddhism and Islam, Absolutely postcolonial defends this approach both through a detailed critique of postcolonial theory and through comparative, comprehensive readings of four very different contemporary writers: Edouard Glissant, Charles Johnson, Mohammed Dib, and Severo Sarduy. Along the way, it also looks to some of these same writers for resources with which we might develop a relational or specific alternative to the postcolonial paradigm that has become so influential in literary and cultural studies.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
Manchester University Press
Publication date
2002
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0719061261
ISBN 13 
9780719061264
Binding
Paperback
Edition number
1
Number of pages
456
Rating
  • 4.08 out of 5 stars
    13 ratings by Goodreads

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780719061257: Absolutely Postcolonial: Writing Between the Singular and the Specific (Angelaki Humanities)

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  0719061253 ISBN 13:  9780719061257
Publisher: Manchester University Press, 2002
Hardcover