Literature:  A Troubled Goodbye - Colonial Literature in English

This course will provide a comprehensive introduction to the legacy of colonialism and how authors have negotiated the collapse of liberal democracy and ideals. It will also assess the response in fiction by indigenous writers to the struggle for independence and artistic self-determination. We will naturally touch on issues of socio-cultural and political importance and evaluate our authors’ responses to these elements.

The course will introduce you to a range of writing that is both beautiful and heartbreaking by turn, and while we may be moved by such factors, the course will provide a rigorous assessment of each text in literary terms, dissecting style, characterisation and the realisation of subject-matter in fictional form. As such we shall discuss how literature transmits history and both warps and attempts to accurately record historical memory. Moreover, the course will prompt you to read more deeply into our chosen authors and into the genre of Colonial and Post-Colonial fiction more widely. The genre of Colonial and Post-Colonial literature as we shall see, is still a matter much argued over and is still capable of producing polarised and therefore controversial debate. Come along and contribute to this ongoing debate.