Literary formations1995

The world, we are told, is becoming increasingly global in its economy, culture and outlook. Yet nationalism enables marginal groups to assert their identity against dominance by cosmopolitan centres. Literary Formations provides an insight into this paradoxical process through its detailed examination of post-colonial literatures and post-colonial literary theory. Anne Brewster, writing from a feminist perspective, introduces the issue of gender into a field of study that has been widely dominated by questions of race and nationalism. Inspired by the work of Gayatri Spivak and Trinh Minh-ha, she investigates the genre of Aboriginal women's autobiography and its reception. She also looks at the contrasting positions in relation to nationalism of two 'ethnic' women writers - Bharati Mukherjee in the USA and Ania Walwicz in Australia. Scrutinising the processes of neo-colonisation, the ways in which indigenous, diasporic and multicultural writing are reappropriated by the canon, and the impact of postmodernism, Literary Formations is a valuable introduction to this important area of critical thinking.