From New National to World Literature ─ Essays and Reviews

From New National to World English Literature offers a personal perspective on the evolution of a major cultural movement that began with decolonization, continued with the assertion of African, West Indian, Commonwealth, and other literatures, and has evolved through postcolonial to world or international English literature. Bruce King, one of the pioneers in the study of the new national literatures and still an active literary critic, discusses the personalities, writers, issues, and contexts of what he considers the most important change in culture since modernism. In this selection of forty-five essays and reviews, King discusses issues such as the emergence and aesthetics of African literature, the question of the existence of a "Nigerian literature", the place of the new universities in decolonizing culture, the contrasting models of American and Irish literatures, and the changing nature of exile and diasporas. He emphasizes themes such as traditionalism versus modernism, the dangers of cultural assertion, and the relationships between nationalism and internationalism. Special attention is given to Nigerian, West Indian, Australian, Indian, and Pakistani literature.

Bruce King, an American, lives in Paris. He has held positions, including distinguished professorships, at universities in Canada, England, France, Germany, Israel, New Zealand, Nigeria, Scotland, and the United States. His many publications include New English Literatures: Cultural Nationalism in a Changing World (1980), Modern Indian Poetry in English(1987, revised 2001), Three Indian Poets (1991, revised 2005), V S Naipaul (1993, revised 2003),Derek Walcott and West Indian Drama (1995), Derek Walcott: A Caribbean Life (2000),The Internationalization of English Literature (2004), and ReWriting India (2014).