Synopses & Reviews
This book explores the relation between poststructuralist thought and postcoloniality, and identifies in that interaction the expression of a particular anxiety concerning the form of theoretical writing. Many so-called poststructuralist thinkers, such as Derrida, Cixous, Lyotard, Barthes, Kristeva and Spivak, have turned their attention at some point in their career towards questions either of postcolonialism, or of cultural domination and difference. For all these thinkers, however, a reflection on such questions has generated a sense of unease concerning the assumed neutrality of theoretical discourse, and the inevitable subjective or autobiographical investments of the writing self. The book argues that this anxiety betrays an unprecedented lucidity concerning the particular challenges of writing about ourselves and others at a time of postcolonial upheaval.
Review
“A thorough, well-researched and well-written piece of scholarship. Though it covers a lot of ground, and deals with six notoriously complex and prolific thinkers, the overall project is impressively focused and coherent. . . This is clearly an accomplished piece of work, and it will be a valuable addition to the growing literature on the topic.”
Peter Hallward, Middlesex University
Review
"Hiddleston has produced a sophisticated and comprehensive study that genuinely contributes to the literature in this area."--Modern Language Review
"... this is a very insightful and well-informed contribution to contemporary theoretical debates within this field."--French Studies
Synopsis
In Poststructuralism and Postcoloniality, Jane Hiddleston explores poststructuralist anxiety about how to theorize postcoloniality and cultural difference. Many so-called poststructuralist thinkers have addressed questions of postcolonialism and cultural domination. However, in Hiddlestons analysis, these thinkers cannot maintain neutrality in their theoretical discourse because they write simultaneously about problems of cultural identification and exile in the postcolonial epoch. A remarkable contribution by a leading scholar, this volume demonstrates how poststructuralist reflections on postcolonialism leave theory itself, perplexingly, at sea.
About the Author
Jane Hiddleston is a lecturer in French at the University of Oxford and fellow of Exeter College. Her books include Assia Djebar: Out of Africa and Poststructuralism and Postcoloniality, both published by Liverpool University Press.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part One: Poststructuralism in Algeria
1. Derrida in Exile: Philosophy, Postcolonialism and the Call for a Singular Universalism
2. In or Out? The Dislocations of Hélène Cixous
3. Lyotard's Algeria: Theory and/or Politics
Part Two: Theory and Cultural Difference
4. Displacing Barthes: Self, Other and the Theorist's Uneasy Belonging
5. National Identity and Etrangeté: Kristeva's Search for a Language of Otherness
6. Spivak's Echo: Autobiography, Narcissism and the Theoretical Voice
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Contents