Perennial Empires: Postcolonial, Transnational, and Literary Perspectives

Focusing its concern through the often-neglected role of literature in shaping and influencing these forces, this powerful collection of essays addresses the complex new ways that international power exercises control over all aspects of life-from new forms of public governance to the construction of private identities.The book acknowledges the emergence of new theoretical models of imperialism and empire, but it sets them firmly within the longer history of the analysis of the post colonial. It explores contemporary concerns such as global ecology, queer theory, and the War on Terror and demonstrates their links with underlying forces stretching back to the classic eras of colonial rule. This book provides a convincing model for rethinking the relationship between past and present theories of the exercise of world power from the age of classic imperialism to the era of Bush and Obama.- Gareth Griffiths, Professor of English, University of Western Australia, and coauthor of The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures