{"product_id":"zones-of-instability-imre-szeman-9780801868030","title":"Zones of Instability: Literature, Postcolonialism, and the Nation","description":"\u003cp\u003eAttempts by writers and intellectuals in former colonies to create unique national cultures are often thwarted by a context of global modernity, which discourages particularity and uniqueness. In describing unstable social and political cultures, such \"third-world intellectuals\" often find themselves torn between the competing literary requirements of the \"local\" culture of the colony and the cosmopolitan, \"world\" culture introduced by Western civilization.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eZones of Instability\u003c\/i\u003e, Imre Szeman examines the complex relationship between literature and politics by exploring the production of nationalist literature in the former British empire. Taking as his case studies the regions of the British Caribbean, Nigeria, and Canada, Szeman analyzes the work of authors for whom the idea of the\"nation\" and literature are inexorably entwined, such as Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, C.L.R. James, Frantz Fanon, and V.S. Naipaul. Szeman focuses on literature created in the two decades after World War II, decades in which the future prospects for many colonies went from extreme political optimism to extreme political disappointment. He finds that the \"nation\" can be read as that space in which literature is thought to be able to conjoin two things that history has separated--the writer and the people.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Imre Szeman\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0801868033\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780801868030\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Johns Hopkins University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/03\/2004\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 245\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.13lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.20h x 6.60w x 0.90d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 10\/01\/2004 pg. 297","brand":"Imre Szeman","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48086871048447,"sku":"9780801868030","price":54.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_cb94d315-a7f3-4758-a387-bca963ada458.jpg?v=1769097062","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/zones-of-instability-imre-szeman-9780801868030","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}