Introduction: Located Reading—Postcolonial Literatures in the Local Literary Marketplace

Abstract

An introductory chapter argues for the significance of the local literary marketplace in contrast with the more frequently considered global literary marketplace. This chapter asks how we might understand the prevalence of books and reading in postcolonial literature beyond Homi Bhabha’s suggestion that the book “out of place” undermines colonial power. I argue that when books are instead omnipresent—as is true of postcolonial literature—they offer greater potential for challenging the impact of colonialism, as some of the texts considered here demonstrate: Taslima Nasrin’s French Lover, Aisha by Ahdaf Soueif, Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger, NoViolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names, Crick Crack, Monkey by Merle Hodge, Jamaica Kincaid’s Annie John and A Small Place, and Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions.