Postcolonial Fiction and Colonial Time

Abstract

Demonstrates that waiting is essential to theorising the relationship between time, power and agency in postcolonial fiction Brings together critical time and postcolonial studies, which produces new directions for both fields Reinvigorates narrative and time analyses by developing a framework that builds from interdisciplinary theories grounded in the literary theory, the social sciences, history, and philosophy Intervenes in theorisations of time and temporality across postcolonial spaces through the analytic of waiting Offers innovative readings of both classic and contemporary postcolonial novels that demonstrate the centrality of waiting to postcolonial temporalities Postcolonial Fiction and Colonial Time reveals the fundamental, constitutive role of the temporal dimensions of waiting in colonial regimes of time, as well as in postcolonial framings of time, history and agency. Drawing from critical time and postcolonial studies alike, this book argues that the temporality of waiting is an essential concept to theorise the relationship between time and power in postcolonial fiction across the long twentieth century - one that illuminates the contradictory temporalities that underlie narratives of progress, modernization and development. The book contributes to the resurgence of interest in time within literary studies by demonstrating that waiting is also integral to postcolonial temporalities, from anticolonial nationalist movements for independence to forms of reconciliation after conflict. In addition to innovative readings of both classic and contemporary postcolonial novels, this study challenges the dominant narrative of the twentieth century as a time of acceleration and movement by arguing for the centrality of waiting to time-consciousness in the postcolonial world.