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Colonial and Postcolonial Literature: Migrant Metaphors cover

Literature

Literature

Colonial and Postcolonial Literature: Migrant Metaphors

Elleke Boehmer

A critical and historical introduction to colonial and postcolonial writing in English. Elleke Boehmer traces the literature of empire and of the movements that resisted it, from the imperial adventure story to postcolonial fiction and poetry, and explains key terms such as subaltern, colonial resistance, writing back and hybridity through close readings.

Prerequisites: No prior study of postcolonial theory is needed, though some experience of reading literature in English critically helps.

Difficulty Level
Intermediate
Academic Level
Undergraduate
postcolonial literaturecolonial literatureliterature in englishpostcolonial theoryTextbook

01 / Reading Guide

Reading Guide

Citation

Boehmer, E. (2005). Colonial and Postcolonial Literature: Migrant Metaphors (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Chapter Summary

The second edition has an introduction, seven chapters, a chronology of key events and publications, notes, a further reading section and an index, in roughly 350 to 370 pages (records give 351, 364 and 368). Oxford University Press describes it as a critical overview and historical introduction to colonial and postcolonial literary studies, with a broad contextualizing narrative about the evolution of colonial and postcolonial writing in English. Close readings of writers "from Kipling and Conrad through to Kincaid, from Ngugi to Noonuccal and Naipaul" are used to explain key terms such as "subaltern," "colonial resistance," "writing back" and "hybridity." The first edition appeared in 1995. The revised edition adds new critiques of postcolonial women's writing, an expanded and fully annotated bibliography, and a new chapter and conclusion on postcolonialism that explore debates on sexuality, transnationalism and local resistance. The public contents list gives chapter titles only, so the summaries below follow the titles and the publisher's description and do not go further.

Introduction and Chapter 1: Imperialism and Textuality

The introduction frames the field. The title of Chapter 1 pairs imperialism with textuality, which signals that the book begins from the relation between imperial power and the texts that accompanied it.

Chapters 2–3: Colonialist Concerns; The Stirrings of New Nationalism

Chapter 2 is titled for the concerns of colonialist writing, and Chapter 3 for the first stirrings of new nationalism. The order of the titles suggests a movement from the literature of the imperial side toward writing shaped by emerging national feeling.

Chapters 4–5: Metropolitans and Mimics; Independence

Chapter 4 has the title "Metropolitans and Mimics," and Chapter 5 "Independence." Both belong to the middle of the book's chronological sequence, between early nationalism and the postcolonial present.

Chapters 6–7: Postcolonialism; Transitional Futures

Chapter 6 is simply "Postcolonialism." Chapter 7 is "Transitional futures: the postcolonial book and the global world." The publisher says the revised edition adds a new chapter and conclusion on postcolonialism; the contents list does not show which of the final chapters is new.

Key Concepts

Throughout the Book

  • Subaltern, colonial resistance, writing back, hybridity: the four key terms that the publisher says the book explicates through close readings of texts.
  • Imperialism and textuality: the pairing in the title of Chapter 1.

Chapters 6–7

  • Postcolonialism: the name of the field and the title of Chapter 6.
  • Sexuality, transnationalism and local resistance: the keynote debates that, according to the publisher, the new chapter and conclusion explore.
  • The postcolonial book in the global world: the subject named in the title of Chapter 7.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

  • The field's history in one narrative. The publisher calls the book the leading critical overview of and historical introduction to colonial and postcolonial literary studies, and the chapter titles run from imperialism and colonial writing through nationalism and independence to postcolonialism and the global present.
  • Terms explained through texts. Key terms are explained through close readings of named writers; the contents show a chronology, notes and a further reading section but no separate glossary of theory, which suits students of literature.
  • Reviewer endorsements. The publisher's listing reproduces comments on the first edition, identified only by surname: Zwicker calls it one of the best introductions to colonialism and literature the reviewer has read, Ghosh calls it well organized, accessible and tightly constructed, and Durrant expects it to remain an important resource. They are marketing excerpts, not full reviews.
  • A revised edition. The second edition adds postcolonial women's writing, an annotated bibliography and a final section on current debates.

Limitations

  • English-language focus. The publisher frames the narrative as writing in English, so literatures in French, Portuguese, Arabic and other languages are outside its main scope.
  • Dated for the latest debates. The edition is from 2005, so later work in the field is not covered.
  • No mention of US ethnic literatures. The writers named by the publisher belong to the English-language imperial world (Kipling, Conrad, Kincaid, Ngugi, Noonuccal, Naipaul); readers whose course also covers US ethnic writing will find it in other books on the list.

Where It Fits in the Course

Within the postcolonial and ethnic literature course, this is the historical overview. John McLeod's Beginning Postcolonialism is written for undergraduates meeting the field for the first time and is the gentler starting point; Boehmer is the better choice for readers who want literary history and close readings in a single narrative. The Empire Writes Back by Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin is a foundational theoretical account of post-colonial writing in English that can follow it, and Edward Said's Culture and Imperialism is a study of Western empires and the novel that connects to the colonial side of Boehmer's story. The Book of Salt by Monique Truong and Anzaldúa's Borderlands/La Frontera are primary texts that the key terms in this book can help to read.

How to Use This Book

The book is suited to undergraduates in courses on postcolonial literature and to readers who need a historical map of English-language colonial and postcolonial writing; the publisher's audience is college and university readers. The publisher states no prerequisites, though practice in reading literature closely will help.

A practical plan is to read the introduction and Chapter 1 first for the overall frame, then Chapters 2 to 5 in order as the historical core, pairing each with a primary text from the period. Read Chapter 6 when the course turns to theory, and Chapter 7 with the conclusion for the current debates. Use the chronology of key events and publications as a reference while reading, and use the further reading section to move on to the theoretical books in the course. For a short course, the introduction with Chapters 1, 4 and 6 gives a route through the argument.