From In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures *

Abstract

Since the Second World War, nationalism has emerged as a principal expression of resistance to Western imperialism from the Indian subcontinent to Africa, from Latin America to the Pacific rim. In the aftermath of decolonization and with the emergence of independent states in Asia and Africa, many of Europe's former colonies banded together to form a common bloc, aligned neither with the advanced capitalist 'First World' nor with the socialist 'Second World'. In this historical context, the category of 'Third World literature' emerged, a category which has spawned a whole industry of scholarly and critical studies, largely in the metropolitan West, and notably through the work of migrant 'Third World' intellectuals residing in the West. Through detailed considerations of the work of Fredric Jameson, Edward Said and Salman Rushdie, and of migrant intellectuals generally, In Theory provides incisive analyses of the principal developments in literary theory since the 1960s, of the concept of Indian literature, of the genealogy of the term 'Third World', and of the conditions under which so-called 'colonial discourse theory' emerged in metropolitan intellectual circles. Setting himself against the growing tendency to homogenize 'Third World' literatures and cultures, Aijaz Ahmad has produced a spirited critique of the major theoretical statements on 'colonial discourse' and 'post-colonialism', dismantling many of the commonplaces and conceits that dominate contemporary cultural criticism. Erudite and lucid, Ahmad's remapping of the terrain of current cultural theory is certain to provoke passionate response.