What do we learn from reading fiction that is missing from conventional political and historical sources? In addressing this question, this text examines a range of fiction and criticism as it pertains to colonialism, the North/South engagement and contemporary Third World politics. Firstly, the book sets out the building blocks of the project, contrasting the treatment of cross-cultural relations in political studies and literary texts. It then examines the personal as a metaphor for the political in fiction concerned with the imperial connection between Britain and India. After discussing the relationship between culture and policies in African literary texts, the book approaches literature from the outside, considering its apparent silence on economics and "realpolitik", and reviewing the themes of the book in the light of post-colonial discourse.
Author Biography
Phillip Darby is Reader in International Relations, University of Melbourne and Co-Director of the Institute of Postcolonial Studies, Melbourne, Australia.
