Postcolonial London: Rewriting the Metropolis

by McLeod,John

• ISBN13: 9780415344609
• ISBN10: 0415344603
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2004-09-24
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Postcolonial Londonexplores the imaginative transformation of London by African, Asian, Caribbean and South Pacific writers since the 1950s. Engaging with a range of writers from Sam Selvon and Doris Lessing to Hanif Kureishi and Fred D'Aguiar, John McLeod examines a cultural history of resistance to the prejudice and racism that have at least in part characterised the postcolonial city. This resistance, he argues, bears witness to the determination, imagination and creativity of London's migrants and their descendants. McLeod's superb study is essential reading for those interested in British or postcolonial literature, or in theorisations of the city and metropolitan culture.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	ix
Introduction: Locating postcolonial London	1	(23)
Making a song and dance: Sam Selvon and Colin Maclnnes	24	(35)
London, England: V. S. Naipaul, Doris Lessing and Janet Frame	59	(34)
Living room: Buchi Emecheta, Joan Riley and Grace Nichols	93	(33)
Babylon's burning: Linton Kwesi Johnson, Hanif Kureishi and Salman Rushdie	126	(32)
Millennial currents: David Dabydeen, Fred D'Aguiar and Bernardine Evaristo	158	(31)
Coda: `No fenky-fenky road'	189	(6)
Bibliography	195	(10)
Index	205