A history of postcolonial literature in 12 1/2 books

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“History isn’t what happened. History is just what historians tell us … One good story leads to another. First it was kings and archbishops with some offstage divine tinkering, then it was the march of ideas and the movements of masses, then little local events which means something bigger, but all the time it’s connections, progress, meaning, this led to this, this happened because of this … The history of the world? Just voices echoing in the dark; images that burn for a few centuries and then fade; stories, old stories that sometimes seem to overlap; strange links, impertinent connections.” (Julian Barnes) Postcolonial literature critiques the patterns and narrative conventions through which history is constructed. Many powerful postcolonial works explore counter-histories, offering alternative versions of familiar yet often oppressive foundational stories. This raises a critical issue: how can the history of postcolonial literature be documented without erasing these counter-narratives and undermining their significance? The twelve chapters delve into this challenge through thematic and theory-informed readings of key novels, including *Things Fall Apart*, *Nervous Conditions*, and *The English Patient*. These analyses reveal the choices involved in reading, writing, and revising history, as well as in designating cultural products as central.