@article{ART001305406},
author={Eli Park Sorensen},
title={The Crisis of Imagination: Postcolonial Studies and Migrant Literature},
journal={Cross-Cultural Studies},
issn={1598-0685},
year={2008},
volume={12},
number={2},
pages={17-41},
doi={10.21049/ccs.2008.12.2.17}
TY - JOUR
AU - Eli Park Sorensen
TI - The Crisis of Imagination: Postcolonial Studies and Migrant Literature
JO - Cross-Cultural Studies
PY - 2008
VL - 12
IS - 2
PB - Center for Cross Culture Studies
SP - 17
EP - 41
SN - 1598-0685
AB - This article investigates the contemporary relationship between
postcolonial theory and postcolonial literature, arguing that a problematic
“agreement” between criticism and writing in recent years has emerged,
which has marginalized and repressed a series of critical issues, thus
compromising the utopian and radical potential of postcolonial thought.
Tracing the developments of postcolonial criticism and writing, the
article argues that whereas postcolonial literature has undergone a change
from nationalist-based toward a migrant aesthetic, postcolonial theory
was from the beginning orientated toward a cosmopolitan language–
precisely because of its opposition to an earlier, nationalist-orientated
postcolonial discourse. Postcolonial studies emerged as an academic
discipline during a period of disillusionment–as a response to the
unfulfilled or broken promises that had been bred by the event of
independence. The academic field distanced itself from the dreams and
hopes that had flourished–and failed–in the years after independence,
by developing an alternative, more theoretical, set of imperatives. The
current agreement between theory and literature constitutes an
“ideological trap” in the sense that it represses the “original” failure,
from which postcolonial studies initially emerged; a failure, the
after-effects of which still constitute many of the critical issues crucial
to contemporary postcolonial thought. The article finally argues for a
critical rethinking of the relationship between criticism and writing, in order to reignite and reaffirm the dialectical tensions between them; and
thus continue the radical and utopian potential of postcolonial thought.
KW - Postcolonial theory;literature;diaspora;Edward Said;travelling theory;
Caryl Phillips;A Distant Shore;Georg Lukács
DO - 10.21049/ccs.2008.12.2.17
ER -
Eli Park Sorensen. (2008). The Crisis of Imagination: Postcolonial Studies and Migrant Literature. Cross-Cultural Studies, 12(2), 17-41.
Eli Park Sorensen. 2008, "The Crisis of Imagination: Postcolonial Studies and Migrant Literature", Cross-Cultural Studies, vol.12, no.2 pp.17-41. Available from: doi:10.21049/ccs.2008.12.2.17
Eli Park Sorensen "The Crisis of Imagination: Postcolonial Studies and Migrant Literature" Cross-Cultural Studies 12.2 pp.17-41 (2008) : 17.
Eli Park Sorensen. The Crisis of Imagination: Postcolonial Studies and Migrant Literature. 2008; 12(2), 17-41. Available from: doi:10.21049/ccs.2008.12.2.17
Eli Park Sorensen. "The Crisis of Imagination: Postcolonial Studies and Migrant Literature" Cross-Cultural Studies 12, no.2 (2008) : 17-41.doi: 10.21049/ccs.2008.12.2.17
Eli Park Sorensen. The Crisis of Imagination: Postcolonial Studies and Migrant Literature. Cross-Cultural Studies, 12(2), 17-41. doi: 10.21049/ccs.2008.12.2.17
Eli Park Sorensen. The Crisis of Imagination: Postcolonial Studies and Migrant Literature. Cross-Cultural Studies. 2008; 12(2) 17-41. doi: 10.21049/ccs.2008.12.2.17
Eli Park Sorensen. The Crisis of Imagination: Postcolonial Studies and Migrant Literature. 2008; 12(2), 17-41. Available from: doi:10.21049/ccs.2008.12.2.17
Eli Park Sorensen. "The Crisis of Imagination: Postcolonial Studies and Migrant Literature" Cross-Cultural Studies 12, no.2 (2008) : 17-41.doi: 10.21049/ccs.2008.12.2.17
