Comedy, Fantasy and Colonialism

(Paperback)

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This work assesses the role and character of comedy and fantasy in colonial societies from India to Ireland, Australia to Cuba, Africa to North America. It deals with both oral and written traditions, the history of comic and fantastic discourse, visual, theatrical and literary representations. This title answers such questions as "What are the differing traditions of comic discourse in Western and non-Western societies", "How is humour and fantasy culture specific", "In what ways do local traditions of humour and fantasy adapt to imperial invasion", "How have colonisers used humour to deal with unfamiliar and sometimes hostile conditions" and "What is the relationship between the fantastic, the parodic and the satirical in the create of a sense of national character".

Reviews

"What we are presented with here is a collection of essays that address various literary texts which might be understood, in some way or another, to fall under the banner of (post-) colonial writing. ... The thirteen essays presented here do, each in their own way, offer insights... Each taken on their own, they are of interest and do raise important questions for the study of literature and its reception. ... That said, as a work of reference, to dip in and out of, depending on one's interest, there is a great deal of value on offer here." -Calum Neill, Janus Head 7.1, 2004

Author Bio

Graeme Harper is Professor of Creative Writing and Dean of The Honors College at Oakland University, Michigan, USA. He is Editor of the Approaches to Writing Series at Bloomsbury, Editor of the New Writing journal and is Chair of the Creative Writing Studies Organization (CWSO) in the USA. He was also inaugural Chair of HE at the UKs National Association of Writers in Education (NAWE) and is an award-winning fiction writer, Professor and Honorary Professor.