The non-literate other : readings of illiteracy in twentieth-century novels in English / Helga Ramsey-Kurz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ramsey-Kurz, Helga.

Series:

Costerus ; new ser., v. 171.

Costerus, 0165-9618 ; new ser., v. 171

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English fiction--20th century--History and criticism.

English fiction.

Literacy.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (517 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam ; New York, NY : Rodopi, 2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Public debates on the benefits and dangers of mass literacy prompted nineteenth-century British authors to write about illiteracy. Since the early twentieth century writers outside Europe have paid increasing attention to the subject as a measure both of cultural dependence and independence. So far literary studies has taken little notice of this. The Non-Literate Other: Readings of Illiteracy in Twentieth-Century Novels in English offers explanations for this lack of interest in illiteracy amongst scholars of literature, and attempts to remedy this neglect by posing the question of how writers use their literacy to write about a condition radically unlike their own. Answers to this question are given in the analysis of nineteen works featuring illiterates yet never before studied for doing so. The book explores the scriptlessness of Neanderthals in William Golding, of barbarians in Angela Carter, David Malouf, and J.M. Coetzee, of African natives in Joseph Conrad and Chinua Achebe, of Maoris in Patricia Grace and Chippewas in Louise Erdrich, of fugitive or former slaves and their descendants in Richard Wright, Toni Morrison, and Ernest Gaines, of Untouchables in Mulk Raj Anand and Salman Rushdie, and of migrants in Maxine Hong Kingston, Joy Kogawa, and Amy Tan. In so doing it conveys a clear sense of the complexity and variability of the phenomenon of non-literacy as well as its fictional resourcefulness.

Contents:

Preliminary Material

INTRODUCTION

ILLITERACY AS A THEORETICAL ANATHEMA

IN THE HUMANITIES: TABOOED

IN LITERARY STUDIES: IGNORED

ILLITERACY AS A LITERARY THEME

ILLITERACY IN EARLIER FICTION

ILLITERACY IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY FICTION: HEART OF DARKNESS

THE NON-LITERATEWITHOUT: UNLETTERED CALIBANS IN DISTANT EUROPE

UNEARTHING THE PRE-LITERATEMIND: WILLIAM GOLDING’S THE INHERITORS

PROJECTIONS OF A POST-LITERATEMIND: ANGELA CARTER’S HEROES AND VILLAINS

POSTCOLONIAL RETURNS TO A PRE-LITERATE EUROPE: DAVID MALOUF’S AN IMAGINARY LIFE AND GILLIAN BOURAS’ APHRODITE AND THE OTHERS

THE NON-LITERATE IN SIGHT: THE UNLETTERED NATIVE IN CONTACT NARRATIVES

EARLY CONTACTS IN FICTIONAL AFRICA

BUT A GLIMPSE IN THE REAR VIEWMIRROR: THE UNINTELLIGIBLE NATIVE IN GRAHAM GREENE’S THE HEART OF THE MATTER

ARRIVALS ON A BICYCLE: THE UNINTELLIGIBLE COLONIST IN CHINUA ACHEBE’S THINGS FALL APART

MEETING IN THE DESERT: MIRAGES OF LITERATE AND NON-LITERATE BARBARITIES IN J.M. COETZEE’S WAITING FOR THE BARBARIANS

LATER CONTACTS IN NEW ZEALAND AND NORTH AMERICA

ISLANDS OF PRELITERATE ORALITY: LOUISE ERDRICH’S LOVE MEDICINE AND PATRICIA GRACE’S POTIKI

THE NON-LITERATEWITHIN: ESTABLISHED FORMS OF NON-LITERACY IN LITERATE CULTURES

ILLITERACY FORGED BY THE INDIAN CASTE SYSTEM

THE OUTCASTE’S LONGING TO LEARN: MULK RAJ ANAND’S UNTOUCHABLE

LEARNING TO BELONG TO THE OUTCASTES: SALMAN RUSHDIE’S MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN

BLACK ILLITERACY FORGED BY SLAVERY AND RACISM

THE LURE OF WHITE LITERACY: RICHARD WRIGHT’S BLACK BOY

RESISTINGWHITE LITERACY: TONIMORRISON’S BELOVED

FORGING A BLACK LITERACY: SAPPHIRE’S PUSH AND ERNEST J. GAINES’ ALESSON BEFORE DYING

THE ILLITERATE RETURNED: ILLITERACY IN MIGRANT LITERATURE

THE ILLITERATEMOTHER: MAXINE HONG KINGSTON’S THE WOMAN WARRIOR

THE ILLITERATE DAUGHTER: JOY KOGAWA’S OBASAN

GENERATIONS OF ILLITERACY: AMY TAN’S THE BONESETTER’S DAUGHTER

CLOSING REMARKS

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND INDEX

INDEX.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [449]-487) and index.

ISBN:

94-012-0471-3

1-4356-0078-9

OCLC:

714568437

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9789401204712 DOI