Gayatri Spivak
Ethics, Subalternity and the Critique of Postcolonial Reason
Key Contemporary Thinkers
1. Auflage Dezember 2006
216 Seiten, Softcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivaks seminal contribution to contemporary
thought defies disciplinary boundaries. From her early translations
of Derrida to her subsequent engagement with Marxism, feminism and
postcolonial studies and her recent work on human rights, the war
on terror and globalization, she has proved to be one of the most
vital of present-day thinkers.
In this book Stephen Morton offers a wide-ranging introduction
to and critique of Spivaks work. He examines her engagements with
philosophers and other thinkers from Kant to Paul de Man, feminists
from Cixous to Helie-Lucas and literary texts by Charlotte Bronte,
J. M. Coetzee, Mahasweta Devi and Jean Rhys. Spivaks thought is
also situated in relation to subaltern studies. Throughout the
book, Morton interrogates the materialist basis of Spivaks thought
and demonstrates the ethical and political commitment which lies at
the heart of her work.
Stephen Morton provides an ideal introduction to the work of
this complex and increasingly important thinker.
Abbreviations
Introduction
Chapter One Postcolonial Criticism and Beyond
Chapter Two Deconstruction
Chapter Three Marxism and Post-Marxism
Chapter Four Subaltern Studies and the Critique of Representation
Chapter Five Transnational Feminism
Chapter Six From a Postcolonial Critique of Reason to A Critique of Postcolonial Reason
Conclusion: Transnational Literacy, Subaltern Rights and the Future of Comparative Literature
Notes
References
Index
Spivak's remarkable work from the realms of pedagogy to the
reaches of political practice. Morton's study will enhance
our grasp of her exemplary oeuvre."
Homi K. Bhabha, Anne F. Rothenberg, Harvard
University
"Gayatri Spivak's refusal to settle for the quick fix, the
empty piety, the mere abstract calculus, or the language of
expediency has never appeared more salutary than it does today. As
violence counters violence in the name of moral righteousness, this
lucid book, like Spivak's own critique of postcolonial
studies, is a timely reminder of the complicity between imagined
liberal benevolence and the ruthless pursuit of global hegemony at
any cost. If one slogan emerges from Stephen Morton's
analysis it is the ever more pressing need to 'learn to learn from
the subaltern'. This is a task requiring patience and the learning
of subaltern languages as 'active cultural media', not as mere
instruments. Never has comparative literary and cultural studies
beckoned so urgently."
Donna Landry, University of Kent at Canterbury
