Stumbling Across the Thresholds of Interpretation: The Politics of Postcolonial Paratexts

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Abstract

This article analyzes the politics of prefaces and introductions written for colonial and postcolonial novels about India. Using Gérard Genette's concept of the paratext, I compare the preface written by E. M. Forster for Mulk Raj Anand to recent introductions written by postcolonial writers like Pankaj Mishra, Edward W. Said, and Harish Trivedi. I argue that their introductions to Raj-era novels like Forster's A Passage to India and Rudyard Kipling's Kim perform a crucial service to contemporary readers but also echo the politics of patronage implied by earlier endorsements by white writers of early Anglophone Indian novels.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)337-355
Number of pages19
JournalSouth Asian Review
Volume40
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 2019

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Gender Studies
  • Cultural Studies
  • Language and Linguistics
  • Linguistics and Language
  • Literature and Literary Theory

Keywords

  • Forster
  • India
  • Kipling
  • Pankaj Mishra
  • Paratexts
  • Raj

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