Critiquing Postmodernism in Contemporary Discourses of Race

Critiquing Postmodernism in Contemporary Discourses of Race challenges the critical emphasis on otherness in treatments of race in literary and cultural studies. Sue J. Kim deftly argues that this treatment not only perpetuates narrow identity politics, b

  • PDF / 1,499,266 Bytes
  • 205 Pages / 396.85 x 612.283 pts Page_size
  • 83 Downloads / 176 Views

DOWNLOAD

REPORT


This page intentionally left blank

Critiquing Postmodernism in Contemporary Discourses of Race

Sue J. Kim

CRITIQUING POSTMODERNISM IN CONTEMPORARY DISCOURSES OF RACE

Copyright © Sue J. Kim, 2009. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2009 978-0-230-61874-9 Sections of chapter two were originally published as “Apparatus: Theresa Hak Kyung and the Politics of Form.” Journal of Asian Studies 8.2 (2005): 143–69. © 2005 The Johns Hopkins University Press. Reprinted with permission of The Johns Hopkins University Press. Sections of chapter four were originally published as “ ‘The Real White Man is Waiting For Me’: Ideology and Morality in Bessie Head’s A Question of Power.” College Literature 35.2 (Spring 2008): 38–69. Reprinted with permission of College Literature. All rights reserved. First published in 2009 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-38140-1 ISBN 978-0-230-10396-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230103962 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kim, Sue J. Critiquing postmodernism in contemporary discourses of race / Sue J. Kim. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-349-38140-1 (alk. paper) 1. Postmodernism (Literature) 2. Other (Philosophy) in literature. 3. Marginality, Social, in literature. 4. Race in literature. I. Title. PN98.P67K5 2009 809’.9113—dc22

2009009730

A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: December 2009 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Key Young & June Kim

This page intentionally left blank

Contents

Acknowledgments

ix

Introduction

1

One

The Ideological Fantasy of Otherness Postmodernism

9

Two

Theresa Hak Kyung Cha and the Politics of Form

Three Not Three Worlds But One: Thomas Pynchon and the Invisibility of Race Four

Analyzing the Real: Bessie Head’s Literary Psychosis

47 83 117

Concluding Notes

151

Notes

165

Works Cited

177

Index

191

This page intentionally left blank

Acknowledgments

A

s is often the case with first books, this project has been in development for so long, in so many forms, that there are many, many people to thank. The numerous faults with this book, however, are entirely my own doing. First, I simply could not have completed this book without a number of generous grants and fellowships. Cornell University’s Sage Dissertation Fellowship enabled me to lay the groundwork in my dissertation. At the University of Alabama at Bi