What is Postcolonial Literature?

 Postcolonial literature examines colonial rule and its afterlives—language, culture, class, race, and gender—recentered from the perspectives of the colonized. It relativizes empire-centric narratives and rewrites history from the margins. (Overview of postcolonialism, themes, examples. Encyclopedia Britannica+1)

What it addresses

• Memory/trauma of colonization and assimilation; resistance and recovery

• Hybridity, diaspora, exile, and border-crossing identities

• Revaluing Creoles/indigenous tongues vs. “standard” languages

• Dismantling stereotypes; amplifying women’s and minority voices
  (General framing and scope. The British Academy)

Core theorists

• Edward W. Said — Orientalism: critique of how the “East” was constructed by the West. Encyclopedia Britannica+2Encyclopedia Britannica+2

• Gayatri C. Spivak — “Can the Subaltern Speak?”: the problem of silenced/inaudible marginalized voices. Reading Rhetoric+1

• Homi K. Bhabha — hybridity, mimicry, and the “Third Space” where identities are negotiated. Wikipedia+1

Literary features

• “Disturbing” the language of power: polyphony, code-switching, oral storytelling

• Meta-narration and counter-history

• Myth/folklore and magical realism to reinterpret colonial history
  (Conceptual summaries aligned with standard references above. The British Academy)

Authors & touchstone works

• Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart (Nigeria) — Igbo society and the arrival of missionaries/colonial rule. Encyclopedia Britannica+1

• Salman Rushdie, Midnight’s Children (India/UK) — allegorical chronicle around 1947 independence; Booker Prize. Encyclopedia Britannica+1

• Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea (Caribbean) — a postcolonial prequel to Jane Eyre. Encyclopedia Britannica

• J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace (South Africa) — ethics, power, and post-apartheid fracture. Encyclopedia Britannica+1

Related currents (Japan context)

• Okinawan writing and Zainichi Korean literature often explore empire, displacement, and identity in/around Japan. newvoices.org.au+3Encyclopedia Britannica+3Encyclopedia Britannica+3

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Starter reading & reference links

• Britannica, “Postcolonialism” (clear overview). Encyclopedia Britannica

• British Academy blog, “What is postcolonial literature?” (broad scope & canon re-readings). The British Academy

• Said, Orientalism (context & influence). Encyclopedia Britannica+1

• Spivak, “Can the Subaltern Speak?” (plain-English explainer + summaries). electrostani.com+1

• Bhabha, Third Space / The Location of Culture (hybridity). Wikipedia+1

• Achebe, Things Fall Apart (entry & synopsis). Encyclopedia Britannica

• Rushdie, Midnight’s Children (entry & awards). Encyclopedia Britannica+1

• Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea (entry & context). Encyclopedia Britannica

• Coetzee, Disgrace (entry & author page). Encyclopedia Britannica+1

• Context in Japan: Okinawa background; Zainichi literature overviews. newvoices.org.au+3Encyclopedia Britannica+3ieas.directfrompublisher.com+3