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Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak is one of the most influential figures in contemporary critical theory. However, her hugely important theoretical work is often hard to approach for the first time. This introduction offers a stepping stone to such crucial primary texts as In Other Worlds and A Critique of Postcolonial Reason. Spivak is perhaps best known for her overtly political use of contemporary cultural and critical theories to challenge the legacy of colonialism on the way we read and think about literature and culture. Always cutting-edge, always provocative, Spivak champions the voices and texts of those marginalised by western culture and takes on many of the dominant ideas of the contemporary era. This volume examines her work through the issues of style, deconstruction, the subaltern, ‘Third World’ women and western feminism, materialism and value, postcolonialism and the literary text. Anyone interested in contemporary cultural theory should read Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Any reader of Spivak should in turn look to this introduction. Stephen Morton is Lecturer in English at Tampere University, Finland and has been a research fellow at the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program, New York City. He has published work on critical and cultural theory, twentieth-century literature and visual culture.
ROUTLEDGE CRITICAL THINKERS essential guides for literary studies Series Editor: Robert Eaglestone, Royal Holloway, University of London
Routledge Critical Thinkers is a series of accessible introductions to key figures in contemporary critical thought. With a unique focus on historical and intellectual contexts, each volume examines a key theorist’s: • • • •
significance motivation key ideas and their sources impact on other thinkers
Concluding with extensively annotated guides to further reading, Routledge Critical Thinkers are the literature student’s passport to today’s most exciting critical thought. Already available: Jean Baudrillard by Richard J. Lane Maurice Blanchot by Ullrich Haase and William Large Judith Butler by Sara Salih Gilles Deleuze by Claire Colebrook Sigmund Freud by Pamela Thurschwell Martin Heidegger by Timothy Clark Fredric Jameson by Adam Roberts Paul de Man by Martin McQuillan Edward Said by Bill Ashcroft and Pal Ahluwalia For further details on this series, see www.literature.routledge.com/rct
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First published 2003 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004. © 2003 Stephen Morton All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Morton, Stephen, 1972– Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak / Stephen Morton. p. cm. – (Routledge critical thinkers) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty–Contributions in cultural studies. 2. Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty–Contributions in feminist theory. 3. Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty–Contributions in postcolonialism. 4. Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty–Criticism and interpretation.