Beyond the Postcolonial: World Englishes Literature by Emma Dawson Varughese (review)

It seems almost impossible to dissociate the exponentially growing bulk of critical appraisals of postcolonial literature and the recent ramifications of the various discourses generated by the field from the two works which instigated a radical review of the literary canon and how it should be dealt with, namely Edward Said’s Orientalism (1978) and Bill Ashcroft’s The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures (1989). It is often argued that these two works have provided the field of postcolonial studies a raison d’être it has long been denied, and a method, which enables it to interrogate texts, to raise questions about the various ideological uses of language, and to investigate the relationship between knowledge and power. A survey of the relevant literature produced in the last two decades reveals the significant influence of postcolonial theory on several young writers who exploit in their literary works the subtleties of the language of the empire, demythologize it, dismantle its hierarchies, and reshape it in their own manners. Though Emma Dawson Varughese’s Beyond the Postcolonial: World Englishes Literature does not sufficiently draw on Said, Ashcroft, or any of the eminent theorists in the field, her theoretical referentiality is informed by the same trends and perspectives one finds in postcolonial critical discourse. In defining her approach, which she tries to keep as broad and as eclectic as possible, she seems more interested in the study of texts and the modes of literary production than in biography and ideologically oriented critical inquiry. Varughese, however, makes it clear that her project, using stories and storytelling as techniques for data collection, assumes an experimental nature, which lies in documenting and chronicling more than in analyzing, giving primacy to text over context and minimizing the place and role of jargon. Although the theoretical undertones might be evident, given their ubiquitousness in postcolonial theory and inevitability in any discussion of a project assuming a similar nature, Varughese expands her sources of influence to include the theoretical works of lesser-known critics like Peter Hulme, Elleke Boehmer, and Rosinka Chaudhuri. It seems that her choice is pragmatically motivated as she is keenly interested in engaging with the way these postcolonial critics quest for a movement “beyond a particular canon” with a view to embracing “a more practical agenda.” Although she grapples with the problematics raised in the theoretical discussion, she does not provide any concrete, airtight views to help define her position. Even when she claims that we are in a de facto postcolonial state characterized by “beyondness,” she does not narrowly define what this state actually is beyond the mere theoretical assumptions. On the other hand, Varughese joins the ranks of mainstream postcolonial critics when she defends the legitimacy of the field by unequivocally asserting that the story of colonization and empire is not yet over.

Unlike other books that discuss similar issues, Beyond the Postcolonial stands out as the champion of the cause of young and frequently underrep-resented postcolonial voices, those who are “less and less recognizable by the tropes and guises of postcolonial literature” (1). Using a formal creative writing competition, the author has chosen a number of “representative” writers hailing from seven countries in which English has been identified on account of the colonial legacy, or in some cases it has been adopted as a medium of expression for strictly personal reasons. Cameroon, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Singapore, Malaysia, and India have all undergone the experience of empire through direct or indirect contact with British colonialism, and share the tribulations and, paradoxical as it might seem, the pleasures mitigated with the shock of the encounter, as well as the challenges of the postcolonial condition consisting of adjustment and decolonization. Nearly three decades ago, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, whom Varughese cites in a few places in the book to emphasize the relationship between language, ideology, and propaganda, saw in the rift—linguistically and epistemologically—a radical solution to the traumatic effect...