Of Irony and Empire: Islam, the West, and the Transcultural Invention of Africa

SUNY series, Explorations in Postcolonial Studies

SUNY series, Explorations in Postcolonial Studies Emmanuel C. Eze and Arif Dirlik, editors Anjali Prabhu, Hybridity: Limits, Transformations, Prospects M. T. Kato, From Kung Fu to Hip Hop: Globalization, Revolution, and Popular Culture Natascha Gentz and Stefan Kramer (eds.), Globalization, Cultural Identities, and Media Representations Sandra Ponzanesi, Paradoxes of Postcolonial Culture: Contemporary Women Writers of the Indian and Afro-Italian Diaspora Sam Durrant, Postcolonial Narrative and the Work of Mourning: J.M. Coetzee, Wilson Harris, and Toni Morrison Patrick Colm Hogan, Empire and Poetic Voice: Cognitive and Cultural Studies of Literary Tradition and Colonialism Olakunle George, Relocating Agency: Modernity and African Letters Elisabeth Mudimbe-Boyi (ed.), Beyond Dichotomies: Histories, Identities, Cultures , and the Challenge of Globalization John C. Hawley (ed.), Postcolonial, Queer: Theoretical Intersections Alfred J. Lopez, Posts and Pasts: A Theory of Postcolonialism S. Shankar, Textual Traffic: Colonialism, Modernity, and the Economy of the Text Patrick Colm Hogan, Colonialism and Cultural Identity: Crises of Tradition in the Anglophone Literatures of India, Africa, and the Caribbean 241 LITERARY CRITICISM Of Irony and Empire Islam, the West, and the Transcultural Invention of Africa Laura Rice Of Irony and Empire is a dynamic, thorough examination of Muslim writers from former European colonies in Africa who have increasingly entered into critical conversations with the metropole. Focusing on the period between World War I and the present, “the age of irony,” this book explores the political and symbolic invention of Muslim Africa and its often contradictory representations. Through a critical analysis of irony and resistance in works by writers who come from nomadic areas around the Sahara— Mustapha Tlili (Tunisia), Malika Mokeddem (Algeria), Cheikh Hamidou Kane (Senegal), and Tayeb Salih (Sudan)—Laura Rice offers a fresh perspective that accounts for both the influence of the Western, instrumental imaginary, and the Islamic, holistic one. “This book is beautifully written in clear, elegant prose and provides an original, imaginative, and compelling argument regarding alternative modernities in twentiethcentury Africa.” —Winifred Woodhull, author of Transfigurations of the Maghreb: Feminism, Decolonization, and Literatures “This is an excellent critical examination of some of Africa’s most celebrated novels and the author approaches this rather complicated field with a unique commentary and balanced perspective.” —Chouki El Hamel, Arizona State University Laura Rice is Professor of Comparative Literature at Oregon State University and cotranslator (with Karim Hamdy) of Century of Locusts by Malika Mokeddem and Departures by Isabelle Eberhardt. A volume in the SUNY series, Explorations in Postcolonial Studies Emmanuel C. Eze and Arif Dirlik, editors State University of New York Press www.sunypress.edu ...