Homi K Bhabha

Bhabha, in his preface, writes Nations, like narratives, lose their origins in the myths of time and only fully encounter their horizons in the minds eye. From this seemingly impossibly metaphorical beginning, this volume confronts the realities of the concept of nationhood as it is lived and the profound ambivalence of language as it is written. From Gillian Beers reading of Virginia Woolf, Rachel Bowlbys cultural history of Uncle Toms Cabin and Francis Mulherns study of Leavistes English ethics to Doris Sommers study of the magical realism of Latin American fiction and Sneja Gunews analysis of Australian writing, Nation and

Bhabha, in his preface, writes 'Nations, like narratives, lose their origins in the myths of time and only fully encounter their horizons in the mind's eye'. From this seemingly impossibly metaphorical beginning, this volume confronts the realities of the concept of nationhood as it is lived and the profound ambivalence of language as it is written. From Gillian Beer's reading of Virginia Woolf, Rachel Bowlby's cultural history of Uncle Tom's Cabin and Francis Mulhern's study of Leaviste's 'English ethics'; to Doris Sommer's study of the 'magical realism' of Latin American fiction and Sneja Gunew's analysis of Australian writing, Nation and Narration is a celebration of the fact that English is no longer an English national consciousness, which is not nationalist, but is the only thing that will give us an international dimension.

Rethinking questions of identity, social agency and national affiliation, Bhabha provides a working, if controversial, theory of cultural hybridity - one that goes far beyond previous attempts by others. In The Location of Culture, he uses concepts such as mimicry, interstice, hybridity, and liminality to argue that cultural production is always most productive where it is most ambivalent. Speaking in a voice that combines intellectual ease with the belief that theory itself can contribute to practical political change, Bhabha has become one of the leading post-colonial theorists of this era.

This text addresses the question of whether cosmopolitanism - ways of thinking, feeling and acting beyond one's particular society - is simply the universalism of a Western particular.

Mit diesem Band liegt das Hauptwerk von Homi K. Bhabha erstmals komplett in deutscher Übersetzung vor. Kein Denker hat die Problematik der Verortung der Kultur so prägnant auf den Punkt gebracht wie dieser "anglisierte postkoloniale Migrant, der zufällig ein Literaturwissenschaftler mit leicht französischem Einfluß ist" - so Bhabhas Selbstcharakterisierung. In einer virtuosen, beziehungsreichen Sprache legt er dar, daß in postkolonialen Zeiten das "Wesen" oder der "Ort" der Kultur nicht mehr als einheitlich, geschlossen verstanden werden kann. Derartigen Vorstellungen hält der Theoretiker der Hybridität sein Konzept des "Dritten Raumes" entgegen, das über die geläufigen Polaritäten wie Ich - Anderer, Dritte Welt - Erste Welt weit hinausgeht. Die in der Verortung der Kultur versammelten Texte zählen zu den innovativsten und einflußreichsten Arbeiten der aktuellen Literaturtheorie und Kulturwissenschaft. Eine ernstzunehmende Beschäftigung mit postkolonialen oder multikulturellen Fragen ist - wie Toni Morrison einmal sagte - ohne eine Lektüre von Homi K. Bhabhas Werk schlicht undenkbar.

Bhabha, in his preface, writes 'Nations, like narratives, lose their origins in the myths of time and only fully encounter their horizons in the mind's eye'. From this seemingly impossibly metaphorical beginning, this volume confronts the realities of the concept of nationhood as it is lived and the profound ambivalence of language as it is written. From Gillian Beer's reading of Virginia Woolf, Rachel Bowlby's cultural history of Uncle Tom's Cabin and Francis Mulhern's study of Leaviste's 'English ethics'; to Doris Sommer's study of the 'magical realism' of Latin American fiction and Sneja Gunew's analysis of Australian writing, Nation and Narration is a celebration of the fact that English is no longer an English national consciousness, which is not nationalist, but is the only thing that will give us an international dimension.