Simon Lewis

"A highly original work, provocatively argued and presented. Not only does it offer fresh insights into African and British literature by reading them against the grain, it also provides new ways for cultural scholars in all geographical specialties to think about the ways in which empire and colony have impacted upon one another, historically, and how they continue to impact in the postimperial and postcolonial age."--Laura Chrisman, University of WashingtonAfrican identities have been written and rewritten in both British and African literature for decades. These revisions have opened up new formulations of what it really means to be British or African. By comparing texts by authors from African and British backgrounds across a wide variety of political orientations, Simon Lewis analyzes the deeper relationships between colonizer and colonized. He brings issues of race, gender, class, and sexuality into the analysis, providing new ways for cultural scholars to think about how empire and colony have impacted one another from the late eighteenth century through the decades following World War II. In his comparisons, Lewis focuses on commonalities rather than differences. By examining the work of writers including Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, T. S. Eliot, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Zoe Wicomb, Yvette Christianse, and Chris van Wyk, he demonstrates how Britain's former African colonies influence British culture just as much as African culture was influenced by British colonization. Lewis brings a uniquely informed perspective to the topic, having lived in South Africa, Tanzania, and Great Britain, and having taught African literature for over a decade. The book demonstrates his expert knowledge of local cultural history from 1945 to the present, in both Africa and Britain. Simon Lewis, professor of English at the College of Charleston, is author of White Women Writers and Their African Invention.

A first-person account of sudden, unexpected tragedy and life-affirming courage, this remarkable tale of regeneration imparts lessons both medical and spiritual.

Inspector Jian is a Chinese cop from the Siberian borders who thinks he's seen it all. But his search for his missing daughter brings him to the meanest streets he's ever faced - in rural England. Migrant worker Ding Ming is distressed - his gangmaster's making demands, he owes a lot of money to the snakeheads and no one will tell him where his wife has been taken. Maybe England isn't the `gold mountain' he was promised..... Two desperate men, uneasy allies in a baffling foreign land, are pitted against a band of ruthless criminals. There's BAD TRAFFIC ahead.