Publications [#199843] of Aarthi Vadde

Essays/Articles/Chapters in Books

  1. A. Vadde. "“Guidance in Perplexity: Recasting Postcolonial Politics in J.M. Coetzee’s Elizabeth Costello”." ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature. Vol. 41.3-4 (2010): 231-249..
    (last updated on 2012/06/02)

    Author's Comments:
    Published in Jul/Oct 2010 issue, but issue appeared in Fall 2011.

    Abstract:
    This essay responds to recent debates in postcolonial studies about the perils of institutionalization for a field that imagines itself as an oppositional force within institutions. I argue that Elizabeth Costello contends with the problem of institutionalization by staging various forms of adversarial belonging. This claim applies to its protagonist’s actions but also to the novel itself, which brings the postcolonial, modernist and reform novel traditions into uneasy alliance. The essay uses the novel’s critique of institutional and generic membership to develop new approaches to postcolonial literary criticism and revised definitions of political efficacy.