Introduction: On Violence and Visuality / Chapter I. A Literature of Failure: Reading Foe and Defoe / Chapter II. On Seeing England for the First Time (Again) / Chapter III. “A New Kind of Safari”: Gunesekera’s Sri Lanka / Chapter IV. The Rim of Things / Chapter V. “Every Native Would Like a Tour”
Helen Kapstein is Associate Professor of English at John Jay College, CUNY.
The book is an enjoyable, richly developed monograph which uses
critical theory “to return a critical gaze on the normative and
ideal island space.” … To rethink the island begs the question of
what replaces it, locating island and archipelagic studies squarely
in the unique, interdisciplinary position to confront some of the
most pressing challenges of our time. The stakes are high with the
compounded problems of climate change, limits to growth,
geopolitical tensions over immigration and refugees, the rise in
nationalism, etc. Abandoning such island myths and mentalities is
imperative; Kapstein proves why it is necessary and proper to so
argue forcefully.
*Island Studies Journal, Vol. 13, No. 2*
In this important and beautifully-written book, Helen Kapstein
brings together Robinson Crusoe and Robben Island Museum,
metaphorical and material spaces, the aesthetics of reading and the
economics of tourism. Conceptually challenging and eminently
readable, Postcolonial Nations, Islands, and Tourism transforms our
view of all its component terms.
*Dohra Ahmad, Associate Professor and Assistant Chair of English,
St John's University, USA*
Islands have boundaries that are clear yet contestable: they enable
and counter discourses of national identity, history, and memory.
In Postcolonial Nations, Islands, and Tourism, Helen Kapstein
offers a deft and engaging assessment of their role as metaphor,
metonym, and material space in a range of postcolonial (and
postimperial) literary texts and cultural objects. This is an
original and important study.
*Andrew van der Vlies, Senior Lecturer in the Department of
English, Queen Mary University of London*
Islands have boundaries that are clear yet contestable: they enable
and counter discourses of national identity, history, and memory.
In Postcolonial Nations, Islands, and Tourism, Helen Kapstein
offers a deft and engaging assessment of their role as metaphor,
metonym, and material space in a range of postcolonial (and
postimperial) literary texts and cultural objects. This is an
original and important study.
*Andrew van der Vlies, Senior Lecturer in the Department of
English, Queen Mary University of London*
Postcolonial Nations, Islands, and Tourism is an insistently
insightful book that crosses disciplines and geographies with
impressive ease. Helen Kapstein brings postcolonial studies, the
environmental humanities, and tourist studies into dynamic
conversation. She is a wonderful reader of material and imaginative
islands and an eloquent witness to the costs and consequences of
insular thinking.
*Rob Nixon, Currie C. and Thomas A. Barron Family Professor in the
Humanities and the Environment, Princeton University*
This is a splendid contribution to postcolonial studies in so many
ways. It not only provides cogent analyses of important texts in
the field, but also comes to terms with the complex formations and
interrelations of islands and states. It provides a vital
comparative and geographic sense of postcolonial writing. Highly
recommended.
*Peter Hitchcock, Professor of English, The Graduate Center, City
University of New York*
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