Critiquing Postmodernism in Contemporary Discourses of Race

Download or read book Critiquing Postmodernism in Contemporary Discourses of Race written by S. Kim and published by Springer. This book was released on 2009-11-23 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Critiquing Postmodernism in Contemporary Discourses of Race challenges the critical emphasis on otherness in treatments of race in literary and cultural studies. Sue J. Kim deftly argues that this treatment not only perpetuates narrow identity politics, but obscures the political and economic structures that shape issues of race in literary studies. Kim s revelatory book shows how reading authors through their identity ends up neglecting both complex historical contexts and aesthetic forms. This comparative study calls for a reconsideration of the bases for critical engagement and a reading ethics that melds the best of historicist and formalist approaches to literature.