148 Pages
by Routledge

148 Pages
by Routledge

148 Pages
by Routledge

Drawing from a rich corpus of British cultural production and postcolonial theory, this book positions Brexit in the historical nexus of colonialism, colonial nostalgia, and the rise of narcissistic nationalism in contemporary Europe. This collection moves away from existing literary discourses framing Brexit as a 'novel' event that ushered in a new genre of British fiction. It challenges... Read more

Introduction: The colonial remains of Brexit: Empire nostalgia and narcissistic nationalism

Caroline Koegler, Pavan Kumar Malreddy and Marlena Tronicke

1. Ain’t No Black in the (Brexit) Union Jack

Ronald Cummings

2. Warning Signs: Postcolonial Writing and the Apprehension of Brexit

John McLeod

3. Brexit literature’s present absentees: Triangulating Brexit, anti-Semitism, and the Palestinian crisis

Lindsey Moore

4. ‘We are all migrants through time’: History and Geography in Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West

Shazia Sadaf 

5. ‘Eastern Europeans’ and BrexLit

Vedrana Velickovic 

6. Imperial Pasts, Dystopian Futures, and the Theatre of Brexit

Marlena Tronicke

7. The Brexit within: Mapping the Rural and the Urban in Contemporary British Fiction

Birte Heidemann

8. Writing Back to Brexit: Transcultural Intertextuality, Refugees, and the Colonial Archive from Chaucer to Kipling

Jan Rupp

9. (Post)colonial friendships and Empire 2.0: A Brexit reading of Victoria & Abdul

Clelia Clini

Biography

Caroline Koegler is Assistant Professor of British Literary and Cultural Studies, University of Münster, Germany.

Pavan Kumar Malreddy teaches English Literature at Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany.

Marlena Tronicke is Assistant Professor of British Literary and Cultural Studies, University of Münster, Germany.

'These excellent essays are an important intervention in understanding the cultural politics of the Brexit phenomenon. Multifarious in their starting points and focus, they hone in on the cultural nostalgias, the politics of race and nation, and the long-term historical forces which have shaped the UK's departure from the European project.'

Colin Graham, Professor of English, Maynooth University, Ireland

 

'Drawing on fiction, film, theatre and other cultural texts, these twelve postcolonial scholars give unique insights into the resurgent colonialism and nostalgia for Britain’s imperial past that underpinned the decision to leave Europe in the 2016 Brexit referendum, and its aftermath.'

Janet Wilson and Chris Ringrose, editors, Journal of Postcolonial Writing

 

'An impressive lineup of young and veteran postcolonial scholars turn the outward colonial gaze inwards, resulting in an original set of perspectives on the (textual) forms and (historical) formations of Britain’s exit from the EU.'

Lars Eckstein, Professor of Anglophone Literatures Cultures, University of Potsdam, Germany