There are now several Readers offering selections of secondary work in postcolonial theory. Yet there is no single, readily available anthology, informed by contemporary thinking about the subject, that offers a wide-ranging introduction to primary texts in the field: primary in the sense that the texts are written by "creative writers". This new anthology offers the most comprehensive introductory cross-section of anglophone postcolonial writing yet available. It strikes a balance between acknowledged "classic" texts and works that represent characteristic aspects of post-colonial writing. The book makes available a very considerable body of work by major postcolonial writers and at the same time provides a valuable source book for the exploration of central postcolonial themes and theories.

PART I: AFRICA -- WEST AFRICA -- Amos Tutola -- From My Life in the Bush of Ghosts -- Chinua Achebe -- 1: From Arrow of God -- 2: From What Has Literature Got to Do with It -- 3: From Anthills of Savannah -- Christopher Okigbo -- Siren Limits -- Wole Soyinka -- 1: Abiku -- 2: From The Lion and the Jewel -- Buchi Emecheta -- From The Joys of Motherhood -- Niyi Osundare -- Harvestcall -- Ben Okri -- Incidents at the Shrine -- Ama Ata Aidoo -- 1: The Message -- 2: Motherhood and the Numbers Game -- EAST AFRICA -- Okot p'Bitek -- From Song of Lawino -- Ngugi wa Thiong'o -- 1: From A Grain of Wheat -- 2: From Decolonising the Mind -- M. G. Vassanji -- Leaving -- Abdulrazak Gurnah -- From Paradise -- SOUTHERN AFRICA -- Nadine Gordimer -- Six Feet of the Country -- Athol Fugard with John Kani and Winston -- From Sizwe Bansi is Dead -- Lauretta Ngcobo -- From And They Didn't Die -- Mbulelo Mzamane --My Cousin Comes to Jo'burg -- J. M. Coetzee -- From Foe -- Bessie Head -- From A Question of Power -- Tsitsi Dangarembga -- From Nervous Conditions -- NORTH AFRICA -- Jamal Mahjoub -- From Navigation of a Rainmaker -- PART II: AUSTRAILIA -- Charles Harpur -- A Mid-Summer Noon in the Australian Forest -- Marcus Clarke -- Preface to Poems of the Late Adam Lindsay Gordon -- Henery Kendall -- The Last of His Tribe -- A. B. 'Banjo' Paterson -- The Man from Snowy River -- Henry Lawson -- 1: The Drover's Wife -- 2: Middleton's Rouseabout -- Mary Gilmore -- Old Botany Bay -- Bernard O'Dowd -- Australia -- 'Steele Rudd' (Arthur Hoey Davis) -- Starting the Selection -- Barbra Baynton -- The Chosen Vessel -- Miles Franklin -- From My Brilliant Career -- 'Henry Handel Richardson' (Ethel Florence Lindesay Robertson) -- Proem to Australia Felix -- Kenneth Slessor -- 1: South Country -- 2: The Night Ride -- A. D. Hope -- Australia -- James McAuley -- Terra Australis -- Christina Stead -- The Schoolboy's Tale: Day of Wrath -- Patrick White -- 1: The Prodigal Son -- 2: From The Tree of Man -- Judith Wright -- Train journey -- Ray Lawler -- From Summer of the Seventeenth Doll -- Alan Seymour -- From The One Day of the Year -- Oodgeroo Noonuccal (Kath Walker) -- We Are Going -- Gwen Harwood -- Suburban Sonnet -- Peter Porter -- Phar Lap in the Melbourne Museum -- Les Murray -- 1: Blood -- 2: Quintets for Robert Morley -- Bruce Dawe -- 1: Life-Cycle -- 2: Homecoming -- Dorothy Hewett -- From Testament -- David Williamson -- From The Club -- Peter Carey -- 'Do You Love Me?' -- John Tranter -- From The False Atlas -- Murray Bail -- The Drover's Wife -- Barbra Jefferis -- The Drover's Wife -- Mudrooroo Narogin (Colin Johnson) -- They Give Jacky Rights -- Jack Davis -- From Kullaark -- Helen Garner -- The Life of Art -- Robert Drewe -- Stingray -- Sally Morgan -- A Black Grandmother -- Kate Grenville -- From Joan Makes History -- Tim Winton -- Neighbours -- David Malouf -- From Remembering Babylon -- PART III: CANADA -- Frances Brooke -- From The History of Emily Montague --Major John Richardson -- From Wacousta -- Catharine Parr Traill -- From The Backwoods of Canada -- Sara Jeannette Duncan -- From The Imperialist -- Bliss Carman -- Low Tide on Grand Pre -- Stephen Leacock -- From Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town -- Emily Carr -- From Klee Wyck -- E.J. Pratt -- From Brebeuf and His Brethren -- Sinclair Ross -- From As for Me and My House -- Hugh MacLennan -- From Barometer Rising -- Elizabeth Smart -- From By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept -- Earke Birney -- 1: Bushed -- 2: Mappemounde -- James Reaney -- Maps -- Al Purdy -- 1: Elegy for a Grandfather -- 2: Roblin's Mills -- Eli Mandel -- 'Grandfather's Painting': David Thauberger -- George Bowering -- Grandfather -- Margaret Atwood -- 1: Progressive Insanities of a Pioneer -- 2: From Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature -- 3: The Age of Lead -- 4: Morning in the Burned House -- Gwendolyn MacEwen -- From Terror and Erebus -- Robertson Davies -- From Fifth Business -- Phyllis Webb -- Marvell's Garden -- Robert Kroetsch -- 1: Stone Hammer Poem -- 2: From The Moment of the Discovery of American Continents -- Alice Munroe -- The Photographer -- Ruby Wiebe -- Where is the Voice Coming From? -- Alistair MacLeod -- As Birds Bring Forth the Sun -- Audrey Thomas -- From Intertidal Life -- Daphne Marlatt -- From Ana Historic -- Timothy Findley -- From Lemonade -- Thomas King -- The One about Coyote Going West -- Jeannette C. Armstrong -- This Is a Story -- Bonnie Burnard -- Music Lessons -- Susan Swan -- From The Biggest Modern Woman of the World -- George Elliott Clarke -- How Exile Melts to One Hundred Roses -- Aritha van Herk -- From No Fixed Address -- Evelyn Lau -- From Fresh Girls -- PART IV: CARIBBEAN -- C. L. R. James -- From Beyond a Boundry -- Louise Bennet -- Dear Departed Federation -- Jean Rhys -- 1: The Day They Burned the Books -- 2: I Used to Live Here Once -- V. S. Reid -- From New Day -- George Lamming -- 1: From In the Castle of My Skin -- 2: From The Pleasures of Exile -- Sam Selvon -- From The Lonely Londoners -- V. S. Naipaul -- 1: Man-man -- 2: From A House for Mr Biswas -- Derek Walcott -- 1: Ruins of a Great House -- 2: From Dream on Monkey Mountain -- 3: From The Muse of History -- 4: From Omeros -- Wilson Harris -- 1: Palace of the Peacock -- 2: From Tradition and the West Indian Novel -- Denis Williams -- From Other Leopards -- The Mighty Sparrow (Slinger Francisco) -- Dan is the Man in the Van -- (Edward) Kamau Brathwaite -- 1: Ananse -- 2: Negus -- 3: From History of the Voice -- Mervyn Morris -- 1. The Pond -- 2. Narcissus -- Michael Gilkes -- From Prospero's Island -- Earl Lovelace -- From The Dragon Can't Dance -- Erna Brodber -- From Jane and Louisa Will Soon Come Home -- Zee Edgell -- From Beka Lamb -- Jamaica Kincaid -- In the Night -- Olive Senior -- Summer Lightning -- Lorna Goodison -- I Am Becoming My Mother -- John Agard -- Mek Four -- Valerie Bloom -- Language Barrier -- Grace Nichols -- One Continent/To Another -- Jean 'Binta' Breeze -- Spring Cleaning -- PART V: NEW ZEALAND AND SOUTH PACIFIC -- Katherine Mansfield The Garden Party -- Mary Ursula Bethell -- Pause -- R. A. K. Mason -- On the Swag -- A. R. D. Fairburn -- 1: Imperial -- 2: Tapu -- Tobin Hyde -- The Last Ones -- Allen Curnow -- 1: House and Land -- 2: Landfall in Unknown Seas -- James Baxter -- 1: On the Death of her Body -- 2: Jerusalem Sonnet, I -- 3: Ikons -- Hone Tuwhare -- Speak to Me, Brother -- Frank Sargespm -- I've Lost My Pal -- Janet Frame -- From Faces in the Water -- Witi Ihimaera -- 1: The Whale -- 2: This Life is Weary -- Albert Wendt -- 1: A Resurrection -- 2: Towards a New Oceania -- Keri Hulme -- From The Bone People -- Patricia Grace -- From Potiki -- Epeli Hau'ofa -- The Seventh and Other Days -- Bill Manhire -- From South Pacific -- Subramani -- PART VI: SOUTH ASIA -- INDIA --Mulk Raj Anand -- From Untouchable -- R, K, Narayan -- From The Man-Eater of Malgudi -- Raja Rao -- From Kanthapura -- Attia Hosain -- Gossamer Thread -- Nissim Ezekiel -- 1: Background, Casually -- 2: The Patriot -- Dom Moraes -- Sinbad -- A. K. Ramanujan -- Small-Scale Reflections on a Great House -- Jayanta Mahapatra -- Grandfather -- Kamala Das -- An Introduction -- Keki Daruwalla -- Death of a Bird -- Nayantara Sahgal -- Martand -- Anita Desai -- From In Custody -- Eunice De Souza -- 1: Marriages are Made -- 2: Women in Dutch Paintings -- Salman Rushdie -- From Midnight's Children -- Amitav Ghosh -- From The Shadow Lines -- Vikram Seth -- From A Suitable Boy -- Agha Shahid Ali -- 1: Postcard from Kashmir -- 2: A Wrong Turn -- Sujata Bhatt -- A Different History -- Meena Alexander -- House of a Thousand Doors -- Githa Hariharan -- The Remains of the Feast -- SRI LANKA -- Patrick Fernando -- The Fisherman Mourned by His Wife -- Yasmine Gooneratne -- 1: Big Match, 1983 -- 2: This Language, This Woman -- Punyakante Wijenaike -- From Giraya -- Lakdasa Wikkramasinha -- Don't Talk to Me about Matisse -- Jean Arasanayagam -- Passages -- Rajiva Wijesinha -- From Days of Despair -- Richard De Zoysa -- Apocalypse Soon -- Shyam Selvadurai -- From Funny Boy -- BANGLADESH -- Kaiser Haq -- A Myth Reworked -- PAKISTAN -- Ahmed Ali -- From Twilight in Delhi -- Bapsi Sidhwa -- From Ice-Candy-Man -- Alamgir Hashmi -- 1: So What If I Live in a House Made by Idiots? -- 2: Inland PART VII: SOUTH-EAST ASIA -- MALAYSIA -- Lloyd Fernando -- From Scorpion Orchid -- Lee Kok Liang -- Five Fingers -- Ee Tiang Hong -- 1: Heeren Street, Malacca -- 2: Arrival -- Wong Phui Nam -- Prospect in Spring -- Mohamad Bin Haji Salleh -- Do Not Say -- K. S. Maniam -- From The Return -- Shirley Geok-lin Lim -- 1: Christmas in Exile -- 2: On Reading Coleridge's Poem -- SINGAPORE -- Edwin Thumboo -- Gods Can Die -- Lee Tzu Pheng -- Excluding Byzantium: On Objections to Living Near a Home for the Elderly Sick -- Phillip -- Jeyaretnam -- Making Coffee -- THE PHILIPPINES -- Nick Joaquin -- From The Woman Who Had Two Navels -- THAILAND -- S.P Somtow -- From Jasmine Nights -- PART VIII: TRANS-CULTURAL WRITING -- Louise Bennett -- Colonisation in Reverse -- Sam Selvon -- Working the Transport -- Ruth Prawer Jhabvala -- Myself in India -- Zulfikar Ghose -- 1: This Landscape, These People -- 2: The Attack on Sialkot -- V.S. Naipaul -- From A Way in the World -- Anne Ranasinghe -- At What Dark Point -- Joy Kogawa -- From Obasan -- Daphne Marlatt -- Arriving at Shared Ground Through Difference -- Bharati Mukherjee -- Loose Ends -- Yasmine Gooneratne -- Bharat Changes His Image -- Rienzi Crusz -- Roots -- Michael Ondaatje -- 1: From Running in the Family -- 2: From In the Skin of a Lion -- Linton Kwesi Johnson -- Doun de Road -- David Dabydeen -- Two Cultures -- Salman Rushdie -- From Imaginary Homelands -- Fred D'Aguiar -- Letter from Mama Dot -- M. Nourbese Philip -- She Tries Her Tongue: Her Silence Softly Breaks -- Caryl Phillips -- Crossing the River -- Rohinton Mistry -- Squatter .