McLeod's book presents original and insightful
interpretations of less-explored passages in London's novels, poems, and
occasional ethnographic works. Through a careful selection of both canonical
and obscure texts, McLeod revisits the city's literature without overstating
the broader implications of his findings, avoiding the conflation of
'postcolonial London' with 'postcolonial Britain.' The result is a collection
of intelligent, contextual, and site-specific reinterpretations that facilitate
a thorough reassessment of the cultural and literary significance of these
works, taking into consideration the varied histories and circumstances of
individual writers' arrivals in London.
"Postcolonial London" demonstrates a heightened
awareness of the broader implications of both male and female authors,
extending beyond a mere analysis of the city's literature to potentially
illuminate the historicization of 'black British' writing. McLeod pays
particular attention to the contributions of black women, highlighting their
political resistance against sexism and racism before and beyond the
formalization of black women's groups in the 1970s and 1980s, such as the
Southall Black Sisters (p. 125). When examining the critical reception of
novels and poems by black women, he warns against interpreting such works
solely as documentaries, emphasizing their experimental and imaginative
aspects. In a subsequent chapter, McLeod equally stresses the importance of
resisting this inclination when analyzing men's writing, notably focusing on
the dub poetry of Linton Kwesi Johnson from the 1970s and 1980s.
In his introduction, McLeod critically assesses the notion
of 'postcolonial London,' drawing on Ania Loomba's (1998) perspective that
postcolonial studies extends beyond examining how colonies were affected by
colonialization and decolonization, also considering the impact on the
'metropolis' itself . The concept of postcolonial London acknowledges the enduring
influence of the colonial process on the city, particularly post-World War II.
It emphasizes that postcolonial London is not a fixed location but emerges at
the intersection of the tangible and the conceptual, blending the material
conditions of metropolitan life with imaginative representations. McLeod's
study from the 1950s onward investigates how newcomers from formerly colonized
nations reshaped London's cultural meanings and nurtured novel perspectives on
city life. It also explores how residing in and writing about London
facilitated new ways of contemplating regional, national, diasporic, and
transcultural identities.
McLeod underscores that postcolonial London is distinct from
the study of postcolonial England, highlighting the capital's disjointed
relationship to the nation. He provides compelling evidence to suggest that
representations of postcolonial London are shaped by the city's disjunctive
ties to the nation. Furthermore, the book conceptualizes London as a composite
of diverse neighborhoods with a range of postcolonial influences that do not
necessarily converge.
Chapter 1, covering the period 1950–59, delves into 'the
consequences of Caribbean and African migration to London.' It examines the
'specifically masculine spatial creolizations' portrayed in Sam Selvon's The
Lonely Londoners, as well as Colin MacInnes' novels City of Spades and Absolute
Beginners. McLeod argues that the optimism and utopianism depicted in these
novels challenge standard historicizations that often focus on the bleakness of
London for newly arrived migrants. The chapter 'Making a Song and Dance'
explores the joyous calypso and procession following the West Indies' historic
victory over England in the Second Test of June 1950. McLeod contends that this
spontaneous subcultural moment reflects London's continual transformation,
forming an impromptu calypsonian circuitry that connects the city in unforeseen
ways. Examining Selvon's The Lonely Londoners, McLeod emphasizes lesser-known
episodes and asserts that the novel captures the 'popular cultural energies' of
1950s migrants, particularly the 'calypsonian vision' of a different London—one
asserting the right to tenure, claiming the benefits of migration, and
potentially transforming the pedagogical dissemination of national identity.
Chapter 2 delves into the writings of V.S. Naipaul, Doris
Lessing, and Janet Frame during the 1960s. It posits that Lessing and Frame
capitalized on London's postwar decline, subjecting the city to a 'liberating
and liberalizing postcolonial critique'. Challenging the prevailing assumption
that black women migrants were merely adjuncts to male counterparts, the
chapter explores how three women writers from the 1970s and 1980s—Buchi
Emecheta, Joan Riley, and Grace Nicols—disrupted masculine delineations of
London spaces. While Emecheta and Riley question the gendered foundation of the
optimism in 1950s novels with their exploration of the complexities of
movement, Nicols's poems envision a transformative female cultural and spatial
agency. McLeod highlights Emecheta's early anticipation of academic
observations on fractures in the category of black Britishness.
Chapter 4 focuses on the tumultuous conflicts in 1980s
London, examining critical responses to the representation of riots in the dub
poetry of Linton Kwesi Johnson, Hanif Kureishi's film "Sammy and Rosie Get
Laid" (1988), and Salman Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses" (1988).
Consistent with the book's commitment to engaging with the classed dimensions
of postcolonial London writing, McLeod explores the uneasiness in Kureishi and
Rushdie's narratives regarding popular revolt in 1980s London.
Chapter 5 explores the representation of 1990s London in
David Dabydeen's novel "The Intended" and the poetry of Fred
D'Aguiar, as well as in Bernadine Evaristo's prose poem "Lara". This
is contrasted with more optimistic depictions of transcultural London, as seen
in the critical reception of Zadie Smith's less skeptical and troubled vision
of the city.
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