New Literatures in English

CONTENTS
Introduction
Canadian Literature


Canadian Literature Canon


Special features of Canadian Literature


Authors and Poets
Australian Literature


History and Introduction
Poetry


Modern poets
Novels


Major Novelists
Indian Literature


History of Indian Literature
Indian Poetry


Major poets
Indian Novels


Major novelists
Indian Drama


Major dramatists
Caribbean Literature


History of Caribbean Literature


Major Caribbean Writers
African Literature


History of African Literature


Major African Writers


Women African Writers
Feminist Literature


Major Female Writers

Introduction:
New Literature in English
, which is also known as
Commonwealth Literature, ThirdWorld Literature, and more recently as Post-colonial Literature
refers to the
AnglophoneLiterature of Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Oceania, and Canada
. The field has directoverlaps with English Studies, for instance by including Black and Asian British literatures aswell as travel writing. The recent years have seen a phenomenal growth in this field ofLiterature. Academic interest has acquired roots in these fields.Earlier, only British literature has been traditionally taught as the only literature inEnglish. But these Literature have gained an importance of their own with the simple reason
i.e. . “
More than three quarters of the people living in the world today have had their
lives shaped by the experience of colonialism”
. It includes the literature of the Africancountries, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Caribbean countries, India, Malaysia, Malta, NewZealand, Pakistan, Singapore, South Pacific Island countries, and Sri Lanka. The difference between the literatures of the black and the
White Diaspora
as the literatures of Canada,Australia, and New Zealand developed their canons differently from all those in the brown orthe black Diaspora. There is a distinction between the settler colonies and the invadedcolonies. In the Settler colonies (USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) the Europeancolonists occupied the land and colonized the indigenous population physically andemotionally , while in the invaded colonies(like India or Nigeria) the people were colonizedin their own land and they had to learn the English language of the colonizer.
‘Commonwealth Literature’
is really an academic label which means little to the
public at large. Ask anyone to name five famous Commonwealth authors, and you’ll
probably receive a look of blankness.One important aspect of so-called Commonwealth literature may be that it is writtenin one place by people from another place. Whereas an earlier generation of writers settled inBritain, many contemporary authors have chosen to live in Canada or the United States. Asignificant part of the West Indian, or Caribbean, Diaspora (itself part of the AfricanDiaspora) has found itself in Canada, alongside the Indian/Asian Diaspora. Complicatingthings, however, is the fact that there are many writers in Commonwealth countries who havechosen not to write in English, either to make a political statement or to reach those who
don’t speak the language.

Perhaps in the end, the only benefit of the term ‘Commonwealth Literature’ is to
promote the writing of those who might not otherwise get attention. Part of the Festival inLondon is devoted to awarding prizes to writers from four regions:
Africa, theCaribbean/Canada, Eurasia and Southeast Asia/South Pacific
.The prize is called the
‘Commonwealth Writers Prize’
and it is a sure bet that noauthor
—
whether Indian, Caribbean, British or African
—
will quarrel about the term whenhe or she receives the cheque.In view of their significance these literatures have achieved, it has been interesting tostudy as to how they evolved their forms, structures, syntactical devices and styles, therationales of their aesthetic structures and how their language gain a vitality not a differentkind. It has been equally a part of interest to know how the historical, social and political pressures characterize these literatures, how the psycho-pathological and ethnic contexts


[5]influence them, what shades and varieties of modernity emerge therein and how they can beevaluated in the overall modern context

English