A lucid intervention in current debates about identity and difference, this book uses the concept of Otherness to look again at both Gothic fiction and Postcolonialism.
Starting with a re-examination of the role of the colonial/racial Other in mainstream Gothic (colonial) fiction, this book goes on to engage with the problem of narrating the 'subaltern' in the post-colonial context. It engages with the problems of representing 'difference' in lucid conceptual terms, with much attention to primary texts, and highlights the strengths and weaknesses of colonial discourses as well as postcolonialist attempts to 'write back.' While providing rich readings of Conrad, Kipling, Melville, Emily Brontë, Erna Brodber, Jean Rhys and others, it offers new perspectives on Otherness, difference and identity, re-examines the role of emotions in literature, and suggests productive ways of engaging with contemporary global and postcolonial issues.
"This is a very important book. But, before I attempt to describe some of this importance, I should also register that it is a joy to read: it is eloquent in ways which constantly surprise, yet should not, since its author is, as well as a critic, a poet and writer of fiction. The writing here is adventurous yet lucid, full of critical detail yet admirably concise...In conclusion: I found this a brilliant and most exciting book. In the subtitle, 'Ghosts from Elsewhere', I have no idea where this particular 'elsewhere' might be but perhaps that is the point." - David Punter, Gothic Studies
"This is a fascinating, diverse and rich book which combines across the Gothic and the postcolonial in its concern with varieties of colonial and imperial Gothic 'Other', at different times, introducing a focus on the "war on terror" as a topical "hook." Khair places the foreign Other as a central function in the Gothic in texts set both in Britain and the ex-colonies, particularly in the Caribbean, where British influence is revealed as frequently demonic." - Gina Wisker, Head of the Centre for Learning and Teaching, University of Brighton, UK
