This collection includes contributions from some of the major authors in the field. The critical essays have been chosen to open up possibilities, mark out boundaries and set objectives in the ever-expanding field of international literature in English. The writers themselves are the principal guides and resources for this enterprise. New literary and critical practices are derived from the problematic role of English as an international language and from its relations with other languages. Values of cultural difference and particularity are emphasised.

KARIN BARBER Senior Lecturer , Centre for West African Studies, University of Birmingham
HOWARD ERSKINE-HILL Professor of Literary History, Cambridge
SUSAN FITZMAURICE Associate Professor, Northern Arizona University
ANDREW GURR Professor of English, University of Reading
WILSON HARRIS has published a distinguished series of novels, often set in Guyana, since 1960
JOHN KINSELLA the leading Australian poet of his generation and has won numerous awards and prizes
JAVED MAJEED Lecturer, School of Oriental and African Studies, London
KIRSTEN MALMKJAER Research Lecturer, Research Centre for English and Applied Linguistics, University of Cambridge
C. D. NARASIMHAIAH was Professor of English, Mysore and is director of the Dhvanyaloka Study Centre, Mysore
BEN OKRI won the Booker Prize with The Famished Road in 1991
DAVID RICHARDS Senior Lecturer, School of English, University of Leeds
WOLE SOYINKA won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986

Preface and Acknowledgements Introduction Cambridge English and Commonwealth Literature; T.J.Cribb PART I: GATEWAYS AND FRONTIERS Redreaming the World; B.Okri Child at the Frontier; W.Soyinka Judgement and Dream; W.Harris Fens, Droughts and Deserts; J.Kinsella PART II: LIMITS AND LANGUAGES Language and Literature: Englishes and Translation; K.Malmkjaer In the Shadow of Language: From Joyce to Okri; T.J.Cribb African-Language Literature and Post-Colonial Criticism; K.Barber Aspects of Afrikaans in South African Literature in English; S.Fitzmaurice PART III: TRADITIONS AND PLACES Towards an Understanding of the Indian Poetic Tradition and Its Critical Framework, with Reference to Literature in English; C.D.Narasimhaiah Putting God in His Place: Metaphysics and Politics in British India with Reference to the Works of Iqbal in English and Persian; J.Majeed The Nuisance Grounds: the Theme of Relegation in Two Canadian Novels; H.Erskine-Hill 'The Culture of Displacement and Its Effects': Frazer, Freud and Others; D.Richards Conclusion Wordmaps for Chaos: the New Geographism; A.Gurr Index