Maps of Empire examines how literature was affected by the decay and break up of old models of imperial administration in the mid-twentieth century.

Preface: Cartography and the Space of World Literature

1. A Portmanteau of the Nation in Im¿l Hab¿b¿’s The Pessoptimist 

2. The Literary Space of Authority in Camara Laye’s Le Regard du Roi

3. Imperial Palimpsest or Exquisite Corpse: Yambo Ouologuem’s Le Devoir de violence

4. Disorientation and Horror in Sadeq Hedayat’s The Blind Owl

5. Orality and the Space of Translation in the Pima Ant Songs

Afterword: Decolonizing Literary Space      

Bibliography

Kyle Wanberg is a clinical associate professor in Global Liberal Studies at New York University.