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The Infinite Longing for Home
Desire and the Nation in Selected Writings of Ben Okri and K.S. Maniam
Series: - Cross/Cultures, Volume: 80
Author:
The Infinite Longing for Home is a groundbreaking study of Ben Okriâs and K.S. Maniamâs literary problematization of âhomeâ in relation to subjectivity and the nation within and beyond the context of Nigeria and Malaysia. Drawing on Lacan, Žižek, Laclau and Mouffe, and weaving through history, politics, philosophy and literature, this book critically examines the motives and means by which peoples forced to live together in a country love and hate each other, and overlook the truths about themselves, their actions and beliefs. It looks into why some embrace heterogeneity and open-endedness while others are internally compelled to over-identify passionately with their religion and race, and to posit theirs as irreducibly distinct from and superior to othersâ. The Infinite Longing for Home also traces through Okriâs and Maniamâs writings a way out of todayâs political aporia, a path to the re-creation of a new society humbled and unified by the recognition of its participation in flawed humanity.
DAVID C.L. LIM is Lecturer in English at Open University Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. His research and writing focus on postcolonial fiction, popular culture, and the discourse on ethics, alterity and freedom in Southeast Asian literatures.
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction
PART I . NATION(S)
1 Nation: Conceptions
2 Becoming Nations: Nigeria, Malaysia
PART I I . BEN OKRI: THE ABIKU TRILOGY
3 The Famished Road
4 Songs of Enchantment
5 Infinite Riches
PART I I I . K.S. MANIAM: TWO NOVELS
6 The Return
7 In A Far Country
Conclusion
Appendix
Synopsis of K.S. Maniamâs Unpublished Novel Delayed Passage
Works Cited
Index
Abbreviations
Introduction
PART I . NATION(S)
1 Nation: Conceptions
2 Becoming Nations: Nigeria, Malaysia
PART I I . BEN OKRI: THE ABIKU TRILOGY
3 The Famished Road
4 Songs of Enchantment
5 Infinite Riches
PART I I I . K.S. MANIAM: TWO NOVELS
6 The Return
7 In A Far Country
Conclusion
Appendix
Synopsis of K.S. Maniamâs Unpublished Novel Delayed Passage
Works Cited
Index