Joyce Cary: A Critical Study

Joyce Cary (1888-1957) is a forerunner of post-colonial thinking, yet remains a critically marginalized political writer in British Literature. This book focuses on Cary’s representation of the complexity in cultural politics. Using Frantz Fanon’s expose of the mechanics of colonialism as a tool, it seeks to establish Cary’s credibility as a political writer. The book also reiterates the necessity for rehistoricizing Cary’s political position by examining his novels set in Africa, Ireland as well as in England, highlighting his subtle understanding of the dialectics of power and British Liberalism. The expertise, with which he has translated the liberal dilemma into the novel form cast in a dialogic manner, is also of equal interest in the post-modern context. What distinguishes this work from many others that apply theoretical positions mechanically is the disciplined manner in which theoretical premises are tested and measured against Cary’s own political and social attitudes.