17、uding to the hegemonic power of the British tradition.The term colonial literatures might focus on what is shared the writing and therefore suggest the direction in which to proceed theoretically, but the connotations of the term are politically unacceptable to territories which have gained their in 。

18、dependence. Post-colonial seems to be the choice which both embraces the historical reality and focuses on that relationship which has provided the most important creative and psychological impetus in the writing. Although it does not specify that the discourse is limited to works in english, it doe 。

19、s indicate the rationale of the grouping in a common past and hints at the vision of a more liberated and positive future. In practical terms, the description we adopt - post-colonial - is less restrictive than Commonwealth;
it shares with new literatures in English the ability to include, for examp 。

20、le, the english literature of the Philippines or of the United States as well as that of pakeha (white) or Maori writing in New Zealand, or that of both Blacks and whites in South Africa.However, the term post-colonial literatures is finally to be preferred over the others because it points the way。

21、towards a possible study of the effects of colonialism in and between writing in english and writing in indigenous languages in such contexts as Africa and India, as well as writing in other language diasporas (French, Spanish, Portuguese). The literature of Ireland might also be investigated in ter 。

22、ms of our contemporary knowledge of post-colonialism, thus shedding new light on the British literary tradition. Even so, better terms may still emerge. In his comparative study of the literatures of Quebec and the Black diaspora, Dorsinville, for example, used the term post-European. Although this。

23、has not so far been used extensively in critical accounts of the field its political and theoretical implications have much to offer.(pp. 23-24).Centre et priphrieEnglish vs englishLanguageOne of the main features of imperial oppression is control over language. The imperial education system install 。

24、s a standard version of the metropolitan language as the norm, and marginalizes all variants as impurities. As a character in Mrs Campbell Praeds nineteenth-century Australian novel Policy and Passion puts it, To be colonial is to talk Australian slang;
to be . everything that is abominable (Campbel 。

25、l Praed 1881:154).Language becomes the medium through which a hierarchical structure of power is perpetuated, and the medium through which conceptions of truth, order, and reality become established. Such power is rejected in the emergence of an effective post-colonial voice. For this reason, the di 。

26、scussion of post-colonial writing which follows is largely a discussion of the process by which the language, with its power, and the writing, with its signification of authority, has been wrested from the dominant European culture.In order to focus on the complex ways in which the English language。

27、has been used in these societies, and to indicate their own sense of difference, we distinguish in this account between the standard British English inherited from the empire and the english which the language has become in post-colonial countries. Though British imperialism resulted in the spread o 。

28、f a language, English, across the globe, the english of Jamaicans is not the english of Canadians, Maoris, or Kenyans. We need to distinguish between what is proposed as a standard code, English (the language of the erstwhile imperial centre), and the linguistic code, english, which has been transfo 。

29、rmed and subverted into several distinctive varieties throughout the world. For this reason the distinction between English and english will be used throughout our text as an indication of the various ways in which the language has been employed by different linguistic communities in the post-coloni 。

30、al world.The use of these terms asserts the fact that a continuum exists between the various linguistic practices which constitute english usage in the modern world. Although linguistically the links between English and the various post-colonial englishes in use today can be seen as unbroken, the po 。

31、litical reality is that English sets itself apart from all other lesser variants and so demands to be interrogated about its claim to this special status.In practice the history of this distinction between English and english has been between the claims of a powerful centre and a multitude of inters 。

32、ecting usages designated as peripheries. The language of these peripheries was shaped by an oppressive discourse of power. Yet they have been the site of some of the most exciting and innovative literatures of the modern period and this has, at least in part, been the result of the energies uncovere 。

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标题：The|The empire writes back Theory and practice in postcolonial literatures( 二 )