Margins and centres reconsidered

The articles collected in the volume analyse texts pertaining to different periods in the history of English language literatures and involve various theoretical perspectives. Most of the essays interrogate established canonical readings and offer interpretations of texts which emerge from what has long been considered geographical and theoretical margins. Thus, the understanding of centre and canon (both in the hierarchy of literary texts and viability of theoretical approaches) is seen as undergoing a significant change whereby texts and theories functioning so far at the margins become 'canonised' while those regarded as central or fashionable have been displaced to the margins. In this way the present volume offers multiple perspectives on and a variety of approaches to English language texts belonging to different epochs and regions, and ecourages further explorations of the margins-and-centre relationship in the fieid of English language literatures.