Against Normalization

“Against Normalization raises provocative and timely questions about how South Africa is misread, and how local academics collude in the construction of flattering portraits of their own activities.” - Shane Moran, H-Net Reviews

"[M]akes a significant contribution to postcolonial studies, to comparative literary studies, to South African studies, and to a sort of optimistic oppositionality best summed up in the spirit of a 'turbulent refusal of the world as it was'-or is." - Helen Kapstein , Contemporary Literature

"The book insists, contrary to the usual neocolonial flow, that North Americans have much to learn from South Africa. This openness enriches the book, and enables him to follow horizontal movements that exceed or spill over the boundaries of any nation-state. . . . The final chapter, on Nortje, Head, and Marechera, fully delivers what the book's premises have promised." - Charles Sugnet, Africa Today

"The wide range of texts O’Brien analyzes and the broad swath of theoretical issues he touches on are held together . . . by his rich, crisp, and energetic prose." - Christopher J. Colvin , African Studies Review

“An important, topical, beautifully written, challenging, and always interesting book. Delicately melding close reading with political vision, O’Brien presents a carefully contextualized introduction to South African writers of the last two decades and includes a consideration of their many genres.” - Margaret Daymond, editor of South African Feminisms: Writing, Theory, and Criticism, 1990–1994

“In this rich and astute book, Anthony O’Brien introduces his readers to an array of writers and relates them to global, cultural, and political concerns. Subtly responsive to the increasing complexities both of postcolonial theory and culture in post-apartheid South Africa, Against Normalization advances postcolonial analysis on several significant fronts by embarking on a truly comparative approach to South African writing.” - Rob Nixon, author of Homelands, Harlem, and Hollywood: South African Culture and the World Beyond

“O’Brien brings together both familiar and unfamiliar literary and cultural material in South Africa without failing to wrestle with the enormous critical and theoretical problems concerning what connects and differentiates these diverse currents of literature, theater, and critical theory in South Africa.” - Biodun Jeyifo, Cornell University