Fiction of Development: Literary Representation & the Developing World
Explore the 'Fiction of Development' through powerful literary works that depict the developing world. Discover top books on development fiction, postcolonial narratives, and global socio-economic themes in literature.
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Things Fall Apart
by Chinua Achebe
“A true classic of world literature . . . A masterpiece that has inspired generations of writers in Nigeria, across Africa, and around the world.” …
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Brick Lane
by Monica Ali
“A book you won’t be able to put down. A Bangladeshi immigrant in London is torn between the kind, tedious older husband with whom she …
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Rushing to Paradise
by J. G. Ballard
The rise and fall of a cult leader. After losing her medical license, Dr. Barbara Rafferty turns environmentalist to protest French nuclear testing in the …
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The Day of Creation
by J. G. Ballard
At Port-la-Nouvelle, on the parched terrain of central Africa, Dr. Mallory watches as his clinic fails and dreams of discovering a third Nile that will …
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Labyrinths
by Jorge Luis Borges
Readers are invited to take a new look at "Labyrinths," the classic by Latin America's finest writer of the 20th century--a true literary sensation--with a …
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A Good Man in Africa
by William Boyd
In the small African republic of Kinjanja, British diplomat Morgan Leafy bumbles heavily through his job. His love of women, his fondness for drink, and …
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Brazzaville Beach
by William Boyd
In the heart of a civil war-torn African nation, primate researcher Hope Clearwater made a shocking discovery about apes and man . . . Young, …
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The Good Earth
by Pearl S. Buck
ENDURING LITERATURE ILLUMINATED BY PRACTICAL SCHOLARSHIP A poignant tale about the life and labors of a Chinese farmer during the sweeping reign of the country¹s …
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The Plague
by Albert Camus
“Its relevance lashes you across the face.” —Stephen Metcalf, The Los Angeles Times • “A redemptive book, one that wills the reader to believe, even …
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Belle Du Seigneur
by Albert Cohen
A League of Nations official has an affair with a Genevan woman through which he attempts to achieve the Absolute. A love story, it is …
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Segu
by Maryse Conde
“Condé’s story is rich and colorful and glorious. It sprawls over continents and centuries to find its way into the reader’s heart.” —Maya Angelou “A …
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Heart of Darkness
by Joseph Conrad
Dark allegory describes the narrator's journey up the Congo River and his meeting with, and fascination by, Mr. Kurtz, a mysterious personage who dominates the …
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Nostromo
by Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad's 1904 adventure novel, set amid the mist-covered mountains of a fictional South American republic, spins a colorful tale of capitalist exploitation and rebellion. …
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Beyond the Horizon
by Amma Darko
This is a natural storyteller's compelling and sobering account of the ruthless exploitation of women in Africa and Europe.
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The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts
by Louis de Bernieres
This rambunctious first novel by the author of the bestselling Corelli's Mandolin is set in an impoverished, violent, yet ravishingly beautiful country somewhere in South …
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Diamond Dust and Other Stories
by Anita Desai
This is a collection of stories where the protagonists set out on journeys and find themselves suddenly beyond the pale, or back where they started …
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The Siege of Krishnapur
by J.G. Farrell
Winner of the Booker Prize. An insightful and thrilling novel about the British Empire in India during the Great Mutiny of 1857, as seen through …
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A Passage to India
by Edward Morgan Forster
Adela Quested arrives in Chandrapore, prepared to meet and marry a city magistrate who exemplifies the narrow-minded, anti-Indian prejudices of the imperial bureaucracy, but an …
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Homo Faber
by Max Frisch
Loneliness and despair invade the world of an engineer who comes to realize that he has failed as a friend, husband, and father.
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Christopher Unborn
by Carlos Fuentes
Mexico, 1991: Black acid rain falls on "Makesicko City", the most polluted, most populated city in the world. Amid this apocalyptic landscape a prize is …
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The Good Doctor
by Damon Galgut
When Laurence Waters arrives at his post in a rural hospital in new South Africa, and convinces Dr. Ruth Ngema, head of the hospital, to …
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Love in the Time of Cholera
by Gabriel García Márquez
Set on the Caribbean coast of South America, this love story brings together Fermina Daza and Florentino Ariza, a man who has secretly loved her …
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One Hundred Years of Solitude
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of the mythical town of Macondo through the history …
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The Blacks
by Jean Genet
An English translation of Genet's symbolic drama which was first performed in Paris in 1959.
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The Conservationist
by Nadine Gordimer
"This is a novel of enormous power' New Statesman 'Gordimer is a great writer ... It is Turgenev that she most brings to mind' -- …
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The Quiet American
by Graham Greene
The relentless struggle of the Vietminh guerrillas for independence and the futility of the French gestures of resistance become inseparably meshed with the personal and …
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The Palace of Dreams
by Ismail Kadare
When it was first published in the author's native country, THE PALACE OF DREAMS was immediately banned. The novel revolves around a secret ministry whose …
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The Poisonwood Bible
by Barbara Kingsolver
The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and …
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Kim
by Rudyard Kipling
Kim, the poor orphaned son of an Irish soldier stationed in India, searches for his identity and learns to move between the two cultures, becoming …
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The Suns of Independence
by Ahmadou Kourouma
The "Suns of Independence" considered a masterpiece of modern African literature, enables the reader to gain unique insight into African culture and conflicts. Through Fama …
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Waiting for the Vote of the Wild Animals
by Ahmadou Kourouma
Originally from the Côte d'Ivoire, Ahmadou Kourouma spent much of his life working in the insurance industry and living in France and in political exile …
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Allah is Not Obliged
by Ahmadou Kourouma
ALLAH IS NOT OBLIGED TO BE FAIR ABOUT ALL THE THINGS HE DOES HERE ON EARTH.These are the words of the boy soldier Birahima in …
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Interpreter of Maladies
by Jhumpa Lahiri
Navigating between the Indian traditions they've inherited and a baffling new world, the characters in Lahiri's elegant, touching stories seek love beyond the barriers of …
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The City of Joy
by Dominique Lapierre
Made into a movie starring Patrick Swayze, this is the inspiring story of an American doctor who experienced a spiritual rebirth in an impoverished section …
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The Constant Gardener
by John le Carre
Now a major motion picture from Fernando Meirelles, the Academy Award-nominated director of City of God The Constant Gardener is a magnificent exploration of the …
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The Crusades Through Arab Eyes
by Amin Maalouf
The author has combed the works of contemporary Arab chronicles of the Crusades, eyewitnesses and often participants. He retells their story and offers insights into …