The Birth of the (non) European author: or the deconstruction of authorship in testimonial narration

The Birth of the (Non)European Author draws attention to the power relations between subaltern authors and the field of publishing, especially focusing on the ownership of author rights and the representation of authorship. By particularly concentrating on the creation and marketing of "indigenous authorship" and "marginality" as goods on the global book market, the relationship between "subaltern/marginalised" authors and agents of the book market, such as editors and publishers is highlighted as unbalanced and precarious.

This book traces the genre testimonial narration, from slave narratives to African-American child soldier memoirs, analysing the relationship of Western publishing modes and what is being sold as “African authorship”. Combining explorations of theories of representation and authorship with close readings of testimonial narrations and the analysis of the relationship between professional writer and witness, this book contributes to the field of postcolonial theory, globalization studies and book history.

Anna-Katharina Krüger studied Comparative Literature at the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich and Book History at the Oxford Brookes University. As a scholar of the DFG research training group "Globalization and Literature - Representations, Transformations, Interventions" she finished and defended her dissertation in 2017. Her research focus lies on postcolonial literature, authorship and representation theory as well as testimonial narration.

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