ABSTRACT
The issue of translation is central to the writers of the works under review, who explore the difficult yet productive application of continental theories to the post-colonial context, taking Latin America, with its dense and complex material history, as a primary example. When Niranjana asks ‘How…can we extend the meaning of representation while calling it into question?’ she articulates the problem which is central to the writers of both works, who propose a critical use of existing structures as a means to rupture the totalizing tendencies which they promote. The difficulty lies in the possibility that these are fundamentally disabling concepts. The writers approach the act of translation as a reactivation of the theoretical, giving political reference to concepts such as différance in their application to specific locations. Both works situate themselves at the difficult juncture between theory and practice and attempt to negotiate its terms, seeing the maintenance of this process of subaltern translation as the most productive way to approach the narration of the complex histories of post-colonial spaces.
