Blogs, tweets, and Insta: Digital paratexts in the postcolonial cultural industry

Abstract

Exploring the work of Hanif Kureishi, Amitav Ghosh, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Teju Cole, and nayyirah waheed, this essay examines digital parataxis in the work of South Asian and Black diaspora writers. These writers create content on social media to engage audiences in complex ways, not exclusively motivated by marketing and literary celebrity. The social media content they produce are best understood as digital paratexts that become new, essential texts of their oeuvres and identities, irreducible to market logics and creating inroads with audiences in and beyond the postcolonial cultural industry. Through their work, this essay offers a framework for understanding the digital paratexts that postcolonial writers are producing as an integral part of world literature.