| Summary/Abstract |
Using the Rushdie papers as a case study, this essay discusses questions of commodification, access, preservation and cultural nationalism related to the acquisition of the literary archives of post-colonial authors. Who should own this archive? What is the archival fate of writers with a tenuous relationship with their place of birth? Finally, how does the well-guarded, commodified, expensively acquired archive privilege aura and secrecy over the treasures in the readily available, published literary corpus? This reading suggests that we need to attend equally to the aesthetic value of the literary imagination as part of the discussion in archival studies.
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