This book investigates how the interplay between colonial and postcolonial literature challenges established academic methodologies in the field of postcolonial studies. Margery Sabin, a scholar of English literature, utilizes a comparative reading approach to examine how texts from 1765 to 2000 interact with one another. By analyzing the voices of both colonial-era writers and twentieth-century Indian authors, she argues that these works exert pressure on the reader's own cultural and political presuppositions.

Scholars and critics recognize this work as a significant intervention in the study of colonial and postcolonial discourse. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which is intended for an audience familiar with literary theory and historical analysis.