Dionne Brand's recent book, Salvage, critiques classic Anglo-American texts for their roles in supporting capitalism, colonialism, and slavery.

She notes that the novel, as a medium, was more widely circulated than drama, making it a powerful tool in colonial education and the dissemination of capitalist values.

Brand argues that capitalism's aesthetics are deeply embedded in literary works, reflecting the values of the bourgeois class during the periods of transatlantic slavery and colonization.

She highlights that canonical works like Robinson Crusoe, Jane Eyre, and Vanity Fair have significantly shaped modern societal structures and values.

Critiquing the dominant narrative arc in novels, Brand points out that they often center on personal transformation, mirroring capitalist values and societal expectations.

She emphasizes the need for alternative readings of these texts to resist their legitimization of contemporary issues.

Brand points to alternative literary traditions, such as the works of Ignatius Sancho and Ottobah Cugoano, which challenge dominant capitalist narratives and offer ethical critiques of slavery and oppression.

Acknowledging the influence of Marxist thought on her work, she uses it as a method to analyze contemporary social arrangements rather than a strict ideological framework.

Brand highlights the relationship between narrative structures in literature and the economic systems that produced them, suggesting that these structures continue to influence modern narratives.

She argues that alternative voices, while often overshadowed, provide necessary counter-narratives to the mainstream literary canon.

In her view, these alternative perspectives are crucial for understanding the complexities of literature's role in society.

Ultimately, Brand's work calls for a re-examination of how literature intersects with economic and social power dynamics.