Meditations on African literature
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Meditations on African literature
(Contributions in Afro-American and African studies, no. 201)
Greenwood Press, 2001
Available at 3 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [175-183]) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
While African literature is presently enjoying much attention from the scholarly community, its heritage and identity are becoming less clearly defined. While Africa has a rich oral tradition, African writers find themselves writing in the languages of their colonial oppressors. So too, many of the best African writers now live outside Africa, particularly in North America. Much of the criticism of African literature is written by American professors, African writers sometimes teach their literature at American universities, and American publishers issue African literary works. At the same time, the political climate of many African countries has been detrimental to literacy and writing. This book explores many of the issues currently facing African literature.
Each chapter is written by an expert contributor, to provide the volume with a broad coverage of numerous topics related to the present state of African literature. The opening chapters examine issues of language and postcoloniality in African literary works. Later chapters discuss such concerns as the formation of an African literary canon, representations of history and ideology in African writing, the role of women in African literature, and African ritual theater. Through its various chapters, the volume makes clear that African writers continue to engage pressing social and political issues, and that they are intellectuals rather than entertainers.
Table of Contents
Preface by Femi Osofisan & Dubem Okafor The Cacophonous Terrain of Nigerian/African Literature by Dubem Okafor Language, Theory, and Modern African Literature: Some More Questions by Wole Ogundele On the Concept "Commonwealth" Literature by Isidore Okpewho Who Counts? De-Ciphering the Canon by Bernth Lindfors Five Nigerian Novel by Romanus Egudu Things Fall Apart: Problems in Constructing an Alternative Ethnography by Charlie Sugnet Historicity and the Un-Eve-ing of the African Woman: Achebe's Novels by Chimalum Nwankwo Over-Determined Contradictions: History & Ideology in a A Man of the People by Dubem Okafor The True Fantasies of Grace Ogot, Storyteller by Peter Nazareth The Anglo-African, the "Woman Question," and Imperial Discourse by Michael J.C. Echeruo Impersonation in Some African Ritual Theater by Sam Ukala Exile and Home: Africa in Caribbean Theater by Osita Okagbue One Year in the First Instance by Biodun Jeyifo Select Bibliography Index
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