The ordeal of the African writer
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The ordeal of the African writer
Zed Books, 2001
- : pbk
Available at 1 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. [156]-161) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
The literatures of the English language experienced an extraordinary transformation in the second half of the 20th century as a result of the creative energy released by decolonization. But as this book demonstrates, only a small number of African writers - Chinua Achebe, Ben Okri, Nuruddin Farah and Wole Soyinka - have become known outside their own continent. They also face - and this is the subject of this book - enormous obstacles within Africa getting their work published, let alone supporting themselves financially from their writing.
Charles R. Larson has followed African literature for nearly 40 years. Here he combines writers' own testimony, pen portraits of their lives, and factual investigation in order to explore the dimensions of the problem. Who is the readership in Africa? In what language should an African writer write? What obstacles do African publishing houses face and how do they treat their authors? What has been the response of publishing houses in Europe and America? How does economic crisis and political repression make the situation more difficult? And, most importantly, can anything be done to build a more supportive environment in which the Continent's new writers can produce and publish their work?
This book takes the reader into the little-known human reality of what it is like to be an African writer.
Table of Contents
1. The Example of Amos Tutuola: Accidental Artist or Really Writer
2. Talking with Paper Is Only the Beginning
3. African Writers and the Quest for Publication
4. African Publishers, African Publishing
5. The Horror, the Horror
6. Conclusion: The Crisis in African Writing
by "Nielsen BookData"