Tradition and Change in Contemporary West and East African Fiction

Description

The essays in this volume capture the exciting energy of the emergent novel in East and West Africa, drawing on diffe¬rent theoretical insights to offer fresh and engaging perspectives on what has been variously termed the 'new wave', 'emer¬gent generation', and 'third generation'. Subjects addressed include the politics of identity, especially when (re)constructed outside the homeland or when African indigenous values are eroded by globaliz¬ation, transnationalism, and the exilic condition or the self undergoes fragmen¬tation. Other essays examine once-taboo concerns, including gendered accounts of same-sex sexualities. Most of the essays deal with shifting perceptions by African women of their social condition in patriarchy in relation to such issues as polygamy, adultery, male domination, and the woman's quest for fulfilment and respect through access to quality education and full economic and socio-political participation. Themes taken up by other novels examined in¬clude the sexual exploitation of women and criminality generally and the ex¬posure of children to violence. Likewise examined is the contemporary textual¬izing of orality (the trickster figure). Writers discussed include Chima¬manda Ngozi Adichie, Okey Ndibe, Helon Habila, Ike Oguine, Chris Abani, Tanure Ojaide, Maik Nwosu, Unoma Azuah, Jude Dibia, Lola Shoneyin, Mary Karooro Okurut, Violet Barungi, Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, Abidemi Sanusi, Akachi Ezeigbo, Sefi Atta, Kaine Agary, Kojo Laing, Ahmadou Kourouma, Uwen Akpan, and Alobwed'Epie Cover Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Introduction Womanhood, Sexuality, and WorkThe Dialectic of Exploitation (Flora Nwapa,Nawal El Saadawi, and Ama Ata Aidoo) Outgoing and Incoming Africans Migration and Reverse Migrationin Contemporary African Narratives Development Imperatives and Transnationalismin Third-Generation Nigerian Fiction Creativity and the Ugandan WomanThe Dialectic of Struggle and Equality in Mary Karooro Okurut’s The Invisible Weevil and Violet Barungi’s Cassandra Satire, Children, and Traumatic ViolenceThe Case of Ahmadou Kourouma and Uwen Akpan Affect in Representations of Children's Experiences of Mass Violence Uwem Akpan's Say You’re One of Them and Goretti Kyomuhendo's Secrets no More Mirror Writing, Social Realism, and theInterrogation of the Postcolonial Nation Alobwed'Epie's The Death Certificate and The Day God Blinked Transnationalism and the Agenda of African Literature in a Digital Age Postcolonial Encounters Re-Envisioned Kojo Laing's Woman of the Aeroplanes as Trickster Narrative Countries of the Mind Space-Time Chronotopes in Adichie's Purple Hibiscus Writing Back with a Difference Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's ''The Headstrong Historian'' as a Response to Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart Negotiation of Socio-Ethnic Spaces Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun as a Testimonio of African National and Ethnic Identity Strangers in/to the World The Unhomely in Chris Abani's GraceLand Maik Nwosu's Invisible Chapter sInvestigating Psychological Fragmentation in Nigerian Literature The Global Underground and the Illegitimate Diasporas in Chika Unigwe's On Black Sisters' Street Fictional Narrative and the Reflective Self in Helon Habila's Waiting for an Angel Inverting Otherness in Kaine Agary's Yellow-Yellow Love's Metamorphosis in Third-Generation African Women’s Writing The Example of Lola Shoneyin's The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives Gender and (Homo) Sexualityin Third-Generation African Writing A Reading of Unoma Azuah's Sky-High Flames and Jude Dibia’s Walking with Shadows Motif/ves of Justice in Writings by Third-Generation Nigerian Women Notes on Contributors Notes for Contributors to Matatu