Remapping African Literature

Description

This book is an exploration of the material conditions of the production of African literature. Drawing on the archives of Heinemann’s African Writers Series, it highlights the procedures, relationships, demands, ideologies, and counterpressures engendered by the publication of three major authors: Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, and Ngugi wa Thiongo. As a study of the history and techniques of African literary texts, this book advances a theory of reciprocity of effects - what it terms 'auto-heteronomy' - to describe the dynamic of formalist activism by which texts anticipate and shape the forces of literary production in advance. It serves as a departure from the 'death of the author' thesis by reconsidering the role of the author in African literature and culture industry, as well as the influence of African publics on writers’ aesthetic choices, and on the overall processes of production. This work is a major contribution to African literary history, literary criticism, and book history. Front Matter ....Pages i-xix Introduction (Olabode Ibironke)....Pages 1-20 The Commonwealth Impresario (Olabode Ibironke)....Pages 21-52 The Literary Scramble for Africa: Selection and the Practice of Hierarchies (Olabode Ibironke)....Pages 53-87 The Seeds of the Series: Chinua Achebe and the Educational Publisher (Olabode Ibironke)....Pages 89-184 Wole Soyinka: The Pan-African Literary Practice (Olabode Ibironke)....Pages 185-234 Ngugi: Language, Publics, and Production (Olabode Ibironke)....Pages 235-281 Postcolonialism: Dialectic of Autonomy and Determinism (Olabode Ibironke)....Pages 283-303 Conclusion: The Auto-Heteronomy of African Literature (Olabode Ibironke)....Pages 305-313 Back Matter ....Pages 315-333