African Literature

This is the first anthology to bring together the key texts of African literary theory and criticism. Brings together key texts that are otherwise hard to locate Covers all genres and critical schools Provides the intellectual context for understanding African literature Facilitates the future development of African literary criticism

Acknowledgments xii Introduction 1 Tejumola Olaniyan and Ato Quayson Part I: Backgrounds 5 1 Africa and Writing 7 Alain Ricard (2004) 2 Sub-Saharan Africa’s Literary History in a Nutshell 16 Albert S. Ge´rard (1993) 3 Politics, Culture, and Literary Form 22 Bernth Lindfors (1979) 4 African Literature in Portuguese 31 Russell G. Hamilton (2004) 5 North African Writing 38 Anissa Talahite (1997) 6 A Continent and its Literatures in French 46 Jonathan Ngate (1988) 7 African Literature and the Colonial Factor 54 Simon Gikandi (2004) 8 African Literature: Myth or Reality? 60 V. Y. Mudimbe (1985) Part II: Orality, Literacy, and the Interface 65 9 Africa and Orality 67 Liz Gunner (2004) 10 Orality, Literacy, and African Literature 74 Abiola Irele (1989) 11 Oral Literature and Modern African Literature 83 Isidore Okpewho (1992) 12 Women’s Oral Genres 92 Mary E. Modupe Kolawole (1997) 13 The Oral Artist’s Script 97 Harold Schenb (2002) Part III: Writer, Writing, and Function 101 14 The Novelist as Teacher 103 Chinua Achebe (1965) 15 The Truth of Fiction 107 Chinua Achebe (1978) 16 Three in a Bed: Fiction, Morals, and Politics 115 Nadine Gordimer (1988) 17 Nobel Lecture 122 Naguib Mahfouz (1988) 18 Redefining Relevance 126 Njabulo S. Ndebele (1994) 19 Preparing Ourselves for Freedom 132 Albie Sachs (1990) Part IV: Creativity in/and Adversarial Contexts 139 20 A Voice That Would Not Be Silenced 141 Wole Soyinka (2001) 21 Exile and Creativity: A Prolonged Writer’s Block 144 Micere Githae Mugo (1997) 22 Containing Cockroaches (Memories of Incarceration Reconstructed in Exile) 150 Jack Mapanje (1997) 23 Writing Against Neo-Colonialism 157 Ngugi wa Thiong’O (1988) 24 The Writer and Responsibility 165 Breyten Breytenbach (1983) 25 Dissidence and Creativity 172 Nawal El Saadawi (1996) 26 Culture Beyond Color? A South African Dilemma 178 Zoe¨ Wicomb (1993) 27 In Praise of Exile 183 Nuruddin Farah (1990) 28 The African Writer’s Experience of European Literature 186 D. Marechera (1987) Part V: On Nativism and the Quest for Indigenous Aesthetics: Negritude and Traditionalism 193 29 Negritude: A Humanism of the Twentieth Century 195 Le´opold Se´dar Senghor (1970) 30 What is Ne´gritude? 203 Abiola Irele (1977) 31 Negritude and a New Africa: An Update 210 Peter S. Thompson (2002) 32 Prodigals, Come Home! 219 Chinweizu (1973) 33 Neo-Tarzanism: The Poetics of Pseudo-Tradition 226 Wole Soyinka (1975) 34 My Signifier is More Native than Yours: Issues in Making a Literature African 234 Ade´le´ke` Ade´e`.ko´. (1998) 35 Out of Africa: Topologies of Nativism 242 Kwame Anthony Appiah (1988) 36 On National Culture 251 Frantz Fanon (1963) 37 True and False Pluralism 262 Paulin Hountondji (1973) 38 ‘‘An Open Letter to Africans’’ c/o The Punic One-Party State 271 Sony Labou Tansi (1990) 39 Resistance Theory/Theorizing Resistance or Two Cheers for Nativism 274 Benita Parry (1994) Part VI: The Language of African Literature 279 40 The Dead End of African Literature? 281 Obiajunwa Wali (1963) 41 The Language of African Literature 285 Ngugi wa Thiong’O (1986) 42 Anamnesis in the Language of Writing 307 Assia Djebar (1999) 43 African-Language Literature: Tragedy and Hope 315 Daniel P. Kunene (1992) Part VII: On Genres 323 44 Background to the West African Novel 325 Emmanuel N. Obiechina (1975) 45 Languages of the Novel: A Lover’s Reflections 333 Andre´ Brink (1998) 46 Realism and Naturalism in African Fiction 340 Neil Lazarus (1987) 47 ‘‘Who Am I?’’: Fact and Fiction in African First-Person Narrative 345 Mineke Schipper (1985) 48 Festivals, Ritual, and Drama in Africa 353 Tejumola Olaniyan (2004) 49 The Fourth Stage: Through the Mysteries of Ogun to the Origin of Yoruba Tragedy 364 Wole Soyinka (1973) 50 Introduction to King Oedipus 375 Tawfiq Al-Hakim (1949) 51 Poetry as Dramatic Performance 382 Kofi Anyidoho (1991) 52 ‘‘Azikwelwa’’ (We Will Not Ride): Politics and Value in Black South African Poetry 391 Anne McClintock (1987) 53 Revolutionary Practice and Style in Lusophone Liberation Poetry 402 Emmanuel Ngara (1990) Part VIII: Theorizing the Criticism of African Literature 409 54 Academic Problems and Critical Techniques 411 Eldred D. Jones (1965) 55 African Literature, Western Critics 414 Rand Bishop (1988) 56 A Formal Approach to African Literature 422 Kenneth W. Harrow (1990) 57 African Absence, a Literature without a Voice 427 Ambroise Kom (1997) 58 The Nature of Things: Arrested Decolonization and Critical Theory 432 Biodun Jeyifo (1990) 59 Reading through Western Eyes 444 Christopher L. Miller (1990) 60 Inherited Mandates in African Literary Criticism: The Intrinsic Paradigm 449 Olakunle George (2003) 61 Exclusionary Practices in African Literary Criticism 455 Florence Stratton (1994) Part IX: Marxism 461 62 Towards a Marxist Sociology of African Literature 463 Omafume F. Onoge (1986) 63 Writers in Politics: The Power of Words and the Words of Power 476 Ngugi wa Thiong’O (1997) 64 National Liberation and Culture 484 Amilcar Cabral (1970) 65 Concerning National Culture 492 Agostinho Neto (1979) 66 Masks and Marx: The Marxist Ethos vis-a`-vis African Revolutionary Theory and Praxis 496 Ayi Kwei Armah (1985) 67 Marxist Aesthetics: An Open-Ended Legacy 504 Chidi Amuta (1989) Part X: Feminism 511 68 To Be an African Woman Writer – an Overview and a Detail 513 Ama Ata Aidoo (1988) 69 The Heroine in Arab Literature 520 Nawal El Saadawi (1980) 70 Women and Creative Writing in Africa 526 Flora Nwapa (1998) 71 African Motherhood – Myth and Reality 533 Lauretta Ngcobo (1988) 72 Stiwanism: Feminism in an African Context 542 Molara Ogundipe-Leslie (1994) 73 Feminism with a Small ‘‘f’’! 551 Buchi Emecheta (1988) 74 Writing Near the Bone 558 Yvonne Vera (1997) 75 Some Notes on African Feminism 561 Carole Boyce Davies (1986) 76 Bringing African Women into the Classroom: Rethinking Pedagogy and Epistemology 570 Obioma Nnaemeka (1994) 77 Enlightenment Epistemology and the Invention of Polygyny 578 Uzo Esonwanne (1997) 78 Feminism, Postcolonialism and the Contradictory Orders of Modernity 585 Ato Quayson (2000) Part XI: Structuralism, Poststructuralism, Postcolonialism, and Postmodernism 593 79 Genetic Structuralism as a Critical Technique (Notes Toward a Sociological Theory of the African Novel) 595 Sunday O. Anozie (1971) 80 In Praise of Alienation 599 Abiola Irele (1982) 81 In the Wake of Colonialism and Modernity 608 Biodun Jeyifo (2000) 82 Poststructuralism and Postcolonial Discourse 614 Simon Gikandi (2004) 83 Subjectivity and History: Derrida in Algeria 621 Robert J. C. Young (2001) 84 The Angel of Progress: Pitfalls of the Term ‘‘Post-colonialism’’ 628 Anne McClintock (1992) 85 Postmodernity, Postcoloniality, and African Studies 637 Tejumola Olaniyan (2003) 86 Postcolonialism and Postmodernism 646 Ato Quayson (2000) 87 Is the Post- in Postmodernism the Post- in Postcolonial? 654 Kwame Anthony Appiah (1991) 88 Postmodernism and Black Writing in South Africa 665 Lewis Nkosi (1998) 89 African-Language Literature and Postcolonial Criticism 670 Karin Barber (1995) Part XII: Ecocriticism 681 90 Ecoing the Other(s): The Call of Global Green and Black African Responses 683 William Slaymaker (2001) 91 Different Shades of Green: Ecocriticism and African Literature 698 Byron Caminero-Santangelo (2007) 92 Ecological Postcolonialism in African Women’s Literature 707 Juliana Makuchi Nfah-Abbenyi (1998) 93 Environmentalism and Postcolonialism 715 Rob Nixon (2005) Part XIII: Queer, Postcolonial 725 94 ‘‘Wheyting be dat?’’: The Treatment of Homosexuality in African Literature 727 Chris Dunton (1989) 95 Out in Africa 736 Gaurav Desai (1997) 96 Toward a Lesbian Continuum? Or Reclaiming the Erotic 746 Juliana Makuchi Nfah-Abbenyi (1997) 97 Queer Futures: The Coming-Out Novel in South Africa 753 Brenna Munro (2007) Index 765