Description
Book SynopsisThe re-issue of archival volumes ALT 1 to ALT 14 makes the complete series available and provides the historical perspective of these early contributions to the literature and its criticism. This volume, first published in 1980, provides an overview of the way myth and history have influenced both the literature of Africa and individual writers. Isidore Okpewho, Solomon O. Iyasere and Mazisi Kunene contribute here onmyth, oral tradition and African cosmological systems. Armah's vision of history is examined both in the way that it appears in his novels and in comparison with Ouologuem and Soyinka; also examined are Elechi Amadi's view of thegods, Achebe's use of myth in Arrow of God and the inward journey of Tutuola's Palm-Wine Drinkard. There are views across the Atlantic of the way the Middle Passage resonates in the work of Edouard Glissant and in the work of a number of writers from West Africa.
Table of ContentsEditorial - Eldred Jones Rethinking myth [Isidore Okpewho] The African historical novel & the way forward [Hugh Webb] Myth, history & the poetry of Kofi Awoonor [Thomas R. Knipp] The Middle Passage in African literature: Wole Soyinka, Yambo Ouologuem, Ayi Kewi Armah [Lemuel A. Johnson] Armah's histories [Bernth Lindfors] 'As grasshoppers to wanton boys': the role of the gods in the novels of Elechi Amadi [Niyi Osundare] The essential unity of Soyinka's The Interpreters & Season of Anomy The inward journey of the palm-wine drinkard [John Coates] Myth & ritual in Arrow of God [Bu-Buakei Jabbi] Sunset at Dawn: A Biafran on the Nigerian civil war [Alex C. Johnson] Glissant's prophetic vision of the past [Juris Silenieks] African oral tradtion - criticism as a performance: A ritual [Solomon O. Iyasere] African adaptations of Greek tragedies [E.J. Asgill] The relevance of African cosmological systems to African literature today [Mazisi Kunene] Reviews include Wole Soyinka's & José Luandino Vieira's The Real Life of Domingos Xavier
