Description
Book SynopsisHow have African writers addressed the issue of war and its impact across the continent?Since the second half of the twentieth century, no single phenomenon has marred the image and development of Africa more than senseless fratricidal wars which rapidly followed the political independence of nations. This issue ofAfrican Literature Today is devoted to studies of how African writers, as historical witnesses, have handled the recreation of war as a cataclysmic phenomenon in various locations on the continent. The contributors explore the subject from a variety of perspectives: panoramic, regional, national and through comparative studies. War has enriched contemporary African literature, but at what price to human lives, peace and the environment? ERNESTEMENYONU is Professor of the Department of Africana Studies University of Michigan-Flint. The contributors include: CHIMALUM NWANKWO, CHRISTINE MATZKE, CLEMENT A. OKAFOR, INIBONG I. UKO, OIKE MACHIKO, SOPHIE OGWUDE, MAURICE TAONEZVI VAMBE, ZOE NORRIDGE and ISIDORE DIALA. Nigeria: HEBN
Trade ReviewThe African Literature Today series has greatly enriched the study of contemporary African writing. [...] These articles provide real insights for the reading and understanding of political instability and volatility in most parts of Africa. [...] This volume stands out clearly as a groundbreaking one in that it privileges all forms of African creativity as well as authors irrespective of sex or class. [It] is a brilliant attempt to weave an 'authentic history' of wars in Africa, and is a thoroughly researched project that opens a door into Africa's soul and its unpredictable and precarious condition. * AFRICAN RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION *
Table of ContentsEditorial article. War in African literature: literary harvests, human tragedies - Ernest N. Emenyonu The muted index of war in African literature & society - Chimalum Nwankwo 'Life in the camp of the enemy': Alemseged Tesfai's theatre of war - Christine Matzke Sacrifice & contestation of identity in Chukwuemeka Ike's Sunset at Dawn - Clement Okafor Of war & madness: a symbolic transmutation of the Nigeria-Biafra war in select stories from The Insider:Stories of War & Peace from Nigeria - Iniobong I. Uko Becoming a feminist writer: representation of the subaltern in Buchi Emecheta's Destination Biafra - Oike Machiko Politics & human rights in non-fiction prison literature - Sophia O. Ogwude Problems of representing the Zimbabwean war of liberation in Mutasa's The Contract, Samupinda's Pawns & Vera's The Stone Virgins - Maurice Taonezvi Vambe The need to go further? Dedication & distance in the war narratives of Alexandra Fuller & Alexander Kanengoni - Zoe Norridge History, memoir & a soldier's conscience: Philip Efiong's Nigeria & Biafra: My Story - Isidore Diala Of the versification of pain: Nigerian civil war poetry - Ogaga Okuyade Reviews - James Gibbs
