Description
Book SynopsisExplores and interrogates the many and diverse perspectives of the new frontiers of African literary studies. Publication of the seminal volume African Literature Comes of Age, by C.D. Narasimhaiah (India) and Ernest N. Emenyonu (Nigeria), in 1988 generated the consciousness that African literature had attained maturity by the evolution of diverse concerns among scholars, critics, and researchers over the decades following the publication, in the English language, of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart in 1958. Since the publication of the first volume of African Literature Today (ALT) in the 1970s, the writings of Africans across the continent have spread across the globe, constituting refreshing and hitherto unimaginable epistemologies. This 40th volume provides a serious critical response to those changing horizons and reflects African literature's maturity, diversity, scope, spread, and above all, relevance. The topics discussed range from sickle cell disease to the animalization of humans, new feminisms and stereotypes of womanhood, the different shades of black masculinity, and political exploitation in creative works. Reaching across boundaries, recent fictions are seen to suggest a widening of conventional literary genres, and new forms that change the known trajectories of dramatic theatre. The substance, freshness, and vitality that characterize the articles in this volume of African Literature Today bring a welcome perspective to the continent's rich creative life. Funded by the Knowledge Unlatched Select 2023 collection, this title is available as an Open Access ebook under the Creative Commons License: CC BY NC
Table of ContentsEDITORIAL ARTICLE African Literature Comes of Age ERNEST N. EMENYONU ARTICLES Of Literature & Medicine: Narrating Sickle Cell Disease in a Nigerian Novel KAZEEM ADEBIYI-ADELABU Posthumanism & Speciesism in African Literature: Animals & the Animalized in Zakes Mda's The Heart of Redness CHIKWURAH DESTINY ISIGUZO Manifestations of Masculinities in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Novels: Initiating a Talk on Black Masculinity Studies PARAMITA ROUTH ROY Transformative Female Narratives & New Visions in African Women's Writing: A Re-reading of NoViolet Bulawayo's We Need New Names & Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah NONYE CHINYERE AHUMIBE Religion, Capitalism & Politics: The Revolutionary Imagination in the Plays of Nawal El Saadawi H. OBY OKOLOCHA Approaching Gang Violence on the Cape Flats in Rehana Rossouw's What Will People Say? ALEXANDRA NEGRI The Denunciation of Religious Collusion with Colonization in Devil on the Cross & Matigari CHRISTOPHE SÉKÈNE DIOUF The Weapons of Subjugation in Imbolo Mbue's How Beautiful We Were BENEDICTA ADEOLA EHANIRE Abrogating Aesthetic Boundaries in Contemporary Nigerian Poetry: A Reading of Femi Abodunrin's Poetry as Drama SANI GAMBO The End of Robert Mugabe: On Knowledge Production & Political Power TINASHE MUSHAKAVANHU The Text & Textual Fields of African Popular Literature: The Agency of Nigerian Stand-Up Comedy JOHN UWA LITERARY SUPPLEMENT 'Ezuga' (Short Story) KASIMMA Four Poems: 'Mis/Identity'; 'Portable Longing'; 'Darkling Shores'; 'Mea Culpa' EUGEN M. BACON TRIBUTES Remembering Professor Charles R. Larson (14 January 1938-22 May 2021) TIJAN M. SALLAH The End of an Era: A Tribute to Nawal El Saadawi (27 October 1931-21 March 2021) RAZINAT T. MOHAMMED REVIEWS Kasimma, All Shades of Iberibe NONYE CHINYERE AHUMIBE Ikechukwu Otuu Egbuta and Nnenna Vivien Chukwu, World on the Brinks: An Anthology of Covid-19 Pandemic ISIDORE DIALA Evelyn N. Urama, The Writer in the Mirror: Conversations with Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo LOUISA UCHUM EGBUNIKE Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 'Zikora' IJEOMA IBEKU-NGWABA Isidore Diala (ed), Obumselu on African Literature: The Intellectual Muse AFAM EBEOGU Imbolo Mbue, Behold the Dreamers IJEOMA IBEKU-NGWABA Tijan Sallah, Saani Baat: Aspects of African Literature and Culture OBI NWAKANMA
