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. First published in 1973, this volume of the series includes a tribute from the Editor to the poet Christopher Okigbo who died fighting in the Biafran War in 1967, and two articles on his poetry. Also discussed are Leopold Senghor,Dennis Brutus, Wole Soyinka, Lenrie Peters and Ferdinand Oyono. The contributions analyse East African poetry, French Algerian poetry, Zulu poetry, and "Rara" chants in Yoruba oral poetry. Donatus I. Nwoga writes a general article on modern African poetry. The new books reviewed include Mazisi Kunene's Zulu Poems and Okot p'Bitek's Two Songs: "Song of Prisoner" and "Song of Malaya" and Taban lo Liyong's Another Nigger Dead.
Table of ContentsEditorial - Eldred Jones Okigbo's portrait of the artist as a sunbird: A reading of Heavensgate (1962) [D.S.Izevbaye] Defence of culture in the poetry of Christopher Okigbo [Romanus Egudu] Obscurity & commitment in modern African poetry [Donatus I. Nwoga] East African poetry [Timothy Wangusa] Senghor re-evaluated [Julia Di Stefano Pappageorge] Algerian poetry of French expression [Mildred P. Mortimer] 'Rara' chants in Yoruba spoken art [Adeboye Babalola] The universe is my book: Lenrie Peters [Edwin Thumboo] Literature & resistance in South Africa: Two Zulu poets [Maria K. Mootry] Can the prisoner make a poet? A critical discussion of Letters to Martha & other Poems from a South African Prison by Dennis Brutus [Bahadur Tejani] Naked into harvest-tide: The harvest image in Soyinka's Idanre [Eldred D. Jones] Comments Reviews include Mazisi Kunene's Zulu Poems and Okot p'Bitek's Two Songs: 'Song of Prisoner' and 'Song of Malaya' and Taban lo Liyong's Another Nigger Dead
