Description

Book Synopsis

Legacies of Passed African Women Writers: Matrix of Creativity and Power proffers varied perspectives of the invaluable contributions of ten deceased African writers from all across Africa who have cleared the path to a vibrant African feminist arena. The dynamics of change gleaned from both their textual and contextual concerns unarguably set the pace for contemporary African women writers who have striven to follow in the footsteps of their literary mothers as well as their oral foremothers. This book, edited by Helen Chukwuma and Chioma Carol Opara, shows the collective testament of ample creativity and power generated by these departed heroes: Flora Nwapa, Mariama Ba, Grace Ogot, Zulu Sofola, Bessie Head, Buchi Emecheta, Nawal El Saadawi, Assia Djebar, Yvonne Vera, and Nadine Gordimer. These chapters revolve around the positive impact of the celebrated writers on creative writing, theoretical formulations, and socio-cultural change. The contributors argue that these corpus of works have illuminated creativity rooted in power, vision, and freedom.



Trade Review

"Containing richly layered tributes to ten pioneering African women writers, this book offers inspiration to the next generation of authors and scholars. The contributors are influential literary critics who remind us not to forget the oral genres, humor, and spirit of resistance that inspired the earliest women writers, and alert us to the ongoing impact of these foundational authors on the shape of African literature today."

-- Stephanie Newell, Yale University

"Helen Chukwuma and Chioma Carol Opara brought together an impressive array of African literary scholars, all of whom write with deep insight and theoretical adriotness on the heritage of African women authors in general and ten selected departed writers in particular. With this remarkable anthology of scholarship, these writers' pioneering voices are firmly established in the canon of African Letters. Legacies of Departed African Women Writers: Matrix of Creativity and Power is indispensable for contemporary African literary studies."

-- Hein Willemse, University of Pretoria

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction: The Resounding Gongs of Fallen Female Heroes

Chioma Carol Opara and Helen O. Chukwuma

Part 1: Affirming the Charismatic Pathfinder: Flora Nwapa

  1. “Flora Nwapa: The One Who Dwells in Wealth”

Anthonia Kalu

  1. Uwa Umunwanyi, Uwa Oma: Flora Nwapa and Women’s History and Culture in Efuru and Idu

Akachi Adimora- Ezeigbo

  1. Flora Nwapa, Feminism and the Burden of History

Kemi Wale- Olaitan

  1. Flora Nwapa’s Efuru: The Personified Goddess

Anthonia Adadevoh

  1. Forces and Flaws in Flora Nwapa’s Efuru and Idu

Perp St. Remy Asiegbu

Part 2: Orality and Rootedness in Culture and Tradition

  1. Wolof Taasu Genre as Narrative Device in Mariama Ba’s So Long a Letter

Ada Uzoamaka Azodo

  1. Non-Verbalized Communication of True Love in Traditional Dholuo in Grace Ogot’s The Promised Land

Eunita Ochola

  1. Validation of Culture: A Re-reading of ‘Zulu Sofola’s Wedlock of the Gods and King Emene: A Tragedy of Rebellion.

Nkem Okoh

Part 3: Interrogating Identity, Autonomy, and History

  1. Archetypes of the Mother and the Scapegoat in Grace Ogot’s Fiction

Onyemaechi Udumukwu

  1. Bessie Head: World Writer from Africa

Mary S. Lederer

  1. Narrating Hybridity: The Synthesis of Tradition and Modernity in Buchi Emecheta’s Double Yoke

Solomon Omatsola Azumurana

  1. Depravity and Mental Torture in Nawal El Saadawi’s Two Women inOne and Woman at PointZero

Queen Albert and Onyemechi Nwaeke

  1. Resurrecting Women from the Margins of History: Feminist Synergy in Selected Works by Assia Djebar

Rose A. Sackeyfio

Part 4: Confronting Containment with Resistance and Freedom

  1. From Passivity to Defiance: The Figure of Woman in Yvonne Vera’s Novels Blessing Diala-Ogamba
  2. The Buchi Emecheta Phenomenon

Austine Amanze Akpuda

  1. Twin Kernels in One Pod: Naming of Nawal and Firdaus in El Saadawi’s A Daughter of Isis and Woman at Point Zero

Chinyere Grace Okafor

  1. Women,Tradition and Resistance in Zulu Sofola’s Wedlock of the Gods

Irene Isoken Salami-Agunloye

  1. Nadine Gordimer’s Multiplex Legacy

Ikeogu Oke

Part 5: Dynamics of Power and Narrative Voice

  1. Language Use in the Discourse of Otherness in Bessie Head’s Maru

Omeh Obasi Ngwoke and Okwudiri Anasiudu

  1. Synthesis of Binaries: The Mediating Voice in Mariama Ba’s Novels

Chioma Carol Opara

Epilogue: Un Cri de Coeur

Marie Umeh

Legacies of Departed African Women Writers:

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    A Hardback by Helen O. Chukwuma, Chioma Carol Opara, Anthonia Osayaba Adadevoh

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      View other formats and editions of Legacies of Departed African Women Writers: by Helen O. Chukwuma

      Publisher: Lexington Books
      Publication Date: 29/08/2022
      ISBN13: 9781666914658, 978-1666914658
      ISBN10: 1666914657

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      Legacies of Passed African Women Writers: Matrix of Creativity and Power proffers varied perspectives of the invaluable contributions of ten deceased African writers from all across Africa who have cleared the path to a vibrant African feminist arena. The dynamics of change gleaned from both their textual and contextual concerns unarguably set the pace for contemporary African women writers who have striven to follow in the footsteps of their literary mothers as well as their oral foremothers. This book, edited by Helen Chukwuma and Chioma Carol Opara, shows the collective testament of ample creativity and power generated by these departed heroes: Flora Nwapa, Mariama Ba, Grace Ogot, Zulu Sofola, Bessie Head, Buchi Emecheta, Nawal El Saadawi, Assia Djebar, Yvonne Vera, and Nadine Gordimer. These chapters revolve around the positive impact of the celebrated writers on creative writing, theoretical formulations, and socio-cultural change. The contributors argue that these corpus of works have illuminated creativity rooted in power, vision, and freedom.



      Trade Review

      "Containing richly layered tributes to ten pioneering African women writers, this book offers inspiration to the next generation of authors and scholars. The contributors are influential literary critics who remind us not to forget the oral genres, humor, and spirit of resistance that inspired the earliest women writers, and alert us to the ongoing impact of these foundational authors on the shape of African literature today."

      -- Stephanie Newell, Yale University

      "Helen Chukwuma and Chioma Carol Opara brought together an impressive array of African literary scholars, all of whom write with deep insight and theoretical adriotness on the heritage of African women authors in general and ten selected departed writers in particular. With this remarkable anthology of scholarship, these writers' pioneering voices are firmly established in the canon of African Letters. Legacies of Departed African Women Writers: Matrix of Creativity and Power is indispensable for contemporary African literary studies."

      -- Hein Willemse, University of Pretoria

      Table of Contents

      Acknowledgements

      Introduction: The Resounding Gongs of Fallen Female Heroes

      Chioma Carol Opara and Helen O. Chukwuma

      Part 1: Affirming the Charismatic Pathfinder: Flora Nwapa

      1. “Flora Nwapa: The One Who Dwells in Wealth”

      Anthonia Kalu

      1. Uwa Umunwanyi, Uwa Oma: Flora Nwapa and Women’s History and Culture in Efuru and Idu

      Akachi Adimora- Ezeigbo

      1. Flora Nwapa, Feminism and the Burden of History

      Kemi Wale- Olaitan

      1. Flora Nwapa’s Efuru: The Personified Goddess

      Anthonia Adadevoh

      1. Forces and Flaws in Flora Nwapa’s Efuru and Idu

      Perp St. Remy Asiegbu

      Part 2: Orality and Rootedness in Culture and Tradition

      1. Wolof Taasu Genre as Narrative Device in Mariama Ba’s So Long a Letter

      Ada Uzoamaka Azodo

      1. Non-Verbalized Communication of True Love in Traditional Dholuo in Grace Ogot’s The Promised Land

      Eunita Ochola

      1. Validation of Culture: A Re-reading of ‘Zulu Sofola’s Wedlock of the Gods and King Emene: A Tragedy of Rebellion.

      Nkem Okoh

      Part 3: Interrogating Identity, Autonomy, and History

      1. Archetypes of the Mother and the Scapegoat in Grace Ogot’s Fiction

      Onyemaechi Udumukwu

      1. Bessie Head: World Writer from Africa

      Mary S. Lederer

      1. Narrating Hybridity: The Synthesis of Tradition and Modernity in Buchi Emecheta’s Double Yoke

      Solomon Omatsola Azumurana

      1. Depravity and Mental Torture in Nawal El Saadawi’s Two Women inOne and Woman at PointZero

      Queen Albert and Onyemechi Nwaeke

      1. Resurrecting Women from the Margins of History: Feminist Synergy in Selected Works by Assia Djebar

      Rose A. Sackeyfio

      Part 4: Confronting Containment with Resistance and Freedom

      1. From Passivity to Defiance: The Figure of Woman in Yvonne Vera’s Novels Blessing Diala-Ogamba
      2. The Buchi Emecheta Phenomenon

      Austine Amanze Akpuda

      1. Twin Kernels in One Pod: Naming of Nawal and Firdaus in El Saadawi’s A Daughter of Isis and Woman at Point Zero

      Chinyere Grace Okafor

      1. Women,Tradition and Resistance in Zulu Sofola’s Wedlock of the Gods

      Irene Isoken Salami-Agunloye

      1. Nadine Gordimer’s Multiplex Legacy

      Ikeogu Oke

      Part 5: Dynamics of Power and Narrative Voice

      1. Language Use in the Discourse of Otherness in Bessie Head’s Maru

      Omeh Obasi Ngwoke and Okwudiri Anasiudu

      1. Synthesis of Binaries: The Mediating Voice in Mariama Ba’s Novels

      Chioma Carol Opara

      Epilogue: Un Cri de Coeur

      Marie Umeh

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