Description
Book SynopsisBetween 1905 and 1939 a conspicuously tall white man with a shock of red hair, dressed in a silk shirt and white linen trousers, could be seen on the streets of Onitsha, in Eastern Nigeria. How was it possible for an unconventional, boy-loving Englishman to gain a social status among the local populace enjoyed by few other Europeans in colonial West Africa?
In The Forger's Tale: The Search for Odeziaku Stephanie Newell charts the story of the English novelist and poet John Moray Stuart-Young (18811939) as he traveled from the slums of Manchester to West Africa in order to escape the homophobic prejudices of late-Victorian society. Leaving behind a criminal record for forgery and embezzlement and his notoriety as a spirit rapper, Stuart-Young found a new identity as a wealthy palm oil trader and a celebrated author, known to Nigerians as Odeziaku.
In this fascinating biographical account, Newell draws on queer theory, African gender debates, and new imperial history to open
Trade Review
“In Stuart-Young, literary scholar Stephanie Newell has found a fascinating subject for a study of race, class, and sexuality in West Africa and Britain between the 1880s and 1930s.... The intriguing narrative at its center will appeal to a wide range of readers, while specialists in the history of colonialism, West Africa, and sexuality should find this study provocative and insightful.” * American Historical Review *
“Newell is to be commended for directing interest towards one of the most fascinating personalities of colonial Nigeria.” * Journal of African History *
“Beyond being a good read and telling a fascinating story, this book makes significant new contributions to Queer, African, and British imperial history.” * African Studies Review *
“An innovative analysis of a very intriguing figure, The Forger's Tale is beautifully and accessibly written. It will appeal to scholars with specialized research interests in imperial history, sexuality, and Nigeria.”
“Newell casts a meticulous eye over a wide range of sources, including oral evidence from Igbo informants, to garner insight into colonial and Igbo attitudes toward non-normative sexuality. The Forger’s Tale challenges both monolithic conceptions of colonial masculinity and presumptions about heterosexual, timelessly homophobic “African sexuality.’”
“The Forger's Tale is an unusual but rattling good tale of Empire, meticulously researched, truly enlightening, and very funny.”
