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Overview
Disdaining the narrowly nationalist and political preoccupations of previous generations, these writers are characterized by their engagement with the wider world and the opportunities offered by the internet, the end of apartheid, the end of civil wars and dictatorships, and the possibilities of free movement around the world. Many of them live outside Africa. Their work is inspired by travel and exile. They are liberated, global and expansive. As Dambudzo Marechera wrote: 'If you're a writer for a specific nation or specific race, then f*** you." These are the stories of a new Africa, punchy, self-confident and defiant.
Includes stories by:
Rachida el-Charni; Henrietta Rose-Innes; George Makana Clark; Ivan Vladislavic; Mansoura Ez-Eldin; Fatou Diome; Aminatta Forna; Manuel Rui; Patrice Nganang; Leila Aboulela; Zoe Wicomb; Alaa Al Aswany; Doreen Baingana; E.C. Osondu
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781847083333 |
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Publisher: | Granta Books |
Publication date: | 04/03/2013 |
Series: | Granta Anthologies |
Edition description: | Reprint |
Pages: | 400 |
Product dimensions: | 0.20(w) x 0.31(h) x 0.94(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
The Granta Book of the African Short Story
By
Granta Books
ISBN: 9781847083333The Arrangers of Marriage by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
My new husband carried the suitcase out of the taxi and led the way
into the brownstone, up a flight of brooding stairs, down an airless
hallway with frayed carpeting, and stopped at a door. The number
2B, unevenly fashioned from yellowish metal, was plastered on it.
‘We’re here,’ he said. He had used the word ‘house’ when he told me
about our home. I had imagined a smooth driveway snaking between
cucumber-coloured lawns, a door leading into a hallway, walls with
sedate paintings. A house like those of the white newlyweds in the
American films that NTA showed on Saturday nights.
He turned on the light in the living room, where a beige couch sat
alone in the middle, slanted, as though dropped there by accident.
The room was hot; old, musty smells hung heavy in the air.
‘I’ll show you around,’ he said.
The smaller bedroom had a bare mattress lodged in one corner.
The bigger bedroom had a bed and chest of drawers, and a phone on
the carpeted floor. Still, both rooms lacked a sense of space, as though
the walls had become uncomfortable with each other, with so little
between them.
‘Now that you’re here, we’ll get more furniture. I didn’t need that
much when I was alone,’ he said.
‘OK,’ I said. I felt light-headed. The ten-hour flight from Lagos to
PB085 African short stories.indd 1 21/06/2012 12:15
2 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
New York and the interminable wait while the American customs
officer raked through my suitcase had left me woozy, stuffed my
head full of cotton wool. The officer had examined my foodstuffs as if
they were spiders, her gloved fingers poking at the waterproof bags
of ground egusi and dried onugbu leaves and uziza seeds, until she
seized my uziza seeds. She feared I would grow them on American
soil. It didn’t matter that the seeds had been sun-dried for weeks and
were as hard as a bicycle helmet.
Continues...
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Table of Contents
1. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (1977-) Nigeria, "The Arrangers Of Marriage"2. Mansoura Ez Eldin (1976-) Egypt, "Faeries of the Nile"
3. Olufemi Terry (1973-) Sierra Leone, "Stickfighting Days"
4. Brian Chikwava (1972-) Zimbabwe, "Dancing with the Jazz Goblin and his Band"
5. Henrietta Rose-Innes (1971-) South Africa, "Promenade"
6. Uwem Akpan (1971-) Nigeria, "An Ex-Mas Feast"
7. Binyavanga Wainaina, (1971-) Kenya, "Ships in High Transit"
8. Patrice Nganang (1970-) Cameroun, "The Moustached Man"
9. Maaza Mengeste(1970-) Ethiopia, "The Good Soldier"
10. Fatou Diome (1968-) Senegal, "La Preference Nationale"
11. Leila Lalami (1968-) Morocco, "Homecoming"
12. Jean-Luc Raharimanana (1967-) Madagascar,"Excuses et dires liminaires de Za"
13. EC Osondu, Nigeria(?) "Bumsters"
14. Doreen Baingana (1966-) Uganda, "Passion"
15. Alain Mabanckou (1966-) Congo, "Nous Gagnerons La Coupe du Monde 2010"
16. Aminatta Forna (1964-) Sierra Leone, "Haywards Heath"
17. Leila Aboulela (1964-) Sudan, "Missing Out"
18. Yvonne Vera (1964-2005) Zimbabwe, "Why Don't you Carve Other Animals?"
19. Milly Jafta (?) Namibia, "Homecoming"
20. Rachida El Charni (?) Tunisia, "Street of the House of Wonders"
21. George Makana Clarke(?) Zimbabwe, "The Centre of the World"
22. Ivan Vladislavik (1957) South Africa, "Propaganda by Monuments"
23. Ala Al-Aswany (1957-)Egypt, "Mmme Zitta"
24. Ungulani Ba Ka Khosa (1957-) Mozambique, "Morte Inespereda"
25. Dambudzo Marechera (1952-1987) Zimbabwe, "Oxford, Black Oxford"
26. Zoe Wicomb (1948-) South Africa, "You Can't Get Lost in Cape Town"
27. Abdulrazak Gurnah (1948-) Zanzibar, "Cages"
28. Manuel Rui (1941-) Angola, "Last Bordello"
29. Camara Laye (1928-1980) Guinea, "The Eyes of the Statue"
30. Alex La Guma (1925-1985) South Africa, "Slipper Satin"