ALT 26 War in African Literature Today

by Ernest N Emenyonu (Editor), Chimalum Nwankwo (Contribution by), Christine Matzke (Contribution by), Clement Okafor (Contribution by), Ernest N Emenyonu (Contribution by)

Overview

How have African writers addressed the issue of war and its impact across the continent?

Since the second half of the twentieth century, no single phenomenon has marred the image and development of Africa more than senseless fratricidal wars which rapidly followed the political independence of nations. This issue ofAfrican Literature Today is devoted to studies of how African writers, as historical witnesses, have handled the recreation of war as a cataclysmic phenomenon in various locations on the continent. The contributors explore the subject from a variety of perspectives: panoramic, regional, national and through comparative studies. War has enriched contemporary African literature, but at what price to human lives, peace and the environment?

ERNESTEMENYONU is Professor of the Department of Africana Studies University of Michigan-Flint. The contributors include: CHIMALUM NWANKWO, CHRISTINE MATZKE, CLEMENT A. OKAFOR, INIBONG I. UKO, OIKE MACHIKO, SOPHIE OGWUDE, MAURICE TAONEZVI VAMBE, ZOE NORRIDGE and ISIDORE DIALA.

Nigeria: HEBN

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780852555712
Publisher:	Boydell & Brewer, Limited
Publication date:	11/20/2008
Series:	African Literature Today , #26
Pages:	189
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Ernest N. Emenyonu is Professor Emeritus of Africana Studies at the University of Michigan-Flint, USA. He is Series Editor of African Literature Today. His publications include A Companion to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2017), Emerging Perspectives on Nawal El Saadawi (2010), and the children's book Uzoechi: A Story of African Childhood (2012).

CHIMALUM NWANKWO is Writer-in-Residence, Department of English and Literary Studies, Veritas University, Abuja, Nigeria. He has previously taught at the Universityies of Nigeria, East Carolina-Greenville, North Carolina A & T State University-Greensboro, where he was Professor of English and World Literatures and Former Chair of the Department of English, Nigeria Turkish Nile Universityin Abuja. He was Guest Editor of ALT 30 Reflections & Retrospectives. His other critical studies include Of the Deepest Shadows and The Prisons of Fire (2010) and Toward the kingdom of Woman and Man: The Works of Ngugi wa Thiongo (1992). He is also an acclaimed poet, who has published five volumes of poetry, including The Womb in the Heart and Other Poems and Lovesong for Julian Assange & Poems from Love Mountain.

CHRISTINE MATZKE, Lecturer in African Literatures and Cultures, Humboldt-University, Berlin.

Ernest N. Emenyonu is Professor Emeritus of Africana Studies at the University of Michigan-Flint, USA. He is Series Editor of African Literature Today. His publications include A Companion to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2017), Emerging Perspectives on Nawal El Saadawi (2010), and the children's book Uzoechi: A Story of African Childhood (2012).

Table of Contents

Editorial article. War in African literature: literary harvests, human tragedies - Ernest N. Emenyonu
The muted index of war in African literature & society - Chimalum Nwankwo
'Life in the camp of the enemy': Alemseged Tesfai's theatre of war - Christine Matzke
Sacrifice & contestation of identity in Chukwuemeka Ike's Sunset at Dawn - Clement Okafor
Of war & madness: a symbolic transmutation of the Nigeria-Biafra war in select stories from The Insider:Stories of War & Peace from Nigeria - Iniobong I. Uko
Becoming a feminist writer: representation of the subaltern in Buchi Emecheta's Destination Biafra - Oike Machiko
Politics & human rights in non-fiction prison literature - Sophia O. Ogwude
Problems of representing the Zimbabwean war of liberation in Mutasa's The Contract, Samupinda's Pawns & Vera's The Stone Virgins - Maurice Taonezvi Vambe
The need to go further? Dedication & distance in the war narratives of Alexandra Fuller & Alexander Kanengoni - Zoe Norridge
History, memoir & a soldier's conscience: Philip Efiong's Nigeria & Biafra: My Story - Isidore Diala
Of the versification of pain: Nigerian civil war poetry - Ogaga Okuyade
Reviews - James Gibbs

Editorial Reviews

The African Literature Today series has greatly enriched the study of contemporary African writing. [...] These articles provide real insights for the reading and understanding of political instability and volatility in most parts of Africa. [...] This volume stands out clearly as a groundbreaking one in that it privileges all forms of African creativity as well as authors irrespective of sex or class. [It] is a brilliant attempt to weave an 'authentic history' of wars in Africa, and is a thoroughly researched project that opens a door into Africa's soul and its unpredictable and precarious condition.

AFRICAN RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION

The African Literature Today series has greatly enriched the study of contemporary African writing. [...] These articles provide real insights for the reading and understanding of political instability and volatility in most parts of Africa. [...] This volume stands out clearly as a groundbreaking one in that it privileges all forms of African creativity as well as authors irrespective of sex or class. [It] is a brilliant attempt to weave an 'authentic history' of wars in Africa, and is a thoroughly researched project that opens a door into Africa's soul and its unpredictable and precarious condition. AFRICAN RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION

From the Publisher