Thread in the loom : essays on African literature and culture / Niyi Osundare.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Osundare, Niyi, 1947-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Osundare, Niyi, 1947---Political and social views.

Osundare, Niyi.

Osundare, Niyi, 1947-.

African literature--Political aspects.

African literature.

African literature--Social aspects.

Literature and society--Africa.

Literature and society.

Nigerian literature--Social aspects.

Nigerian literature.

Nigerian literature--Political aspects.

Political and social views.

Africa.

Literature and society--Nigeria.

Nigeria.

Physical Description:

xii, 152 pages ; 21 cm

Place of Publication:

Trenton, NJ : Africa World Press, [2002]

Summary:

Even in this age of triumphal globalism, Africa still hangs on to a precarious existence in the margin, the zone of abysmal silence and disarticulation, stripped of agency and talk-back capability. It remains largely invisible on the map of the global village drawn by those who control the paper as well as the pencil. In an age of "travelling theories" and "travelling texts," externally generated ideas and prejudices travel with imperial ease and confidence in Africa while the "canon war" makes it extremely difficult for African texts to make it to the reading lists of European and American institutions. Related problems such as a grossly maladjusted economy with the myriad socio-economic injustices spawned by it, political instability, dictatorship, and intolerance have affected the literary and cultural scene in near apocalyptic proportions. This selection of essays addresses these and other issues from the author's perspective as an African writer, academic, social critic, and regular contributor to media discourse.

Contents:

Freedom and the Creative Space 5

Stubborn Thread in the Loom of Being: The Writer as Memory of the World 13

Squaring up to Africa's Future: A Writer's Reflections on the Predicaments of a Continent 21

Of Prizes and Messiahs 33

African Literature and the Crisis of Post-Structuralist Theorising 39

Singers of a New Dawn: Nigerian Literature From the Second Generation On 59

Behold the Feast; but Where's the Guest? 83

The Longest Day 89

The Travails of Efficiency 95

Ibadan 105

Yoruba Thought, English Words: A Poet's Journey Through the Tunnel of Two Tongues 115

Thresholds and Millennial Crossings 133

The Possibilities of Hope 143.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

086543865X

0865438668

OCLC:

44076011