A new generation of African writers : migration, material culture & language / Brenda Cooper.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cooper, Brenda.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi, 1977-.

African literature (English)--20th century--History and criticism.

African literature (English).

African literature (English)--21st century--History and criticism.

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi, 1977---Criticism and interpretation.

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi.

Criticism and interpretation.

Physical Description:

ix, 182 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Woodbridge, Suffolk ; Rochester, NY : James Currey ; Scottsville, S.A. : University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2008.

Summary:

It is timely for Brenda Cooper to examine some of the extraordinary work which has recently appeared from authors who have grown up or passed their early adult years out of Africa. The Orange Prize for Fiction was awarded in London 2007 to Chimamanda Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun. The Caine Prize for African Writing has introduced other new writers to agents and publishers.

Migration is a central theme of much African fiction written in English. Brenda Cooper tracks the journeys undertaken by a new generation of African writers, their protagonists and the solid objects that populate their fiction, to depict the material realities of their multiple worlds and languages. Postcolonial migrant writers encounter the globalised landscapes of the streets of Brixton, New York or Central Station Amsterdam, which have themselves been transformed by the colonial encounter. They write these changes back into their fiction, offering new ways of understanding the world. The writers' challenge is to find an English that can effectively express their many lives, languages and identities.

Contents:

Introduction: Multiple worlds, material culture & language

Virtual objects & parallel universes : Biyi Bandele's The street

Everyday objects & translation : Leila Aboulela's The translator & coloured lights

Possessions, science & power : Jamal Mahjoub's The carrier

Words, things & subjectivity : Moses Isegawa's Abyssinian chronicles

Breaking Gods & petals of purple : Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple hibiscus

An abnormal ordinary : Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Half of a yellow sun

Conclusion : The rifle is not a penis.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 171-178) and index.

ISBN:

9781847015075

1847015077

9781869141561

1869141563

OCLC:

243545114