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

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cooper, Brenda, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi.

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

African literature (English).

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

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ix, 182 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Suffolk : Boydell & Brewer, 2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

There is a new interest among publishers in New York and London in books by writers of African origin. These authors have often grown up or passed their early adult years out of Africa. The Orange Prize for Fiction was awarded in London 2007 to Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie's 'Half of a Yellow Sun', and the Caine Prize for African Writing has introduced new writers such as Leila Aboulela, Biyi Bandele and Chimamanda Adichie herself to agents and publishers. This examination of the extraordinary work which has recently appeared is therefore very timely. Migration is a central theme of much African fiction written in English. Here, 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. The book explores the uses to which the English language is put in order to understand these worlds. It demonstrates how these writers have contested the dominance of colonising metaphors. The writers' challenge is to find an English that can effectively express their many lives, languages and identities. BRENDA COOPER is Director of the Centre for African Studies and a Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Cape Town. South Africa: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press (PB).

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:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 02 Oct 2015).

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

ISBN:

1-282-62119-X

9786612621192

1-84615-665-3

OCLC:

646855286