ALT 30 Reflections & Retrospectives: African Literature Today (African Literature Today, 30)

A focus on some of the pioneers of African literary creation.This special issue of African Literature Today is devoted to some of the pioneer voices of African fiction in the twentieth century: Bessie Head, Cyprian Ekwensi, Dennis Brutus, Ezekiel Mphahlele, Flora Nwapa, Ousmane Sembène and Zulu Sofola. The contributors explore the development of these influential writers and their impact on the continent and beyond, through a study of their writing, sources and influences. Some focus on case studies of specific works which are particularly important in the creative development of the author. The contributions of these writers to the growth and development of modern African Literature are highlighted. These are also writers whose works, in the words of Chimalum Nwankwo in his Introduction'have defined for their time a deep engagement and commitment with the pulse of the people...'Ernest Emenyonu is Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Michigan-Flint, USA; the editorial board is composed of scholars from US, UK and African universities Chimalum Nwankwo [Guest Editor] Former Chair of the Department of English, North Carolina A & T State University, Greensboro, USA, and Professor of English and World Literatures, is currently on sabbatical at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria. Nigeria: HEBN This special issue of ‘African Literature Today’ is devoted to some of the pioneer voices of African fiction in the twentieth century: Bessie Head, Cyprian Ekwensi, Dennis Brutus, Ezekiel Mphahlele, Flora Nwapa, Ousmane Sembene and Zulu Sofola. The contributors explore the development of these influential writers and their impact on the continent and beyond, through a study of their writing, sources and influences. Some also focus on case studies of specific works which are particularly important in the creative development of the author. The contributions of these writers to the growth and development of modern African Literature are highlighted. These are also writers whose works, in the words of Chimalum Nwankwo in his Introduction 'have defined for their time a deep engagement and commitment with the pulse of the people...' Ernest Emenyonu is Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Michigan-Flint, USA; the editorial board is composed of scholars from US, UK and African universities; Chimalum Nwankwo [Guest Editor] Former Chair of the Department of English, North Carolina A & T State University, Greensboro, USA, and Professor of English and World Literatures, is currently on sabbatical at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria. Nigeria: HEBN Frontcover Contents Notes on Contributors Editorial Article Reflections & Retrospectives Articles Gender Politics, Home & Nation in Zulu Sofola’s King Emene: Tragedy of a Rebellion The Militant Writer in Sembène’s Early Fiction: From Le Docker noir to L’Harmattan Psychological Violence in Bessie Head’s Maru & A Question of Power Constructing the Destructive City: Representations of Lagos in Cyprian Ekwensi’s People of the City History, Progress & Prospects in the Development of African Literature: A Tribute to Dennis Brutus Dispelling the Myth of the ‘Silent Woman’: The Nigerian Igbo Woman in Flora Nwapa’s Efuru (1966) Interrogating Dichotomies, Reconstructing Emancipation: Bessie Head’s Vision on Gender Issues Es’kia Mphahlele’s Enduring Truth in Down Second Avenue A Tribute to Cyprian O.D. Ekwensi (26 September 1921 – 4 November 2007): The Writer, the Man & His Era Reviews Jack Mapanje. And Crocodiles are Hungry at Night Wilson Katiyo. Tsiga Bernth Lindfors (ed.). The Dennis Brutus Tapes: Essays at Autobiography Jane Katjavivi. Undisciplined Heart. Sarah Ladipo Manyika. In Dependence Anne V. Adams (ed). Essays in Honour of Ama Ata Aidoo at 70: A Reader in African Cultural Studies Chinua Achebe. There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra Backcover