ALT 40: African Literature Comes of Age (African Literature Today, 40)

Explores and interrogates the many and diverse perspectives of the new frontiers of African literary studies. Publication of the seminal volume African Literature Comes of Age, by C.D. Narasimhaiah (India) and Ernest N. Emenyonu (Nigeria), in 1988 generated the consciousness that African literature had attained maturity by the evolution of diverse concerns among scholars, critics, and researchers over the decades following the publication, in the English language, of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart in 1958. Since the publication of the first volume of African Literature Today (ALT) in the 1970s, the writings of Africans across the continent have spread across the globe, constituting refreshing and hitherto unimaginable epistemologies. This 40th volume provides a serious critical response to those changing horizons and reflects African literature's maturity, diversity, scope, spread, and above all, relevance. The topics discussed range from sickle cell disease to the animalization of humans, new feminisms and stereotypes of womanhood, the different shades of black masculinity, and political exploitation in creative works. Reaching across boundaries, recent fictions are seen to suggest a widening of conventional literary genres, and new forms that change the known trajectories of dramatic theatre. The substance, freshness, and vitality that characterize the articles in this volume of African Literature Today bring a welcome perspective to the continent's rich creative life. Funded by the Knowledge Unlatched Select 2023 collection, this title is available as an Open Access ebook under the Creative Commons License: CC BY NC Front cover Table of Contents Notes on Contributors Editorial Article African Literature Comes of Age Articles Of Literature & Medicine Post-humanism & Speciesism in African Literature Manifestations of Masculinities in Adichie’s Novels Female Narratives & New Visions in African Women’s Writing Religion, Capitalism & Politics Gang Violence on the Cape Flats in Rossouw’s What Will People Say? Denunciation of Religious Collusion in Devil on the Cross/Matigari The Weapons of Subjugation in Mbue’s How Beautiful We Were Abrogating Aesthetic Boundaries in Contemporary Nigerian Poetry The End of Robert Mugabe The Text & Textual Fields of African Popular Literature Literary Supplement Kasimma: Ezuga (Short Story) Eugen M. Bacon: Four Poems Tributes Remembering Professor Charles R. Larson The End of an Era Reviews Kasimma. All Shades of Iberibe Egbuta & Chukwu (eds). World on the Brinks Evelyn N. Urama (ed). The Writer in the Mirror Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. ‘Zikora: A Short Story’ Isidore Diala (ed). Obumselu on African Literature Imbolo Mbue. Behold the Dreamers Tijan M. Sallah. Saani Baat