Bill Ndi_Fears, Doubts and Joys of not Belonging_2013_Body _Final.pdf

This book is an opportune warning that alienation, estrangement and intentional diminishment serve as a cancer upon those who disburse it. The outsider suffers by being alone; the insider suffers even more by being forever known as a hypocrite who perpetuates dystopia. It uses literature as a hothouse for poisonous potted plants, the workings of a mind in turmoil and the exploration of a society or societies that seems to derive pleasure from others' ruin. Fears, Doubts, and Joy of Not Belonging considers themes that are biblical in scope from different societies and historical epochs. It is a sobering spiritual enlightenment of a child's "silent treatment" in adult form. The text complements language engineers and social scientists who are on a quest or search for how the individual responds to pressure that is unexpected, ill-conceived and in desperate need of alleviation. Not only does this particular type of cancer differ from the type a surgeon can treat, the stage at which this malady is diagnosed causes far more problems than if it were dealt with head on. Pursuing numerous examples of estrangement, this diverse text delves into a wide spectrum of human behavior while coming to the realization that these problems are universal and have been with us for a long, long time. The purpose of resistance, individuality and personal identity is to rise above these obstacles without losing hope, resilience or optimism. Cover 1 Title Page 2 Copyright Page 3 The Editors 4 Table of Contents 10 Preface 12 Introduction 14 Section I: Prose and Verse on the Verge 32 Chapter 1. Bill F. Ndi’s Social Angst and Humanist Vision 34 Chapter 2. In Moments like These: Emmanuel Fru Doh and the Mirrors of Romanticism 62 Chapter 3. Warring Estrangement in E. Coxere’s Adventures by Sea 86 Section II: Outside Looking in 112 Chapter 4. Out of the Circle: United Marginals in Francis B. Nyamnjoh’s The Travail of Dieudonné 114 Chapter 5. F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Pain of Exclusion 138 Chapter 6. Minority Identity and the Question of Social Failure in John N. Nkengasong’s Across the Mongolo 156 Chapter 7. Changing the Status Quo from the Margins in Bill F. Ndi’s Gods in the Ivory Towers 184 Section III: Strangers at Home and Abroad 204 Chapter 8. A Costly Gift to the Receiver: Francis B. Nyamnjoh and the Alienation of the African 206 Chapter 9. Willful and/or Imposed Alienation in Recent African Emigration Narratives 228 Chapter 10. Blighting Companionship: Emmanuel Fru Doh’s The Fire Within, A Tale of Passion and Alienation 246 INDEX 270 Back Cover 276