The African Imagination : Literature in Africa and the Black Diaspora

This collection of essays by one of Africa's leading scholars examines African literary traditions in the broad sense, and places the work of individual authors in context. Here F. Abiola Irele presents probing critical readings of the works of Chinua Achebe, Kamau Brathwaite, Amadou Hapae Ba, and Amadou Kourouma, among others. In addition to discussing texts central to the evolving canon of African literature, The African Imagination addresses both the growing presence of African writing in the global literary marketplace and the relationship between African intellectuals and the West.

This collection of essays from eminent scholar F. Abiola Irele provides a comprehensive formulation of what he calls an African imagination manifested in the oral traditions and modern literature of Africa and the Black Diaspora. The African Imagination includes Irele's probing critical readings of the works of Chinua Achebe, Edward Kamau Brathwaite, Amadou Hampaté Bâ, and Ahmadou Kourouma, among others, as well as examinations of the growing presence of African writing in the global literary marketplace and the relationship between African intellectuals and the West. Taken as a whole, this volume makes a superb introduction to African literature and to the work of one of its leading interpreters.

This collection of essays from eminent scholar F. Abiola Irele provides a comprehensive formulation of what he calls an "African imagination" manifested in the oral traditions and modern literature of Africa and the Black Diaspora. The African Imagination includes Irele's probing critical readings of the works of Chinua Achebe, Edward Kamau Brathwaite, Amadou Hampaté Bâ, and Ahmadou Kourouma, among others, as well as examinations of the growing presence of African writing in the global literary marketplace and the relationship between African intellectuals and the West. Taken as a whole, this volume makes a superb introduction to African literature and to the work of one of its leading interpreters. This collection of essays from eminent scholar F. Abiola Irele provides a comprehensive formulation of what he calls an'African imagination'manifested in the oral traditions and modern literature of Africa and the Black Diaspora. The African Imagination includes Irele's probing critical readings of the works of Chinua Achebe, Edward Kamau Brathwaite, Amadou Hampaté Bâ, and Ahmadou Kourouma, among others, as well as examinations of the growing presence of African writing in the global literary marketplace and the relationship between African intellectuals and the West. Taken as a whole, this volume makes a superb introduction to African literature and to the work of one of its leading interpreters. 1. The African Imagination. 2. Orality, Literacy, and African Literature. 3. African Letters: The Making of a Tradition. 4. Dimensions of African Discourse. 5. A Study in Ambiguity: Amadou Hampate Ba's The Fortunes of Wangrin. 6. Narrative, History and the African Imagination: Amadou Kourouma's Monne, outrages et defis. 7. The Crisis of Cultural Memory in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. 8. The Return of the Native: Edward Kamau Brathwaite's Masks. 9. A National Voice: The Poetry and Plays of John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo. 10. Parables of the African Condition: The New Realism in African Fict F. Abiola Irele is an expert on the anglophone and francophone traditions in post-colonial African literature. This collection of his essays examines African literary traditions in the broad sense, and places the work of individual authors in context