DOCSLIB.ORG

The Representation of African Humanism in the Narrative Writings of Es’Kia Mphahlele

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Representation of African Humanism in the Narrative Writings of Es’Kia Mphahlele THE REPRESENTATION OF AFRICAN HUMANISM IN THE NARRATIVE WRITINGS OF ES’KIA MPHAHLELE LESIBANA JACOBUS RAFAPA Dissertation presented for the Degree of Doctor of Literature at the University of Stellenbosch Promotor: Prof. A.H. Gagiano December 2005 i DECLARATION I, the undersigned, hereby declare that the work contained in this dissertation is my own original work and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it at any university for a degree. L.J. RAFAPA 16 DECEMBER 2005 Signature: ………………….. Date: ……………………. ii ABSTRACT The introductory chapter of this thesis – in which I place Mphahlele's works within the Afrocentric, postcolonial theoretical context within which he wrote – consists of three sections that explain the three different ways in which I contextualise my investigation of the ways in which Mphahlele represents his concept of African humanism in his narrative writings. In section 1.1 I detail the historical background and context within which Mphahlele's philosophy of African humanism will be shown to have evolved, alongside my analysis of a selected few of his poems and all of his narrative writings, articulated in the main body of the thesis. I approach this introductory sketching of the historical context by tracing the development over time of antecedent concepts articulated by other writers, followed by a chronological tracing of the progressive, successive articulations of the idea of African humanism in Mphahlele’s own discursive writing . This is followed in section 1.2 by an outline of the theoretical notions or concepts from various sources by means of which the analysis is executed, some of which are Edward Said's notion of "the integrated vision", Fanon's idea of "national culture" and Bhabha's metonymic notion of "mimicry". Section 1.3 dwells on a description of the conceptual approach I use throughout the thesis – that of viewing literature as anchored in the empirical milieu constituting the referential framework of its subject matter. In this section I also highlight the analytical method of scrutinising Mphahlele's works from the sociolinguistic point of view that links dialogue and the symbols yielded by fiction to the local cultural orientation of the people for whom artefacts were composed. The organisation of the later chapters of this thesis according to literary genre is also explained and rationalised in section 1.3. After looking briefly at Mphahlele’s poetry and more fully at his short stories in Chapter 2 in order to trace how he represents the concept of African humanism in a more distinct and recognisable manner in the latter compared to the former genre (focusing on dialogue and imagery), this study proceeds in Chapter 3 to demonstrate how this concept is interwoven with the fabric of Mphahlele’s autobiographies, Down Second Avenue and Afrika My Music, exhibiting the author’s concern with this concept and his expression of it in these texts, without his violating the conventions of autobiography by articulating it discursively. Further instances of the incorporation of African humanist tenets into Mphahlele’s literary works are explored in a consideration of his two early novels (The Wanderers and Chirundu) in Chapter 4. In the commentaries on the novels which are addressed in this chapter, the many stylistic and thematic parallels with the texture of writing in the texts considered earlier are discussed – in order to explore what appears at this point to be a more profound and extensive exemplification of Mphahlele’s philosophy of African humanism. Chapter 5 dwells on Mphahlele’s last novel to date, Father Come Home, arguing that the apparent simplicity of the work deceptively conceals the author’s most vivid literary representations of his theory of African humanism, conveyed by means of particularly dexterous implementations of his trademark literary devices, here iii engaged most effectively by introducing to the reader a novel kind of character who embodies African humanism in a manner that is unprecedented in Mphahlele’s literary career. In Chapter 6 cumulative evidence is put together to demonstrate that Mphahlele, through his narrative writings, has succeeded in developing and perfecting his concept of African humanism, with the result that it has been shaped into a coherent, nuanced and lucid theory or philosophy. OPSOMMING Die inleidende hoofstuk van hierdie tesis – waarin Mphahele se werke gesitueer word binne die Afrosentriese, postkoloniale konteks waarbinne hy geskryf het – bestaan uit drie gedeeltes wat die drie verskillende metodes waarvolgens ek my ondersoek na die manier waarop Mphahlele sy konsep van Afrika-humanisme in sy narratiewe werke weergee, kontekstualiseer. In 1.1 detailleer ek die historiese agtergrond en konteks waarbinne Mphahlele se fiolsofie van Afrika-humanisme ontwikkel het, teenoor my analise van ’n paar geselekteerde gedigte van hom asook al sy narratiewe werke, wat in die hoof-gedeelte van die tesis geartikuleer word. My benadering tot hierdie inleidende beskrywing van die historiese konteks is om die ontwikkeling, oor tyd, van voorafgaande konsepte (soos deur ander skrywers verwoord) na te gaan, gevolg deur ’n kronologiese belyning van die ontwikkellende, opeenvolgende artikulasies van die konsep van Afrika- humanisme in Mphahlele se eie teoretiese en lewensbeskoulike werke. Dit word opgevolg in 1.2 deur ’n omlyning van die teoretiese konsepte uit verskillende bronne met behulp waarvan die analise uitgevoer word, sommige waarvan Edward Said se idee van ’n geintegreerde visie, Fanon se konsep van ’n nasionale kultuur en Bhabha se metonimiese idee van nabootsing is. Gedeelte 1.3 konsentreer op ’n beskrywing van die konseptuele benadering waarvan ek dwarsdeur die tesis gebruik maak – die beskouing van letterkunde as geanker in die empiriese milieu, wat die verwysingsraamwerk van die literêre wêreld uitmaak. In hierdie gedeelte belig ek ook die analitiese metode om Mphahlele se werke vanuit ’n sosiolinguistiese vertrekpunt, wat dialoog en die simbole wat uit fiksie voortvloei verbind met die plaaslike kulturele omgewing van diegene vir wie die artefakte geskep is, te skrutineer. Die rangskikking van die latere hoofstukke van hierdie tesis volgens literêre genre, word ook verduidelik in 1.3. Na ’n kort bespreking van uitgesoekte gedigte deur Mphahlele, gevolg deur ’n volledige bespreking van sy kortverhale in Hoofstuk 2 – met die doel om te analiseer hoe hierdie skrywer (deur sy gebruik van dialoog en beeldspraak) die konsep van Afrika-humanisme progressief verdiep in die ‘oorgang’ van een genre na die ander – word daar in Hoofstuk 3 gedemonstreer hoe hierdie konsep verweef is met die outobiografiese tekstuur van Mphahlele se eie-lewensbeskrywende werke Down Second Avenue en Afrika My Music. In hierdie twee werke word die skrywer se betrokkenheid met en verwoording van sy konsep van Afrika-humanisme uitgelig, soos hy dit uitvoer sonder om die biografiese konvensies te verbreek deur die idee diskursief te artikuleer. Verder voorbeelde van die iv beliggaming van die beginsels van Afrika-humanisme in Mphahlele se literêre werke word ondersoek in ’n bespreking van sy twee vroee romans The Wanderers en Chirundu in Hoofstuk 4. In die kommentaar op die romans wat in hierdie hoofstuk bespreek word, word die vele stilistiese en tematiese paralelle met die werke wat vroeer in die tesis bestudeer is, bespreek – met die doel om te bepaal wat op hierdie punt na ’n diepere en meer wydlopende verbeelding van Mphahlele se filosofie van Afrika-humanisme lyk. Hoofstuk 5 konsentreer op Mphahlele se tot op hede laaste roman, Father Come Home. Hier word geargumenteer dat die oppervlakkige indruk van die skynbare eenvoud van die roman misleidend is, omdat dit die skrywer se helderste literêre voorstelling van sy teorie van Afika-humanisme versteek – hier oorgedra deur midde van ’n besonder vaardige implementering van Mphahlele se kenmerkende literêre strategiee, deur die leser voor te stel aan ’n nuwe tipe karakter wat die Afrika-humanisme beliggaam op ’n manier wat sonder presedent in Mphahlele se literêre loopbaan is. In Hoofstuk 6 word die opgeboude getuienis saamgestel om te bewys dat Mphahlele deur sy narratiewe werke daarin geslaag het om sy konsep van Afrika-humanisme te ontwikkel en te vervolmaak, met die gevolg dat dit gevorm is tot ’n koherente, genuanseerde en heldere teorie of filosofie. v DEDICATION Without the many sacrifices and immeasurable support of my lovely wife Ramokone Margaret , and precious children Thabo Monona Stanley, Mokgathi Katlego and Raesibe Mothepa Rachel Lillian, I would not have completed this work. This dissertation is for you. This is also for Dr Khomotšo Reginald Kganyago, who has affectionately accepted to be my younger brother. I dedicate this study also to my elder brother Jacob Malose Isaiah Rafapa for his moral support throughout my learning career. How it smarts my heart to be celebrating my obtaining of the doctoral degree without the physical presence of the following members of my family! It is partly as a way of dealing with this pain that I dedicate the success represented by completion of this thesis to my younger sister Gloria Rankotsana Ntshegi (died 1999); my mother Lydia Rachel Raesibe Rafapa (nee Leso, died 2000); my father Rev. Elias Malesela “Molemi” Rafapa (died 2001); my niece Vinolia Seja “Poppie” Ntshegi (died 2002); and my father-in-law Alfred Madimetja Thebetha (died 2003). I know you are all alive and well in the land of the ancestors: so please share in this joy with me. I dedicate this doctoral thesis to you all. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My Promotor, Professor A.H. Gagiano, of the English Department at Stellenbosch University deserves my sincerest gratitude for her untiring guidance and support throughout the arduous work of writing this thesis. Without the invaluable support of Mrs Mara Visser of the University of Stellenbosch Library I could not have finished my studies successfully as a distant student. Prof. Es’kia Mphahlele’s personal encouragement each time I approached him on matters related to research towards completion of this thesis is heartily acknowledged and thanked.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Modern Poetry from Africa
    Ramsey Muspratt, Cambridge Gerald Moore was born in Ulli Beier was born in London in 1 924 and read Germany in 1 922 and studied En lish t m li a Ca . a u a g bridge He ter t re in Engl nd. Since began to be interested in 1 950 he has been living in African writing during thr ee Nigeria, where he is a years he spent as an extra lecturer in the department of mu a u o in N a F om x a-mu a r l t t r igeri . r e tr r l studies at to l 1 956 1 960 he was the first University Co lege, Ibadan direct or of extra-mural He is editor of the literary a z B studies at Hong Kong m ga ine, lack Orpheus, and t University and visited China, in 1 96 1 helped o found M a a c u for a a Siam, Cambodia, and Malaya . b ri, l b Ib d n Since 1 960 he has been writers and artists, which is director of extra-mural already having an influence He studies at Makerere College on African cultural life . ‘ a m m a o o - o of Mba in Uganda. He is e ber is ls j int edit r ri ’ o Amo his of the Black Orpheus Publicati ns . ng oo are Yoruba Poetr committee and his first book, b ks y S even African Writers, Art in Nigeria I 96 O and West A rican Mud was published in 1 962 .
    [Show full text]
  • Critical Commentary on Gabriel Okaraâ•Žs Postwar Ode, •Ÿthe
    University of Massachusetts Boston ScholarWorks at UMass Boston Africana Studies Faculty Publication Series Africana Studies 1-1-2011 'Clearing the Forest': Critical Commentary on Gabriel Okara’s Postwar Ode, ‘The Dreamer’ Chukwuma Azuonye University of Massachusetts Boston, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.umb.edu/africana_faculty_pubs Part of the African Languages and Societies Commons, Comparative Literature Commons, and the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Azuonye, Chukwuma, "'Clearing the Forest': Critical Commentary on Gabriel Okara’s Postwar Ode, ‘The Dreamer’" (2011). Africana Studies Faculty Publication Series. Paper 1. http://scholarworks.umb.edu/africana_faculty_pubs/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Africana Studies at ScholarWorks at UMass Boston. It has been accepted for inclusion in Africana Studies Faculty Publication Series by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at UMass Boston. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ‘Clearing the Forest’: Critical Commentary on Gabriel Okara’s Postwar Ode, ‘The Dreamer’ Chukwuma Azuonye Professor of African & African Diaspora Literatures University of Massachusetts Boston And now the dreamer, with machete, Word-sharpened, is clearing the forest Of its macro-stench and venality To sow the seed that would send its roots, Unshaken by wind or storm, to its expected greatness. [Gabriel Okara, “The Dreamer,” 2006) Introduction A large body of the poetry of Gabriel Okara (b. April 24, 1921) was lost in the confusion that came with the sudden end of the Biafran war of independence from Nigeria (July 6, 1967-January 12, 1970). But a slim gathering of his verse, The Fisherman’s Invocation and Other Poems (ed.
    [Show full text]
  • 'The Mystic Drum': Critical Commentary on Gabriel Okara's
    University of Massachusetts Boston From the SelectedWorks of Chukwuma Azuonye 2011 ‘The ysM tic Drum’: Critical Commentary on Gabriel Okara’s Love Lyrics Chukwuma Azuonye, University of Massachusetts Boston Available at: https://works.bepress.com/chukwuma_azuonye/82/ ‘The Mystic Drum’: Critical Commentary on Gabriel Okara’s Love Lyrics: By Chukwuma Azuonye, PhD Professor of African & African Diaspora Literatures University of Massachusetts Boston Introduction In the course of reading a chapter entitled “Empty and Marvelous” in Alan Watts fascinating book, The Way of Zen (1957), a serendipitous key was provided, by the following statement from the teachings of Chinese Zen master,1 Ch’ing Yuän Wei-hsin (1067-1120), to the structure and meaning of the experience dramatized in Gabriel Okara’s most famous love poem, “The Mystic Drum”: 2 Before I had studied Zen for thirty years, I saw mountains as mountains and waters as waters. When I arrived at a more intimate knowledge, I came to the point where I saw the mountains are not mountains, and waters are not waters. But now that I have got its very substance I am at rest. For it’s just now that I see mountains once again as mountains and waters once again as waters. What is so readily striking to anyone who has read “The Mystic Drum” is the near perfect dynamic equivalence between the words of Ch’ing Yuän and the phraseology of Okara’s lyric. In line with Ch’ing Yuän’s statement, the lyric falls into three clearly defined parts—an initial phase of “conventional knowledge,” when men are men and fishes are fishes (lines 1-15); a median phase of “more intimate knowledge,” when men are no longer men and fishes are no longer fishes (lines 16-26); and a final phase of “substantial knowledge,” when men are once again men and fishes are once again fishes, with the difference that at this phase, the beloved lady of the lyric is depicted as “standing behind a tree” with “her lips parted in her smile,” now “turned cavity belching darkness” (lines 27-41).
    [Show full text]
  • 15910724175Ed5d6a122058.Pdf
    M.A.IV SEMESTER 2020 AFRICAN AND CARRIBEAN LITERATURE Paper-XIII Practice Paper Multiple choice Questions Maximum Marks-100 Each Question carries 1 mark By Dr Priyanka Maral Department of English K.N.Govt. P.G.College, Gyanpur, Bhadohi, Uttar Pradesh 1-Dennis Brutus was born in (a) 1924 (b)1736 (c)1987 (d)1964 2- What is the full name of Dennis Brutus (a )Dennis wal Brutus (b)Dennis bes Brutus (c) Dennis wan Brutus (d)Dennis Vincet Brutus 3- Who was responsible for banning South Africa from Olympics due to apartheid? (a)Dennis Brutus (b)Jane Austen (c) Thomas Hardy (d)Wole soynika 4- Dennis Brutus died on (a)September2010 (b)March 214 (c)2009 (d)2004 5- Who wrote the poem You Laughed and Laughed and Laughed? (a)Gabriel Okara (b)Dennis Brutus (c)Chinua Achebe (d)Thomas Hardy 6- In how many stanzas the poem You Laughed and Laughed and Laughed is written (a)10 (b)11 (c)12 (d)15 7- In the poem You Laughed and Laughed and Laughed the interaction between (a)A White colonialist and an African native (b)An African and American (c)An Indian and an African (d)An Indian and a White 8-what is the theme of the poem You Laughed and Laughed and Laughed (a)The belief in Indian culture (b)The belief in African culture (c)The belief in European culture (d)The belief in American culture 9-when was the poem You Laughed and Laughed and Laughed published (a)1985 (b)1986 (c)1987 (d)1989 10-In which year Gabriel Okara won the Commonwealth prize (a)1979 (b)1989 (c)1982 (d)1987 11- In which year Gabriel Okara was born (a)1931 (b)1941 (c)1921 (d)1957 12- To which
    [Show full text]
  • Ezekiel Mphahlele: an Appreciation (1919-2008) by Ntongela Masilela
    Untitled Document Ezekiel Mphahlele: An Appreciation (1919-2008) by Ntongela Masilela When H. I. E. Dhlomo in late 1947 listed in Ilanga lase Natal newspaper the then recently published first book by Mphahlele, a collection of short stories Man Must Live (1947), as one of the new talented voices that was likely to carry into the future a splendid literary culture that had a noble past, he could not have known how presciently astute his observation was as it practically predicted the trajectory of the following five decades by the man who was subsequently to write The African Image (1962), one of the early classics of African literary criticism. Since one of his aims was to fortify the intellectual tradition of New African creativity, Dhlomo was constantly in search of new talent in whom to inscribe the intellectual ethos of the New African Movement. This was the reason he constantly exhorted young Africans to emulate a political and cultural legacy that was destined to bring Africa back to African people from European trespassers by inventing its own particular understanding of the national project of modernity. The intellectual practice of Mphahlele that was to unfold across many decades and in the complex geo-political space of the African world had many affinities with that of Dhlomo, in that both were uncompromising in the belief that ideas not ideologies must be taken seriously, that culture must be made to supersede politics whenever possible, that form not content in an artistic work is what endures through the ages, and so on. In this sense, their distinctive nationalism was that of the politics of intellectual excellence.
    [Show full text]
  • African Writers Meet in Uganda
    African Writers meet in Uganda by BERNARD FONLON The Conference of African Writers of English Expression which was held in Makerere, Kampala, Uganda, from the 8th to 18th of June, 1962, brought together makers of creative literature from the East, from the West and the South of the continent. Chinua Achebe, novelist, John Pepper Clark, poet and dramatist, Gabriel Okara, poet, and short-story writer, Christopher Okigbo, poet, Wole Soyinka, poet and dramatist, Donatus Nwoga, critic — came from Nigeria. George Awooner-Williams, poet, Elizabeth Spio-Garbrah, poet, Cameron Duodu — were Ghana's representatives. To speak for South Africa, came the exiles, Ezekiel Mphahlele, Bloke Modisane, Arthur Maimane — all short-story writers. East Africa was represented by, Grace Ogot, short-story writer, John Nagenda, poet and short-story writer, Rebecca Njau, dramatist. There were envoys from Africa across the Seas : Langston Hughes, famous American Negro poet, Saunders Redding, writer, critic and Professor of Litera- ture at Hampton Institute, Virginia, Arthur Drayton of Trinidad, critic, and Barry Reckord of Jamaica, dramatist. 39 A B B I A As observers from French speaking Africa came Amadou Samb of Senegal and Paulin Joachim of Dahomey, editor of the magazine, Bingo. I was there to represent the bilingual Republic of Cameroon. The need for African programmes in radio and television services is stimulating a good deal of writing in some African countries. To enlighten the conference on writing for these media were : Yemi Lijadu of Broadcasting House, Lagos, Frances Ademola of Broadcasting House, lbadan, Segun Olusola of Western Nigeria Television, Ibadan, Lewis Nkosi of South Africa, and Denis Duerdin of the Transcription Centre, London.
    [Show full text]
  • Laligens, Vol
    12 LALIGENS, VOL. 8(1), S/N 17, FEBRUARY, 2019 International Journal of Language, Literature and Gender Studies (LALIGENS), Bahir Dar- Ethiopia Vol. 8 (1), Serial No 17, February, 2019: 12-23 ISSN: 2225-8604(Print) ISSN 2227-5460 (Online) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/laligens.v8i1.2 Literature: An Emerging Value in the Hard Ground of the Niger Delta Binebai, Benedict, PhD Department of Theatre Arts Niger Delta University Wilberforce Island Amassoma, Bayelsa State, Nigeria E-mail: [email protected] Phone: +2348038718720 Abraye, Sunday D., PhD Department of Theatre Arts Niger Delta University Wilberforce Island Amassoma, Bayelsa State, Nigeria Abstract Literature is a social value which creeps out from human imagination. Its production is motivated by the pressures of conflict in the world of humanity and the strong instinct of man to device ways and means to conquer these challenging conflicts. Environmental literature thrives more on human and social conflict, particularly on the ecology of oppression. All over the world, traditions of literature have cropped up from the wreckage of war and difficult circumstances and situations man and society have been plunged into. These facts are well reflected in the literature of the world. But the Niger Delta experience has not been given adequate scholarly attention by literary scholars. This study demonstrates how a prolonged Copyright © IAARR, 2012-2019: www.afrrevjo.net/laligens Indexed and Listed in AJOL & EBSCOhost 13 LALIGENS, VOL. 8(1), S/N 17, FEBRUARY, 2019 history and experience of violence in the Niger Delta characterised fundamentally by economic cannibalism, political brutality, environmental degradation and physical violence on the region have instituted literary nationalism.
    [Show full text]
  • (C.,.,.,Br,<(7E: ~(,,,'Jje U,;Vers:; Fre~R, /C/R6)J
    Qober+- F""ro.ser CJ.est ltfr,'w-vi Poe:tr1: A- Cv,/1;o...-r (C.,.,.,br,<(7e: ~(,,,'Jje u,;vers:; fre~r, /C/R6)j King 46 s. A. Gingell, "His River's Complex Course: Reflections on Past, Present and Future in the Poetry of Gabriel Okara," World Literature Written in English, 23 (~(1984): 284-297; h,·, K.L. Goodwin, "Gabriel Okara," in Understanding African Poetry: /\ A Study of Ten Poets (London: Heinemann, 1982); -t1142-153; Solomon Iyasere, "Narrative Techniques in Okara's The Voice," African Literature Today, 12 (1982): 5-21; Bruce King, "The Poetry of Gabriel Okara," Chandrabhaga, 2 (1979): 60-65; Margaret Laurence, Long Drums and Cannons (New York: Frederick Praeger, 1969); Bemth Lindfors, "Gabriel Okara: The Poet as Novelist," Pan-African Journal, 4 (1971): 420-425; ;/.<Je11 ~v~ a.-...J. w~J- d- 1 ''~br,~( Ok1..ret's 2. 2): I 2. I - f 2 ~ #~ I~ Ci,,,.v f '>~ I, (,q ~ 6; pl .J King -- ~ ~ 974); P.N. Njoroge, "Gabriel Okara: The Feeler of the Pulse of Africa's Soul," Busara, 5 (1973): 48-56; Errananuel N. Obiechina, "Art and Artifice in Okara's The Voice," Okike, 1 (September, 1972) : 23-33; Eustace Palmer, An Introduction to the African Novel: A Critical Study of Tw'elve Books ,!?y Chinua Achebe, James Ngugi, Camara I.aye, Elechi Amadi, Ayi Kwei Arrrah, Mongo Beti and Gabriel Okara (London: Heinemann, 1972); Kirsten Holst Petersen, "Heterogeneous Worlds Yoked Violently Together," Kunapipi, 1 (1979): 155-158 Adrian A. Roscoe, Mother is Gold (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1971); Reinhard Sander, "A Political Interpretation of Gabriel Okara's The Voice," Omaba, 10 (1974): 4-15; K.E.
    [Show full text]
  • Modern Poetry from Africa
    <* ^4>. enguin African Library Modern Poetry ft * • ,'. '¥^* --. -a. ^Hfi "»* *%«^«, 9f\ »« M JfSVJ'' '-* ^ dited by Gdraid Moo d Ulli > ^• -^ LV -. Ramsey & Muspratt, Cambridge Gerald Moore was born in Ulli Beier was born in London in 1924 and read Germany in 1922 and studied English at Cambridge. He literature in England. Since began to be interested in 1950 he has been living in African writing during three Nigeria, where he is a years he spent as an extra- lecturer in the department of mural tutor in Nigeria. From extra-mural studies at 1956 to i960 he was the first University College, Ibadan. director of extra-mural He is editor of the literary studies at Hong Kong magazine. Black Orpheus, and University and visited China, in 1 96 1 helped to found Siam, Cambodia, and Malaya. Mbari, a club for Ibadan Since i960 he has been writers and artists, which is director of extra-mural already having an influence studies at Makerere College on African cultural life. He in Uganda. He is a member is also joint-editor of ' Mbari of the Black Orpheus PubUcations'. Among his committee and his first book; books are Yoruba Poetry Seven African Writers, (i959)> ^^^ i^ Nigeria i960 was published in 1962. (i960), and West African Mud Sculpture (1962). Cover design by Massimo Vignelli I^K*^^^ .^T-.;-.-^—^-^>^.. -.: ^if;-,jpii-,1li-,arV"*-'^''™ Ramsey & Muspratt, Cambridge Gerald Moore was born in UUi Beier was born in London in 1924 and read Germany in 1922 and studied English at Cambridge. He literature in England. Since began to be interested in 1950 he has been living in African writing during three Nigeria, where he is a years he spent as an extra- lecturer in the department of mural tutor in Nigeria.
    [Show full text]
  • Individualism and Community in the Novels of Ngugi Wa Thiong'o
    o n- b-c\S RECONSTRUCTING IDENTITY IN POSTCOLONIAL AFRICAN FICTION: Individualism and Community in the Novels of Ngugi wa Thiong'o Dianne O. Schwerdt A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English University of Adelaide November L994 N,n' t\t t\ \'\ct" CONTENTS Abstract I Statements Í1 Acknowledgements lV 1. Introduction: Defining the Territory 1 2. Reconstructing the Past: Ngugi's Kenya 42 3. The Divided Individual: Social and Cultural Displacement in The River Between andWeep Not, Child 73 4. Redef,rning the Emergency: The Fragmented Community in A Grain of Wheat r20 5. Individual Choice and Communal Solidarity: Class Alliance in Petals of Blood r64 6. The'Way Home: Restoring Community in Devil on the Cross and Matigari 205 7. Conclusion: Redefining the Future 247 Works Consulted 270 ABSTRACT The intention of this thesis is to examine the way in which Kenya's most significant writer, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, has portlayed the impact of colonialism on the relationship between individualism and community in postcolonial Africa. The views ù expressed in his fiction ale shaped as much by the political, economic, social and cultural forces that have eroded communal structures and values, as by African resistance to those folces. They reflect not only his own disillusionment, but the disenchantment felt by many African intellectuals in the aftermaths of national independence. The changes expedenced by Afiican societies as a rcsult of colonial intervention in Africa were characteristically lapid. Ngugi poltrays tl-re processes by which traditional alliances between individuals and their co--.rnities were disrupted, and the various ways in which new relationships wele forged that could fiuitfully accommodate emerging identities that were not necessarily grounded in the traditional community.
    [Show full text]
  • Critical Commentary on the War Poems of Gabriel Okara Chukwuma Azuonye University of Massachusetts Boston, [email protected]
    University of Massachusetts Boston ScholarWorks at UMass Boston Africana Studies Faculty Publication Series Africana Studies 1-1-2011 ‘The onsM trous Anger of the Guns’: Critical Commentary on the War Poems of Gabriel Okara Chukwuma Azuonye University of Massachusetts Boston, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.umb.edu/africana_faculty_pubs Part of the African Languages and Societies Commons, Comparative Literature Commons, and the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Azuonye, Chukwuma, "‘The onM strous Anger of the Guns’: Critical Commentary on the War Poems of Gabriel Okara" (2011). Africana Studies Faculty Publication Series. Paper 10. http://scholarworks.umb.edu/africana_faculty_pubs/10 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Africana Studies at ScholarWorks at UMass Boston. It has been accepted for inclusion in Africana Studies Faculty Publication Series by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at UMass Boston. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ‘The Monstrous Anger of the Guns’: Critical Commentary on the War Poems of Gabriel Okara [Work in Progress] Chukwuma Azuonye Professor of African & African Diaspora Literatures University of Massachusetts Boston What passing-bells for those who die as cattle Only the monstrous anger of the guns. Only the stuttering rifles’s rapid rattle Can patter out their hasty orisons. No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells. Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs.— The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells; The bugles calling them from sad shires. [Wilfred Owen, “Anthem for Doomed Youth,” 1920] Introduction The year, 1966, was the annus horilibilis of postcolonial Nigerian politics.
    [Show full text]
  • 'The White Man Laughs': Commentary on the Satiric Dramatic Monologues of Gabriel Okara Chukwuma Azuonye, University of Massachusetts Boston
    University of Massachusetts Boston From the SelectedWorks of Chukwuma Azuonye 2011 'The White Man Laughs': Commentary on the Satiric Dramatic Monologues of Gabriel Okara Chukwuma Azuonye, University of Massachusetts Boston Available at: https://works.bepress.com/chukwuma_azuonye/86/ ‘The White Man Laughs’: Critical Commentary on the Satiric Dramatic Monologues of Gabriel Okara [Work In Progress] By Chukwuma Azuonye Professor of African & African Diaspora Literatures University of Massachusetts Boston I kinda giggle when the white man laughs Not too long ago you had to fight for your territory Toe to toe and a gun was a different story I guess you can't squabble no mo' Your fist is a .44 King Tee, “Time to Get Out Lyrics’1 1. Introduction In one of his most radical essays, "Colonialist Criticism," Africa’s leading novelist, poet, essayist and cultural philosopher, Chinua Achebe (1988: pp. xx-xx), debunks the inability of European colonialist critics to understand and appreciate African literature and culture in their own terms. He engages in a brick-by-brick demolition of the gaudy edifice of the Eurocentrist critical establishment, unveiling the untenable myths of racial superiority and bigotry out of which it is constructed. He notes, for instance, that the colonist critic presumes that the African writer is "a somewhat unfinished European" who will grow up one day to think and write like his grown-up European cultural siblings. Chiding the colonialist critic for wallowing in the presumption that he has a god-ordained mission to civilize the African, Achebe writes: To the colonist mind it was always of the utmost importance to be able to say: ‘I know my natives,’ a claim which implied two things at once: (a) The native was really quite simple; and (b) Understanding him and controlling him went hand in hand.
    [Show full text]