DOCSLIB.ORG

Formal Reconstructions of Statehood in the Anglophone African Novel Maya Ganapathy Washington University in St

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Formal Reconstructions of Statehood in the Anglophone African Novel Maya Ganapathy Washington University in St Washington University in St. Louis Washington University Open Scholarship Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations Arts & Sciences Winter 12-15-2014 A Liberal State of Mind: Formal Reconstructions of Statehood in the Anglophone African Novel Maya Ganapathy Washington University in St. Louis Follow this and additional works at: https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/art_sci_etds Part of the Comparative Literature Commons Recommended Citation Ganapathy, Maya, "A Liberal State of Mind: Formal Reconstructions of Statehood in the Anglophone African Novel" (2014). Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 359. https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/art_sci_etds/359 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Arts & Sciences at Washington University Open Scholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Washington University Open Scholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS Program in Comparative Literature Dissertation Examination Committee: J. Dillon Brown, Chair Seth Graebner, Co-Chair Jean Allman Nancy Berg Ignacio Infante Joya Uraizee A Liberal State of Mind: Formal Reconstructions of Statehood in the Anglophone African Novel by Maya Ganapathy A dissertation presented to the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences of Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2014 St. Louis, Missouri © 2014, Maya Ganapathy Table of Contents Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................................................. iv Abstract .............................................................................................................................................................. vi Preface .............................................................................................................................................................. viii Chapter 1: The Right to Write: Individualism and the Postcolonial Writer in Chinua Achebe’s A Man of the People (1966) and Helon Habila’s Waiting for an Angel (2002) ..................................................... 1 1.1 Failed Individualism in A Man of the People (1966) ........................................................................ 3 1.2 Making a Case for Individualism in Waiting for an Angel (2002) ............................................... 18 1.3 Romantic Egoism and the Demands of Public Struggle ........................................................... 27 1.4 Imprisonment and the Solipsistic Desires of Self ...................................................................... 35 1.5 The Poet’s Unalienable Right to Self Determination ................................................................ 48 Chapter 2: Imagining Global Struggle: The Violence of The Beautyful Ones (1968) in Chris Abani’s Graceland (2004) ................................................................................................................................................ 54 2.1 The Form of Popular Resistance in The Beautyful Ones (1968) and Graceland (2004) ............. 58 2.2 Temporality and Naturalism in The Beautyful Ones (1968) .......................................................... 63 2.2.1 Temporality .............................................................................................................................. 64 2.2.2 Naturalism ................................................................................................................................ 73 2.3 Graceland (2004) as Naturalist Bildungsroman ................................................................................ 83 2.3.1 Temporality and Naturalism in Graceland’s Construction of Male Subjectivity ............. 84 2.4 Apocalyptic Fantasies: Messianic Struggle, Patriarchal Failure, and Torture ......................... 99 2.4.1 Redemption and Messianic Struggle .................................................................................. 100 2.4.2 Patriarchal Failure ................................................................................................................. 106 2.4.3 Torture and the State ............................................................................................................ 112 2.5 Apocalyptic Fantasies: Messianic Struggle, Patriarchal Failure, and Torture ....................... 120 Chapter 3: Sidestepping the Political “Graveyard of Creativity”: Polyphony, Metadiegetic Narratives, and Reenvisioning the Nation-State in Chinua Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah (1987/88), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun (2006), and Aminatta Forna’s The Memory of Love (2010) ............................................................................................................................................................... 124 3.1 Creating an Open Path to Reform in Anthills of the Savannah (1987/88) .............................. 125 3.2 Who Writes the Nation’s Story? Authorship and Politics in Half of a Yellow Sun (2006) ... 137 3.3 Reinforcing Narrative Accountability: Cross-Cultural Reciprocity and Rebuilding the Nation-State in The Memory of Love (2010) .............................................................................................. 162 3.4 National Belonging and the Middle Class ................................................................................. 182 ii Chapter 4: Round and Round We Go Again: The Neoliberal Paradigm in Nuruddin Farah’s Past Imperfect Trilogy ............................................................................................................................................... 187 4.1 The 19th Century Imperial Adventure Novel and the Language of Liberal Reason ........... 190 4.2 The Liberal Paradigm in Nuruddin Farah’s Links (2003) ....................................................... 201 4.3 Subverting the Liberal Paradigm: Nationalism and Cosmpolitanism in Links (2003) ........ 209 4.3.1 Nationalism ............................................................................................................................ 212 4.3.2 Cosmopolitanism .................................................................................................................. 216 4.4 Who Pulls the Strings? The State and Individual Subjecthood in Knots (2007) ................... 221 4.5 Synthetic Ties and National Regeneration in Crossbones (2011) .............................................. 235 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................................... 248 Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................... 267 iii Acknowledgments A mixture of scholarly and personal relationships made this dissertation possible. I would like to thank, in particular, the faculty mentors, committee members, friends, and family who gave their time and support to this project. The support from my committee members has been invaluable in facilitating my development as a scholar. Joya Uraizee, thank you for your interest in the project. Your encouragement and suggestions, as a scholar of African literature, are truly appreciated. Ignacio Infante, your enthusiasm for the project in its very early stages at the Graduate Student Comparative Literature Symposium encouraged me to further pursue this line of inquiry. Nancy Berg, thank you for your unwavering confidence in my scholarly work and for modeling a type of mentorship I sincerely hope to emulate in relationships with my own students. Jean Allman, your pedagogical expertise has shaped my own approach to stimulating thought and debate in the classroom. Thank you for your kindness and generosity. Seth Graebner, your belief in holding my work to a high standard has pushed me to give my strongest effort to my writing. And, J. Dillon Brown, my principal supervisor, your guidance has motivated me to perform at my highest potential and move past moments of self-doubt. Your questions, always challenging and perceptive, helped me refine my thinking and clarify the larger goals of the dissertation. Thank you for your patience. Finally, I would like to thank my friends and family for their steadfast encouragement, understanding, and sense of humor throughout this process. To my Comparative Literature colleagues, thank you for providing honest and insightful comments in the early stages of the dissertation. To my parents, thank you for inspiring a love of books and learning. To my brother, Uday, thank you for providing a model of intellectual commitment and determination. And, to my iv husband, Jason, I would like to express my deepest, if inadequately articulated, gratitude for your unflagging support at every twist and turn of this Ph.D. Maya Ganapathy Washington University in St. Louis December 2014 v ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION A Liberal State of Mind: Formal Reconstructions of Statehood in the Contemporary Anglophone African Novel by Maya Ganapathy Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature Washington University in St. Louis, 2014 Professor J. Dillon Brown, Chair Professor Seth Graebner, Co-Chair While the idea of the nation and national identity is often taken as the starting point for examinations of the African state, this
Load more

Recommended publications
  • English Language and Literature (ENGL) 1 English Language and Literature (ENGL)
    English Language and Literature (ENGL) 1 English Language and Literature (ENGL) * ENGL 005b / AFAM 013b, Counterarchives: Black Historical Fictions Elleza Kelley While historical records have long been the source from which we draw our picture of the past, it is with literature and art that we attempt to speculatively work out that which falls between the cracks of conventional archival documentation, that which cannot be contained by historical record—emotion, gesture, the sensory, the sonic, the inner life, the aerlife, the neglected and erased. This course examines how contemporary black writers have imagined and attempted to represent black life from the late 17th to the early 20th centuries, asking what fiction can tell us about history. Reading these works as alternative archives, or “counterarchives,” which index the excess and fugitive material of black histories in the Americas, we probe the uses, limits, and revelations of historical fictions, from the experimental and realist novel, to works of poetry and drama. Drawing on the work of various interdisciplinary scholars, we use these historical fictions to explore and enter into urgent and ongoing conversations around black life & death, African-American history & memory, black aesthetics, and the problem of “The Archive.” Enrollment limited to first-year students. Preregistration required; see under First-Year Seminar Program. HU * ENGL 006a / AFAM 017a, Black Nature: African American Nature Writing Jonathan Howard What stories do we tell about nature? How are the stories we are able to tell about nature informed by race? And how do these stories shape our understanding of what it means to be human? In contrast to a largely white tradition of nature writing that assumes a superior position outside of Nature, this course undertakes a broad survey of African American nature writing.
    [Show full text]
  • Prizing African Literature: Awards and Cultural Value
    Prizing African Literature: Awards and Cultural Value Doseline Wanjiru Kiguru Dissertation presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Stellenbosch University Supervisors: Dr. Daniel Roux and Dr. Mathilda Slabbert Department of English Studies Stellenbosch University March 2016 i Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Declaration By submitting this thesis electronically, I declare that the entirety of the work contained herein is my own, original work, that I am the sole author thereof (save to the extent explicitly otherwise stated), that reproduction and publication thereof by Stellenbosch University will not infringe any third party rights and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it for obtaining any qualification. March 2016 Signature…………….………….. Copyright © 2016 Stellenbosch University All rights reserved ii Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Dedication To Dr. Mutuma Ruteere iii Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Abstract This study investigates the centrality of international literary awards in African literary production with an emphasis on the Caine Prize for African Writing (CP) and the Commonwealth Short Story Prize (CWSSP). It acknowledges that the production of cultural value in any kind of setting is not always just a social process, but it is also always politicised and leaning towards the prevailing social power. The prize-winning short stories are highly influenced or dependent on the material conditions of the stories’ production and consumption. The content is shaped by the prize, its requirements, rules, and regulations as well as the politics associated with the specific prize. As James English (2005) asserts, “[t]here is no evading the social and political freight of a global award at a time when global markets determine more and more the fate of local symbolic economies” (298).
    [Show full text]
  • Full Beacher
    THE TM 911 Franklin Street Weekly Newspaper Michigan City, IN 46360 Volume 37, Number 18 Thursday, May 13, 2021 A League of Her Own by William Halliar Betsy Jochum always bat at Playland Park follow- loved outdoor sports. ing three seasons at Bendix Born in Cincinnati on Feb. Field. Due to COVID-19, 8, 1921, and growing up with however, attendance at the a brother, she learned early ceremony is limited to en- how to swing a stick or bat sure proper pandemic safety to strike rocks or worn-out measures. leather ball, to run bases on America’s love affair with a sandlot with the best and baseball, especially the toughest boys. game’s origin, is shrouded On May 17, 1943, Jochum in some mystery, as befi ts was among 280 women who any good romance. Games showed up at Chicago’s Wrig- with balls struck by sticks ley Field for consideration were played for centuries in the new All-American in Great Britain, Ireland Girls Professional Baseball and across Europe. The League. She was one of the rules varied, but many such 60 original players chosen games included running be- that spring day. From there, tween or around bases. And, she headed to South Bend they were imported to our for a career that defi ned the shores with the waves of im- rest of her life. migrants in the early 19th Now 100, Jochum has century. played a role in a new per- New York in the early manent exhibit honoring the 1800s was a crowded, bus- AAGPBL at South Bend’s tling, dirty, but without a The History Museum, 808 doubt energetic city.
    [Show full text]
  • Ten Journeys to Cameron's Farm
    Ten Journeys to Cameron’s Farm An Australian Tragedy Ten Journeys to Cameron’s Farm An Australian Tragedy Cameron Hazlehurst Published by ANU Press The Australian National University Acton ACT 2601, Australia Email: [email protected] This title is also available online at http://press.anu.edu.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Author: Hazlehurst, Cameron, 1941- author. Title: Ten Journeys to Cameron’s Farm / Cameron Hazlehurst. ISBN: 9781925021004 (paperback) 9781925021011 (ebook) Subjects: Menzies, Robert, Sir, 1894-1978. Aircraft accidents--Australian Capital Territory--Canberra. World War, 1939-1945--Australia--History. Australia--Politics and government--1901-1945. Australia--Biography. Australia--History--1901-1945. Dewey Number: 320.994 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Cover design and layout by ANU Press Printed by Griffin Press © Flaxton Mill House Pty Ltd 2013 and 2015 Cover design and layout © 2013 ANU E Press Cover design and layout © 2015 ANU Press Contents Part 1 Prologue 13 August 1940 . ix 1 . Augury . 1 2 . Leadership, politics, and war . 3 Part 2 The Journeys 3 . A crew assembles: Charlie Crosdale and Jack Palmer . 29 4 . Second seat: Dick Wiesener . 53 5 . His father’s son: Bob Hitchcock . 71 6 . ‘A very sound pilot’?: Bob Hitchcock (II) . 99 7 . Passenger complement . 131 8 . The General: Brudenell White (I) . 139 9 . Call and recall: Brudenell White (II) . 161 10 . The Brigadier: Geoff Street . 187 11 .
    [Show full text]
  • La Biblioteca Di Hobbiville
    La Biblioteca di Hobbiville “Il fatto si è che, quando un oggetto d’amore esiste davvero, e cioè è amato, l’amore si esprime in tutte le forme, e la sua multiformità non è certo prova del suo “infantilismo” né è prova della “volgarità” del suo oggetto. Piuttosto non riesco a non pensare che chi respinge a priori tale multiformità (o multimedialità) lo faccia perché ha un concetto della letteratura angusto e depauperato, derivante da proprie - sventurate - esperienze scolastiche o professionali” (Franco Manni – “Introduzione a Tolkien”, Simonelli Editore, 2002 - Presentazione) Attraverso questa rubrica, la rivista si propone di fornire una bibliografia completa di tutte le opere pubblicate da Tolkien, ed una catalogazione di tutti gli scritti a lui dedicati. Siamo giunti al ventitreesimo numero (in circa 21 anni) di questa bibliografia. Nell’ultimo numero, senza particolare entusiasmo, mi sono occupato la catalogazione di testi e strumenti multimediali legati alla trasposizione audio/video delle opere di Tolkien o, comunque, riconducibili ai film di Peter Jackson, pubblicati, prodotti o distribuiti in Italia in lingua italiana. Con quell’ultimo numero ritengo di aver sufficientemente provveduto all’aggiornamento della bibliografia di e su Tolkien italiana. Ora ho deciso di cimentarmi all’aggiornamento, ampliamento e attualizzazione di una catalogazione da me iniziata nel lontano anno 2000, ovvero quella di tutte le pubblicazioni e/o fanzine (in formato cartaceo) di singoli, società, e/o gruppi ufficiali o più o meno amatoriali dediti principalmente (ma non solo in alcuni casi) allo studio ed all’approfondimento delle opere e della vita del nostro amato professore (o di quanto vi gravita nelle vicinanze) Per questo compito, molto impegnativo, mi sono avvalso delle stesse fonti delle quali mi sono avvalso per la precedente bibliografia delle opere di Tolkien, ovvero, in primis della mia esperienza e della mia personale collezione di opere su Tolkien, utilizzando comunque in larga misura il preziosissimo contributo di internet.
    [Show full text]
  • Download the Granta Book of the African Short Story Free Ebook
    THE GRANTA BOOK OF THE AFRICAN SHORT STORY DOWNLOAD FREE BOOK Helon Habila | 400 pages | 19 Aug 2015 | GRANTA BOOKS | 9781847083333 | English | London, United Kingdom The Granta Book of the African Short Story edited by Helon Habila – review This collection really wowed me. Some really amazing stories, some that felt a bit like exercises from a writing class, but all in all a good read and very The Granta Book of the African Short Story worth the time. She is planning to leave home and this turns the whole family dynamic upside down. The story takes place in the slums of Nairobi where a family tries to survive by living off the proceeds of the oldest daughter, Maisha, a prostitute. And I applied for May graduation today. This is true captivity. They are liberated, global and expansive. Rating details. Apr 07, Rosanne rated it really liked it. Afrocentrics and Africanstons of Africans. In his insightful introduction, editor and acclaimed novelist Helon Habila rightfully bemoans the way commentators talk about African literature as if it began and ended with Chinua Achebe 's Things Fall Apartpublished in The themes in some of the stories are heavy with patrioticism and nationalism especially those during the revolutions The Granta Book of the African Short Story while the newer stories mostly revolve about family and moral values. Some are really well written, others less so, but they all deal The content of Africa has inspired so many The Granta Book of the African Short Story novels and travel books that the short story genre has often been overlooked.
    [Show full text]
  • Ugandan Literature: the Questions of Identity, Voice and Context Christine Evain, Hilda Twongyeirwe, Mercy Mirembe Ntangaare, Spencer Hawkridge
    Ugandan Literature: the Questions of Identity, Voice and Context Christine Evain, Hilda Twongyeirwe, Mercy Mirembe Ntangaare, Spencer Hawkridge To cite this version: Christine Evain, Hilda Twongyeirwe, Mercy Mirembe Ntangaare, Spencer Hawkridge. Ugandan Lit- erature: the Questions of Identity, Voice and Context. International Journal of English and Cultural Studies, 2018, 1 (1), pp.46. 10.11114/ijecs.v1i1.3226. hal-01972425 HAL Id: hal-01972425 https://hal.univ-rennes2.fr/hal-01972425 Submitted on 15 Jan 2019 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. International Journal of English and Cultural Studies Vol. 1, No. 1; May 2018 ISSN 2575-811X E-ISSN 2575-8101 Published by Redfame Publishing URL: http://ijecs.redfame.com Ugandan Literature: the Questions of Identity, Voice and Context Christine Evain1, Hilda Twongyeirwe2, Mercy Mirembe Ntangaare3, Spencer Hawkridge1 1 Dpt. of Communication, Foreign Languages & Corporate Cultures, Centrale Nantes, France 2 Executive Director, Uganda Women Writers Association-FEMRITE. 3 Associate Professor of Drama,
    [Show full text]
  • Chinua Achebe and Ruy Duarte De Carvalho: a Comparative Study of Things Fall Apart and Vou Lá Visitar Pastores
    CHINUA ACHEBE AND RUY DUARTE DE CARVALHO: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THINGS FALL APART AND VOU LÁ VISITAR PASTORES GREGÓRIO DE JESUS TCHIKOLA DOCTORATE THESIS IN LANGUAGES, LITERATURES AND CULTURES, SPECIALIZATION IN LITERARY STUDIES NOVEMBER 2016 1 CHINUA ACHEBE AND RUY DUARTE DE CARVALHO: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THINGS FALL APART AND VOU LÁ VISITAR PASTORES GREGÓRIO DE JESUS TCHIKOLA DOCTORATE THESIS IN LANGUAGES, LITERATURES AND CULTURES, SPECIALIZATION IN LITERARY STUDIES NOVEMBER 2016 2 This Thesis is presented for the fulfilment of the necessary requirements to obtain the Doctorate Degree in Languages, Literatures and Cultures, Specialization in Literary Studies under the Academic Supervision of Professor Ana Maria Mão de Ferro Martinho Carver Gale. 3 DECLARAÇÕES Declaro que esta tese é o resultado da minha investigação pessoal e independente. O seu conteúdo é original e todas as fontes consultadas estão devidamente mencionadas no texto, nas notas e na bibliografia. O candidato, ____________________ Lisboa, .... de ............... de ............... Declaro que esta tese se encontra em condições de ser apreciada pelo júri a designar. O(A) orientador(a), ____________________ Lisboa, .... de ............... de .............. 4 Do not ignore the talk of the wise…, From them you will learn how to think, And the art of the timely answer (Ecclesiasticus 8, 8-12) 5 Abstract CHINUA ACHEBE AND RUY DUARTE DE CARVALHO: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THINGS FALL APART AND VOU LÁ VISITAR PASTORES The comparative study of African literatures in Portuguese and in English languages has not been the object of many research projects in Africa. My work is centred in this field of study and it aims at conducting a comparative analysis of the narratives produced by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe and Angolan author Ruy Duarte de Carvalho, observing the convergent and divergent aspects in aesthetics and ideology present in their works.
    [Show full text]
  • Portfolio Editor
    Portfolio Editor Editorships including co-editing NW15 (Granta/British Council) and Ten: New Poets (Bloodaxe). Guest-edited the Winter 2012 issue of Poetry Review, Britain’s leading poetry journal. Her issue, Offending Frequencies, featured more poets of colour than had ever previously been published in a single issue of the journal, as well as many female, radical, experimental and outspoken voices. Bernardine also co-edited a special issue of Wasafiri magazine in 2009: Black Britain: Beyond Definition, which celebrated and reevaluated the black writing scene in Britain; and she guest-edited the Autumn 2014 issue of Mslexia, Britain’s best-selling writing magazine. Supervising Editor of The Imagination Project, Brunel University London’s third student short story anthology, with student editors, March 2016. Supervising editor of The Psyche Supermarket, Brunel University London’s second student short story anthology, with student editors, March 2015. Guest Editor of Mslexia writing magazine, September 2014. Supervising editor of The Voices Inside Our Heads, Brunel University London’s first student short story anthology, with student editors, March 2014. Guest editor of Wasafiri: Issue 64, 2010, with Karen McCarthy Woolf. Guest Editor of Britain’s leading poetry magazine in its centenary year, Poetry Review: 101:4. Offending Frequencies. Winter 2012. Editor with Daljit Nagra of Ten poetry anthology, featuring ten new poets of colour. Bloodaxe Books, 2010. Co-editor with Maggie Gee of NW15: New Writing Vol 15, the annual British Council literature anthology. Granta, 2006. In the late 1990s I was editor of FrontSeat intercultural performance magazine published by the Black Theatre Forum, in the late 1980s I was a co-editor of Black Women Talk Poetry anthology.
    [Show full text]
  • Narrating the Diaspora Dissertation
    Narrating the Diaspora Transmigration and Socio-Cultural Imaginaries in 21st Century Nigerian Literature Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Philosophie an der Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz eingereicht von Maximilian FELDNER, MA am Institut für Anglistik Erstbegutachter: Ao. Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr.phil. Martin Löschnigg Zweitbegutachterin: Ao. Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr.phil. Maria Löschnigg 2017 Table of Contents Introduction 1 1. Contexts: The Nigerian Diaspora and its Literature 1.1. The New African Diaspora and the Novelists of the Nigerian Diaspora 13 1.2. Nigerian Diaspora Literature in the Context of African Literature and Cultural Nation Building 31 1.3. Nigerian Diaspora Literature and Postcolonialism 53 1.4. The Nigerian Diaspora on the Global Literary Marketplace 75 2. A Life Elsewhere: Stories of Migration and Rooted Hybridity 2.1. Leaving Nigeria: Stories of Migration and Transmigration 97 2.2. Exploring the Limitations of Afropolitanism in Taiye Selasi’s Ghana Must Go 115 2.3. Second Generation Nigerians in England: Helen Oyeyemi’s The Icarus Girl and the Negative Experience of Hybridity 131 2.4. The Concept of Transmigration in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah 147 3. News from Home: Literary Nation Building and Dystopian Representations of Nigeria 3.1. Returning to Nigeria: Teju Cole’s Every Day is for the Thief and Sefi Atta’s Everything Good Will Come 165 3.2. Biafra and Nigerian Identity Formation in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun 183 3.3. City of Stories: The Lagos Imaginary in Chris Abani’s GraceLand and Sefi Atta’s Swallow 205 3.4. The Prison of 1990s Nigeria: Helon Habila’s Waiting for an Angel 225 Conclusion 245 Bibliography 251 Introduction Over the first two decades of the twenty-first century an impressive body of work by Nigerian novelists has emerged.
    [Show full text]
  • Board of Trustees of the City University of New York
    Board of Trustees of The City University of New York RESOLUTION TO Award Maaza Mengiste with Early Tenure at Queens College with an Application of Bylaw 6.2.c(2) June 7, 2021 WHEREAS, Maaza Mengiste, MFA, is a published novelist who joined Queens College as a tenure track assistant professor of creative writing in 2015, following three years as a visiting assistant professor in our MFA program, as well as visiting positions at NYU, Princeton and Northwestern; and WHEREAS, When Professor Mengiste joined the Queens College faculty, she had already published a well-regarded first novel, Beneath the Lion’s Gaze, published by WW Norton, in 2010, and her second novel has won wide acclaim, including short listing for the Booker Prize; and WHEREAS, Based on her previous experience and her record of publications, Professor Mengiste was offered the possibility of early tenure consideration at the time of her tenure track hire, and her record since then has more than fulfilled that promise; and WHEREAS, Professor Mengiste teaches a wide range of literature and creative writing courses, from the introductory creative writing workshop to the MFA fiction workshop and while she was hired primarily to teach creative writing at the undergraduate and graduate levels in the department, her knowledge of African literature and history, partly stemming from the extensive research that she has done to support her fiction writing, also allowed Queens College to once again teach African literature on a regular basis; and WHEREAS, Since her hire at Queens College, Professor. Mengiste has published ten essays in journals and magazines, five essays in anthologies, and edited an anthology of fiction, Addis Ababa Noir.
    [Show full text]
  • New Pulp-Related Books and Periodicals Available from Michael Chomko for November 2007
    New pulp-related books and periodicals available from Michael Chomko for November 2007 My wife, Dianne, and I had a very pleasant vacation in Nova Scotia. We toured a good deal of the province’s sea coasts, caught a few Celtic music concerts, and spent a day in Halifax, visiting several of the city’s fine museums and historical sites. Upon returning, there were surgeries to perform and books to ship—the usual hectic schedule for this registered nurse and bookseller. Rich Harvey’s Pulp Adventurecon #7 was, as usual, very enjoyable. This one-day show in Bordentown, NJ is a great place to buy pulps, books, and what-have-you, as well as meet with folks of similar interests. If you live in the Mid-Atlantic States, I highly recommend attending. At the convention, Rich announced that he was going to add a spring show. Pulp Adventurecon #8 will be held on Saturday, March 29, 2008 in Bordentown, at the Ramada Inn, just off exit 7of the New Jersey Turnpike. Although I’ve never attended, I’ve heard good things said about Ray Walsh’s “Classicon.” The 32 nd annual show will be held on Saturday, November 17 at the University Quality Inn in Lansing, MI. For further information, visit http://www.curiousbooks.com/class.html The 51 st issue of The Bronze Gazette is now available, through subscription only, from editor Howard Wright. The highlight of the issue is a reprint of “Behind the Ball,” a Doc Savage story that originally appeared in the Street & Smith comic book.
    [Show full text]