(view table of contents)

Product Description: 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...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: Born in 1913 in Martinique, Aim Csaire is acknowledged as one of the major poets of the twentieth century writing in French, and his celebrated long poem, Cahier dun retour au pays natal (Notebook of a return to the native land), is his best known work...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: Book by Irele, Abiola

Abiola Irele's collection of essays, first published in 1981, has established itself as a classic study of modern African literature, its oral traditions, and its cultural and social context. The first part of the book explores the issues of the uniqueness and universality of African literature and the question of language. Part Two focuses on francophone writing and the concept of 'Negritude' in relation to literature from both Africa and the Caribbean. Part Three consists of individual literary studies. Irele examines the poetry of Aime Cesaire and the work of his compatriots Rene Maran and Frantz Fanon. He discusses the development of the French African novel as well as the tradition and its place in the work of leading Yoruba writers, Fagunwa, Tutuola, and Soyinka. Included also is a rare study of Cheikh Hamidou Kane and an essay on Soyinka and the Nigerian crisis.