Post-Colonialism and Mainstream Anglophone African Novel [ca.1970-2000]: A Comparative Approch
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Date
2008-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The production, mediation and critical reception of Modem African Literature was
bound with the Eurocentric framework until the emergence of the post-colonial theory
which fully crystallized in the 1980s. Since the appearance of The Empire Writes Back
(1989) which ushered in a typological revision of critical theory, however, dogmatic
universalism has been subverted in a bid for paradigm shift from a monolithic critical
theory to polyphonic canons.
All the more, the Orientalists' defiance of the Eurocentric standard of literatures has
triggered introspective indigenous authors to reclaim their history, language and
culture. Bearing such assumption in mind, this study was designed to determine tne
post-colonial trajectories as reflected in mainstream Anglophone African novel
(ca. 1970 -2000).
Structurally, the study is organized into four parts and eight chapters. In the Preliminary
chapters (1-3), an attempt has been made to shed light on the matrices of and the major
issues in the study of Modem African Literature together with the theoretical
framework. The Second Part, where the bulk of the work is concentrated, deals with a
contrapuntal reading of selected East, West and southern African post-colonial novels
in that order under three independent chapters (4-6).
The post-colonial obsessions such as tyranny, exile, resistance and representation,
endemic xenophobia, underdevelopment, economic dependency, rampant corruption
dominance of patriarchal ideology, ordeals of the intellectual and sycophancy of the
clergy have been captured vividly in the novels cited.
These malpractices are coupled with other variations of oppression like the race-class
metamorphosis, militarism, political atrophy and neo-colonialist patronage prevalent in
the referent countries. The contemporary works reflect the spirit of the generation of
'angry young men' who are critical of the status quo and determined to put the record
straight as aggressively as possible.
The perpetuation of such an anomalous phenomenon is primarily attributed to internal
colonization, the ineptitude of African demagogues and mass/intellectual resignation
rather than British colonialism per se. In spite of the gloom, however, the cosmic vision
of these novelists is one of optimism that heralds the probability of a conditional
change for the better, however, late.
The Third Part (Chapter Seven) dwells upon a comparative analysis of these novels
with a view to determining their thematic convergence and stylistic parallelism which
traverse nations and regions across mainstream Anglophone Africa. The comparative
approach, thus, reveals that all the novels in question except Disgrace (1999) invariably
partake thematic and stylistic intertextuality as an expression of political resistance and
cultural renaissance.
While the subject matter of Anglophone African Literature has commanded unanimity,
the question of decolorising its medium of expression still engenders emotive debates
between the adherents of appropriation and abrogation of English. After all, the
dominance of English-some times described chauvinistically as-The Chosen TongueMoore
(1969), has already impacted upon the African cultural productions.
Consequently Anglophone African novelists who grapple with the language politics
have ventured to decenter RS-EngJish in favor of 'english' which involves editorial
intrusions and deviations from the normative usage. Thus, one of the most outstanding
achievements of the Post-colonial dialogue with or an act of writing back to the
Imperial Center (Britain) is the empowerment of an alternative textual strategy without
recourse to the traditional prescriptive rules.
The Fourth Part, which draws upon its antecedents and recapitulates the findings of the
study, is followed by its implications for post-colonial African writers, curriculum
designers and Eurocentric literary critics. The major implications underpin the
maintenance of Aristotle's "Golden Mean" and avoidance of extremes, which is
believed to be compatible with the age ofmulti-culturalism and globalisation.
Thus, the third generation of Anglophone African novelists (ca. 1970 - 2000) has
evolved an eclectic approach to the criticism of Modern African Literature in order to
accommodate its peculiarities such as thematic 'parochialism' and cultural hybridity
due to the accidents of history
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Philosophy