The Columbia Guide to East African Literature in English Since 1945

Simon Gikandi; Evan Mwangi

Published by Columbia University Press 2007

The Columbia Guide to East African Literature in English Since 1945

Simon Gikandi and Evan Mwangi

In the series The Columbia Guides to Literature Since 1945

https://doi.org/10.7312/gika12520

Overview
Contents

About this book

The Columbia Guide to East African Literature in English Since 1945 challenges the conventional belief that the English-language literary traditions of East Africa are restricted to the former British colonies of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. Instead, these traditions stretch far into such neighboring countries as Somalia and Ethiopia.

Simon Gikandi and Evan Mwangi assemble a truly inclusive list of major writers and trends. They begin with a chronology of key historical events and an overview of the emergence and transformation of literary culture in the region. Then they provide an alphabetical list of major writers and brief descriptions of their concerns and achievements.

Some of the writers discussed include the Kenyan novelists Grace Ogot and Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Ugandan poet and essayist Taban Lo Liyong, Ethiopian playwright and poet Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin, Tanzanian novelist and diplomat Peter Palangyo, Ethiopian novelist Berhane Mariam Sahle-Sellassie, and the novelist M. G. Vassanji, who portrays the Indian diaspora in Africa, Europe, and North America.

Separate entries within this list describe thematic concerns, such as colonialism, decolonization, the black aesthetic, and the language question; the growth of genres like autobiography and popular literature; important movements like cultural nationalism and feminism; and the impact of major forces such as AIDS/HIV, Christian missions, and urbanization.

Comprehensive and richly detailed, this guide offers a fresh perspective on the role of East Africa in the development of African and world literature in English and a new understanding of the historical, cultural, and geopolitical boundaries of the region.

Author / Editor information

Simon Gikandi is professor of English at Princeton University. His major fields of research and teaching are the Anglophone literatures and cultures of Africa, India, the Caribbean, and postcolonial Britian, the "Black" Atlantic, and the African diaspora. He is the author of numerous books, including Writing in Limbo: Modernism and Caribbean Literature, Maps of Englishness: Writing Identity in the Culture of Colonialism, and Ngugi wa Thiong'o, which was chosen as a Choice Outstanding Academic Publication. He is also the coeditor of The Cambridge History of African and Caribbean Literature and the editor of the Routledge Encyclopedia of African Literature.Evan Mwangi is assistant professor of English specializing in twentieth-century Anglophone African literature at Northwestern University. Previously, he has taught at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, and Ohio University, and his published works cover different areas of African oral narrative, theater, poetry, and fiction.

Reviews

Valentine K. Muyumba:
Should be included in the reference collection of all institutes of higher education... A must for serious researchers.

Christine Matzke, Humboldt-Universitat Zu Berlin:
A welcome addition to the study of anglophone African literature and should not be missing from African Studies and Literature Libraries.

This guide offers valuable information... Recommended.

James Ogude:
An invaluable resource for literary research and scholarship on East Africa.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Preface Simon Gikandi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xi
Chronology of Major Political Events Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xiii
Introduction: East African Literature in English from 1945 to the Present Simon Gikandi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Authors and Topics A–Z
A – L Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
M – P Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	102
R – Z Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	152
Selected Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	179
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183

Language: English
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 224

eBook

Published: April 24, 2007
ISBN: 9780231500647