New literatures: Africa
Abstract
Some significant items from 2007 re noted here as they were unavailable for review in time for the previous volume. Tejumade Olaniyan and Ato Quayson, eds., African Literature: An anthology of Criticism and Theory, chronicles the evolution of African literature as 'a propelling force in the growth of more global studies such as postcolonial literary and cultural studies'. However, the editors lament that while the continent's literature has grown in volume and reputation in the past few decades, African literary criticism and theory have attained far more modest degrees of recognition and success, especially in Europe and North America, even though 'literary and critical production are not discrete entities but in a relationship both supportive and critical [and of] mutually affective intimacy'. The present volume is the first anthology of its kind, and its goal is 'to redress the glaring lack, construct an easily accessible "home" for the canonical statements of African literary criticism and theory, and thereby help foster a more vigorous discursive tradition'.
Publication Details
Abodunrin, F. & Simoes da Silva, A. J. 2010, 'New literatures: Africa', The Year's Work in English Studies, vol. 89, pp. 965-999.