This book explores how modern Nigerian fiction is rooted in writers’ understanding of their identity and perception of Nigeria as a country and home. Surveying a broad range of authors and texts, the book shows how these fictionalized representations of Nigeria reveal authentic perceptions of Nigeria’s history and culture today. Many of the lessons in these works of literature provide cautionary tales and critiques of Nigeria, as well as an examination of the lasting impact of colonialism. Furthermore, the book presents the nation as both the framework and subject of its narrative. By conducting literary analyses of Nigerian fiction with historical reference points, this work demonstrates how Nigerian literature can convey profound themes and knowledge that resonates with audiences, teaching Nigerians and non-Nigerians about the colonial and postcolonial experience. The chapters cover topics on nationhood, women’s writing, postcolonial modernity, and Nigerian literature in the digital age.
Author(s): Toyin Falola
Series: African Histories and Modernities
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 295
City: Cham
Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Book
Praise for Nigerian Literary Imagination and the Nationhood Project
Contents
About the Author
List of Figures
Chapter 1: The Nation as Fiction/Fictionalizing the Nation
Introduction
Part I: Colonial Phase
Chapter 2: Literature and the Colonized Nation
Introduction
Self Against the Other: Tutuola, Achebe, Soyinka, Others Against Colonialism
The Fate of Women in the Literature of the Colonized
Classics as Reflections of Nigerian Culture and a Counter-Discourse
Post-Independence Literature
Conclusion
Chapter 3: Literary Founding Fathers and Ideas of Nationhood
Introduction
Nationhood and Nationalism
Ethnic Nationality: The Threat to Nationhood
The Quest for Nationhood in Chinua Achebe’s Works
Violence in the Journey to Nationhood
National Character in the Writings of Nigerian Literary Founding Fathers
Conclusion
Chapter 4: Women Writers and the (Post)colony: (Writing) the Colony in Nigerian Women’s Literature
Introduction
Women’s Writing: Its Origin, Definition, and Periodization in Nigeria
Women Writers
The First Generation of Women’s Writers in Nigeria
The Representation of Postcolonial Nigeria in Women’s Writings
Androcentricism in the (Post)colony: Writing as the “Other” in the Post (Colony)
The (Post)colony as Slave to the Colonial Master: Suppressed and Castrated Male Figures
The (Post)colony and the Colonialists’ Religion: Religious and Cultural Domination
Rape as a Metaphor for the Possession and Colonization of the (Post)colony
The Empire and the Colony: Power Relations Between the Nation and Nigerian Women
The (Post)colony and Women’s Liberation Struggle
The Marginalization of the (Post)colony and the Female Child
Sexism and Gendered (Post)colony
The (Post)colony and Class Consciousness
In a Man’s World: Domination and Control of the Female Body in the Colony
Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in the (Post)colony
The Dissonance with Colonial Nigeria and Marginalization of Women in Politics
Living in a Hybrid Society: The Woman in the (Post)colony
The Politics of Gender, Culture, and Colonialism in the (Post)colony
Representation of the (Post)colony in Female Writers’ Thematic Preoccupation
Spatio-temporal Setting as Symbolization of Suppressed (Post)colony
Conclusion
Part II: Postcolonial Phase
Chapter 5: Postcolonial Modernity and Literary Imagination
Introduction
Themes and Motifs
The Empire Writes Back to the Center
Morality and Utilitarianism
Defense of African Culture
Spiritualism
Law and Justice
African Orality
The Empire Writes to Itself
Literary Imagination and Postcolonial Modernity
Conclusion
Chapter 6: Contemporary Women Writers and the Imagining of Postcolonial Nigeria
Introduction
Literary Periods/Generations
Contemporary Women Writers
Military Regimes and Repression
Religious Bigotry and Intolerance
A Country of Corrupt and Profligate Leaders
Sex and Sexual Liberty
The Crude Oil Era and Its Impacts
A State of Lawlessness and Criminality
A Failed Nation and Alienated Citizens
A Country of Terrorism
Feminists and Women’s Activism
The Civil War in Nigeria
Infant Country in Search of Growth and Identity
Social Realistic Portrayal of Nigeria
Spatial and Temporal Settings
Characterization as Metaphor
Conclusion
Chapter 7: Literature and Nigeria in the Digital Age
Introduction
Fan Fiction as a Digital Phenomenon in Nigeria
Literature on the Go: Social Media and Literary Blogs
Themes and Topical Issues in the Literature of Nigerian Digital Platforms
Orality Reincarnated
Emojis: Metaphors Redefining the Digital Age
Conclusion
Part III: Concluding Thoughts
Chapter 8: Shifts and Ambiguities: Unstable Literature or Unstable Nation?
Introduction
Bibliography
Index
