Narrating the New African Diaspora: 21st Century Nigerian Literature in Context

by Maximilian Feldner

Overview

This book provides the first comprehensive survey and collection of Nigerian diaspora literature, offering readings of novelists such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Sefi Atta, Helon Habila, Helen Oyeyemi, Taiye Selasi, Chika Unigwe, Chris Abani, and Ike Oguine. As members of the new African diaspora, their literature captures experiences of recent Nigerian migration to the United States and the United Kingdom. Examining representative novels, such as Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun and Americanah, Habila’s Waiting for an Angel, Abani’s GraceLand, and Oyeyemi’s The Icarus Girl, the book discusses these novels’ literary and narrative methods and provides detailed analyses of two of the most common themes: depictions of migratory experiences and representations of Nigeria. Placing the novels in their relevant historical, sociological, philosophical, and theoretical contexts, Narrating the New African Diaspora presents an insightful study of current anglophone Nigerian narrative literature.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030057435
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan
Publication date:	01/25/2019
Series:	African Histories and Modernities
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	726 KB

About the Author

Maximilian Feldner is Postdoctoral Researcher and Lecturer at the University of Graz, Austria.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction.- 2. Contexts: New African Diaspora, Nigerian Literature, and the Global Literary Market.- 3. Biafra and Nigerian Identity Formation in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun (2006).- 4. City of Stories: The Lagos Imaginary in Chris Abani’s GraceLand (2004) and Sefi Atta’s Swallow (2010).- 5.The Prison of 1990s Nigeria: Helon Habila’s Waiting for an Angel (2002).- 6. Leaving Nigeria: Ike Oguine, Sefi Atta, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.- 7. Exploring the Limitations of Afropolitanism in Taiye Selasi’s Ghana Must Go (2013).- 8. Second Generation Nigerians in England: Helen Oyeyemi’s The Icarus Girl (2005) and the Negative Experience of Hybridity.- 9. Returning to Nigeria: Teju Cole’s Every Day is for the Thief (2007) and Sefi Atta’s Everything Good Will Come (2008).- 10. Return Migration in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah (2013).-11. Conclusion.