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Fertile Crossings
Metamorphoses of Genre in Anglophone West African Literature
Series: - Cross/Cultures, Volume: 53
Author:
In retracing some of the routes followed by West African literature in English over the course of the last three decades, this book employs an original multidimensional approach whereby the three main genres - narrative, poetry and drama â are considered in the light of their intricate web of fecund rapport and mutual influence.
Authors such as Tutuola, Armah, Aidoo and Awoonor translated the fluid structures of orality into written prose, and consequently infused their works with poetic and dramatic resonance, thereby challenging the canonical dominance of social realism and paving the way for the birth of West African magical realism in Laing, Okri and Cheney-Coker.
Starting in the 1970s, poetry on stage has become a mainstream genre in Ghana, thanks to performances by Okai, Anyidoho and Acquah.
Boundaries between literary theatre and other genres have undergone a similar dissolution in the affirmation of the concept of âtotal artâ from Efua Sutherland to ben Abdallah, Osofisan and others.
Fertile Crossings offers a study of these topics from various viewpoints, blending in-depth textual analysis with reflections on the political import of the works in question within the context of the present state of African societies, all supported by interviews with most of the authors.
Authors such as Tutuola, Armah, Aidoo and Awoonor translated the fluid structures of orality into written prose, and consequently infused their works with poetic and dramatic resonance, thereby challenging the canonical dominance of social realism and paving the way for the birth of West African magical realism in Laing, Okri and Cheney-Coker.
Starting in the 1970s, poetry on stage has become a mainstream genre in Ghana, thanks to performances by Okai, Anyidoho and Acquah.
Boundaries between literary theatre and other genres have undergone a similar dissolution in the affirmation of the concept of âtotal artâ from Efua Sutherland to ben Abdallah, Osofisan and others.
Fertile Crossings offers a study of these topics from various viewpoints, blending in-depth textual analysis with reflections on the political import of the works in question within the context of the present state of African societies, all supported by interviews with most of the authors.
âThe book is a true celebration of the subject ⦠an essential resourceâ¦â in: Research Review NS 20.1 (2004) 57-59
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Metamorphoses of Genre
PROSE: THE POETICIZED NOVEL
1 Orality and the Novels of the First Generations
2 The Rise of West African Magical Realism
3 Beyond Magical Realism
POETRY: BETWEEN PAGE AND STAGE
4 Individual Voices
5 Orality and Performance
DRAMA: FROM A DIFFERENT DIMENSION
6 The Paths of the Pioneers
7 Mohammed ben Abdallahâs Search for an African Theatre
CONCLUSION: HOLISTIC PERSPECTIVES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Introduction: Metamorphoses of Genre
PROSE: THE POETICIZED NOVEL
1 Orality and the Novels of the First Generations
2 The Rise of West African Magical Realism
3 Beyond Magical Realism
POETRY: BETWEEN PAGE AND STAGE
4 Individual Voices
5 Orality and Performance
DRAMA: FROM A DIFFERENT DIMENSION
6 The Paths of the Pioneers
7 Mohammed ben Abdallahâs Search for an African Theatre
CONCLUSION: HOLISTIC PERSPECTIVES
BIBLIOGRAPHY