Under African Skies: Modern African Stories - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374211787 ISBN 13: 9780374211783

Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1997

Synopsis

Stories from a number of African nations, including Nigeria, South Africa, and Senegal, are presented here, along with biographical information on the writers and textual notes by Chinua Achebe, Camara Laye, Bessie Head, Ousmane Sembene, and other notable authors.

About this title

Reviews

An overview of contemporary writing from Africa, drawing together 27 stories produced over the past three decades. Editor Larson offers a judicious mix of familiar figures (Amos Tutuola, Sembene Ousmane, Chinua Achebe, and Ben Okri) and less well known writers, among them Lu¡s Bernardo Honwana (``Papa, Snake & I'') from Mozambique, VŠronique Tadjo (``The Magician and the Girl'') from the Ivory Coast, Tijan Sallah (``Innocent Terror'') from Nigeria, and Mandla Langa (``A Gathering of Bald Men'') from South Africa. A deeply moving (and prophetic) short story by activist Ken Saro-Wiwa (``Africa Kills Her Sun''), who was executed in 1995 by the Nigerian government, reminds us how deadly dangerous the pursuit of literature can be. Clear themes emerge here: the terrible struggle to preserve tradition, the conflicting pull of Western and African beliefs, the awful disruptions still visited on Africa by the West. These are expressed in a variety of forms, with stories ranging from straightforward realism to soaring blends of traditional storytelling and magic realism. Larson's biographical notes on the writers are terse and useful. A necessary volume for anyone seeking an introduction to modern African literature. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Books are luxury items in Africa, Larson points out in his introduction to this landmark contemporary anthology, the first such collection since Achebe and Innes' African Short Stories (1985). Many black writers have had to fight not only censorship and exile but also a high illiteracy rate and a limited audience at home. Yet these 27 stories, spanning 50 years across the continent, show an astonishing range, from forms rooted in the oral tradition to postcolonial and postapartheid fiction. The famous writers are here, including Achebe, Ousmane, and Mattera, and there are also strong new voices, several of them women. Five stories are from South Africa, including an uproarious spoof of the nouveau riche in Johannesburg. Most are grim. A moving 1989 story, "Africa Kills Her Sun," by the Nigerian writer Ken Saro-Wiwa, reads like a foreshadowing of his own execution in 1995. The poem "Telephone Conversation" by Wole Soyinka about discrimination in housing travels very well. Hazel Rochman

Editor Larson continues his work on modern African literature (e.g., The Emergence of African Fiction, 1972) with this impressive collection of short stories from sub-Saharan Africa. Published between 1952 and 1996, some translated from French, Portuguese, and Arabic, these stories share a common outrage against Africa's decay, whether from oppressive colonialism and corruption or the repression of tradition and ignorance. These are not folk tales about great chiefs but heart-rending stories about ordinary people?maids, insurance salesmen, fathers, and mothers?trying to make a life for their families, caught up in the political and spiritual struggle for Africa. Larson accompanies each story with a brief biographical sketch of the authors, many of whom have experienced exile, imprisonment, and execution because of their writing. An excellent introduction to African literature and an important complement to any African American collection. Highly recommended for all libraries.?Ellen Flexman, Indianapolis-Marion Cty. P.L., Ind.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0374211787
• ISBN 13: 9780374211783
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 315
• Editor: Larson Charles R.