The Companion to African Literatures - Hardcover

Killam, Douglas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0852555490 ISBN 13: 9780852555491

Publisher: James Currey Ltd, 2000

Synopsis

The Companion to African Literatures is a comprehensive guide to work written in English or widely available in translation from other languages.
Alphabetical format includes authors' biographical details and major publications; selected individual books; selected African languages with published literatures; wider themes: the links with literature in major African languages, Afro-American, Afro-British and Caribbean literature, religion, politics, war literature, women in literature, censorship; literary discourse, influences and movements; and special topic entries: apartheid, Maghrebi literature, Nigeria-Biafra war, publishing in sub-Sahara Africa, and writing systems.

About this title

About the Author

Douglas Killam was formerly Professor of Commonwealth Literature at the University of Guelf, Ontario, and previously taught at the Universities of Ibadan, Lagos, Dar es Salaam and Fourah Bay College. He was editor for twelve years of WLWE (World Literature Written in English) with the assistance of Ruth Rowe who is also an editor of this volume.

Review

The entries are knowledgeable, thorough and clearly written... Highly recommended. CHOICE ... synthesizing guides such as this are precious ... a stimulating volume to browse through, and a mine of information about all sorts of little-known aspects of the conditions of writing and publishing literary works in Africa. - Peter Hawkins in AFRICAN AFFAIRS What makes the Companion easy to use is the organising principle behind it: the editors have dispensed with the distraction of sections and sub-sections ... to produce a straightforward alphabetically organised list. - Diana Schwerdt in ASAAP With the Companion now a standard university reference book, students and scholars worldwide are better able to read between the headlines to understand topics ranging from censorship, prison literature in South Africa and the Nigeria-Biafra war to women in literature, oral tradition and folklore in Francophone-Anglophone literary relations. - Winning Research, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada ... a volume that Africanists should welcome and demand that their libraries stock, although most of us will also wish to have our own copies conveniently at hand. - J. Roger Kurtz in H-FRLITCINE Over 150 scholars from around the world have contributed to this encyclopedic new guide to African literatures. ... Its coherent layout and user-friendly categories make the book accessible to several communities of readers, ranging from students researching essay topics to specialists wishing to read up on particular issues. - Stephanie Newell in AFRICAN RESEARCH & DOCUMENTATION ...the work can be recommended as a quick reference source, as a knowledgeable literary signpost. One of the main strengths of the work is that the discussion is balanced, rather than ideological. Whether an expert or not, the reader is likely to find useful information and first-rate sources of African literature. In an era in which Africa has been marginalized, it certainly helps in its small way to dilute the gloom-and-doom perception of Africa. - Michael C. Mbabuike in AFRICAN STUDIES REVIEW

Edition details

• Publisher: James Currey Ltd
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0852555490
• ISBN 13: 9780852555491
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352