Critical Perspectives On Nigerian Literatures

Nigeria is endowed with oral and written literatures in a variety of languages. This collection focuses on work in the three major vernacular languages - Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa - as well as on the important authors writing in English.

Distinguished scholars analyze the plays, poetry, and prose of Wole Smoyinka, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1986. Essays trace his career and place his work in the general context of African literature.

A collection of essays and reviews, both favourable and negative, about the Igbo poet. The book begins with a memorial essay by Chinua Achebe. Other contributors examine the imagery that Okigbo drew from nature, history and politics, exploring the surrealistic qualities of his work.

"Things fall Apart", is compared with Joyce Cary's "Mister Johnson". Achebe's novel is seen as a more realistic portrayal of the society and culture of indigenous people of Nigeria.

This compendium of 37 essays provides global perspectives of Achebe as an artist with a proper sense of history and an imaginative writer with an inviolable sense of cultural mission and political commitment.