West African Literatures: Ways Of Reading (oxford Studies In Postcolonial Literature)

OXFORD STUDIES IN POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURES IN ENGLISH General Editor: Elleke Boehmer Oxford Studies in Postcolonial Literatures The Oxford Studies in Postcolonial Literatures aim to oVer stimulating and accessible introductions to deWnitive topics and key genres and regions within the rapidly diversifying Weld of postcolonial literary studies in English. Under the general editorship of Professor Elleke Boehmer, the Studies in each case elucidate and explicate the informing contexts of postcolonial texts, and plot the historical and cultural co-ordinates of writers and of the leading movements, institutions and cultural debates situated within those contexts. Individual volumes reXect in particular on the shaping eVect both of international theory and of local politics on postcolonial traditions often viewed as uniformly cross-cultural, and also on the inXuence of postcolonial writing on the protocols of international theory. Throughout the focus is on how texts formally engage with the legacies of imperial and antiimperial history. Other titles in the Series include The Indian Novel in English, Postcolonial Poetry in English, and Pacific Islands Writing. OXFORD STUDIES IN POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURES IN ENGLISH General Editor: Elleke Boehmer WEST AFRICAN LITERATURES Ways of Reading Stephanie Newell 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With oYces in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York ß Stephanie Newell 2006 The moral rights of the authors have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2006 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose the same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data available Typeset by SPI Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by Biddles Ltd., King’s Lynn ISBN 0-19-929887-4 978-0-929887-7 ISBN 0-19-927397-9 978-0-19-927397-3 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 A C K NOWL E DGE ME NT S I am indebted to Anna Kerr for her encouragement and advice when a case of ‘cold feet’ brought this project to a halt. Elleke Boehmer’s meticulous, astute comments on the Wrst draft contributed enormously to the Wnal shape of the book, and discussions with MA students in the ‘Representing Africa’ class of 2003–4 at