Magical realism in West African fiction

Description

This study contextualizes magical realism within current debates and theories of postcoloniality and examines the fiction of three of its West African pioneers: Syl Cheney-Coker of Sierra Leone, Ben Okri of Nigeria and Kojo Laing of Ghana. Brenda Cooper explores the distinct elements of the genre in a West African context, and in relation to: * a range of global expressions of magical realism, from the work of Gabriel Garcia Marquez to that of Salman Rushdie * wider contemporary trends in African writing, with particular attention to how the realism of authors such as Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka has been connected with nationalist agendas. This is a fascinating and important work for all those working on African literature, magical realism, or postcoloniality.

First Sentence

But there is also a third space of another kind, a theoretical position that might be called a 'reconstituted Marxism'; a middle ground, between Marxism and post-modernist theory.

Subjects

Series Statement

• Routledge research in postcolonial literatures ;

Other Editions

• Magical realism in West African fiction: seeing with a third eyeRoutledge1998-01-01
• Magical Realism in West African FictionElectronic resourceTaylor & Francis Group Plc2004-01-01
• Magical Realism in West African FictionPaperbackRoutledge2004-05-07