Columbias guides to postwar African literature paint a unique portrait of thecontinents rich and diverse literary traditions. This volume examines therapid rise... » 

Columbias guides to postwar African literature paint a unique portrait of thecontinents rich and diverse literary traditions. This volume examines therapid rise and growth of modern literature in the three postcolonial nations ofZimbabwe Malawi and Zambia. It tracks the multiple political and economicpressures that have shaped Central African writing since the end of World WarII and reveals its authors heroic efforts to keep their literary traditionsalive in the face of extreme poverty and AIDS.Adrian Roscoe begins with a list of key political events. Since writers werecomposing within both colonial and postcolonial contexts he pays particularattention to the nature of British colonialism especially theories regardingits provenance and motivation. Roscoe discusses such historical figures asDavid Livingstone Cecil Rhodes and Sir Harry Johnston as well as modernpower players including Robert Mugabe Kenneth Kaunda and Kamuzu Banda. Healso addresses efforts to create a literaryhistorical record from an Africanperspective an account that challenges white historiographies in which thecolonized was neither agent nor informer.A comprehensive alphabetical guide profiles both established and emergingauthors and further illustrates issues raised in the introduction. Roscoe thenconcludes with a detailed bibliography recommending additional reading andsources. At the close of World War II the people of Central Africa foundthemselves mired in imperial fatigue and broken promises of freedom. Thisfueled a desire for liberation and a major surge in literary production and inthis illuminating guide Roscoe details the campaigns for social justice andpolitical integrity for education and economic empowerment and for genderequity participatory democracy rural development and environmental care thatcharacterized this exciting period of development. reviewing a previousedition or volume «