Nigeria''s Third-Generation Literature: Content and Form

This book considers the evolution and characteristics of Nigerias third-generation literature, which emerged between the late 1980s and the early 1990s and is marked by expressive modes and concerns distinctly different from those of the preceding era.

The creative writing of this period reflects new sensibilities and anxieties about Nigerias changing fortunes in the post-colonial era. The literature of the third generation is startling in its candidness, irreverence as well as the brutal self-disclosure of its characters, and it is governed by an unusually wide-ranging sweep in narrative techniques. This book examines six key texts of the oeuvre: Maria Ajimas The Web, Okey Ndibes Foreign Gods, Inc., Teju Coles Open City, Chika Unigwes On Black Sisters Street, Lola Shoneyins The Secret Lives of Baba Segis Wives, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichies The Thing Around Your Neck. The texts interpret contemporary corruption and other unspeakable social malaise; together, they point to the exciting future of Nigerian literature, which has always been defined by its daring creativity and inventive expressive modes. Even conventional storytelling strategies receive revitalizing energies in these angst-driven narratives.

This book will be of interest to students and researchers of contemporary African literature, Sociology, Gender and womens studies, and post-colonial cultural expression more broadly.

The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.