African Heritage Press – förlag

Undaunted by hardship, a determined widow, Uridiya, arranges a wife of her choice for her western- educated only son. Little does she know that her son, Jamike, had fallen in love and married a foreigner against her wishes and the expectations of his village. In a show of love, loyalty and commitment he rejects the arranged wife to the disappointment of his mother and the community. Can his defiance succeed against all odds? Set in an Igbo village in Eastern Nigeria from the late 1950?s to early 1970?s and in the United States in the early 1970?s, the author sympathetically handles the powerlessness of the widow in rural African societies and addresses with candor and sensitivity the problems of race, human sexuality, cultural disengagement and the role of love in blurring the ?color line.? Born in Imo State Nigeria, Ben Igwe was educated in Nigerian and American Universities. He holds a Ph.D. in Library and Information Science from the University of Maryland at College Park. He has taught in Universities in Nigeria and the United States. He is currently Chief of the division of Philosophy, Psychology and Religion in the District of Columbia Public Library in Washington, D.C. He lives with his family in Adelphi, Maryland.

Remembering a Legend: Chinua Achebe recaptures for the literary world the inimitable legacies of Chinua Achebe (1930-2013), Africa�s leading novelist and literary philosopher of the 20th century. It addresses the questions of Achebe�s role in establishing the African art of the novel, his theories and standards for the criticism of African writing. The volume articulates unequivocally how Achebe provided the message and pioneered a confident voice to African writers to express the message with audacity; repudiate without equivocation, any form of distortions of African past and present realities. The essays remind the reader how Achebe brought to the field of world literature new perspectives and vitality that distinguished the African art of storytelling from imaginative creativities elsewhere. This volume presents Achebe�s articulation of the traditional and modern in African narrative techniques�linking the skills of the traditional artist (oral performer) to those of the modern writer; how the modern African creative artist can embellish his/her art with oral resources such as folktales, proverbs, sayings, festivals, songs, riddles, and myths. Chinua Achebe�s unique distinctions as a novelist lie in the areas of informed vision and artistic integrity. His greatest legacy to 20th century world literature probably is his pioneer role in the �nativization� and ingenious use of the English language. The exceptional genius of Achebe touched many traditional and cultural bases in his fiction, essays, and memoirs. The critical responses to Achebe�s works in this book, address adequately almost every aspect of his creative imagination and craftsmanship. The reader will find in this convenient volume several seminal studies by two eminent scholars of Achebe�s intriguing genius that authenticate him as among the best literary craftsmen of the 20th century and undeniably Africa�s best.

Mary Lederer provides a valuable critical/historical survey of the genesis and development of the English novel in Botswana. This book comes as a timely correction of the notion that Botswana has no sustained fiction written in English, thus filling a gap that has existed for a long time in the literature of that country.