What characterizes the relationship between literature and the state? Should literature serve the needs of the state by constructing national consciousness, espousing state propaganda, and molding good citizens? Or should it be dedicated to a different kind of creative social endeavor? In this important book about literature and the politics of nation-building, Dominic Thomas assesses the contributions of Francophone African writers whose works have played a key role in the recent transition to democracy in the Congo. Exploring the works of Sony Labou Tansi, Henri Lopes, and Emmanuel Dongala, among others, Thomas highlights writers intimately involved with government and politics -- whether in support of the state's vision or with the intention of articulating a more open view of citizens and society. Focusing on themes such as collaboration, reconciliation, identity, history, and memory, Nation-Building, Propaganda, and Literature in Francophone Africa elaborates a broader understanding of the circumstances of African colonization, modern African nation-state formation, and the complex cultural dynamics at work in Africa since independence.

The linguistically innovative aspect of Francophone African literature has been recognized and studied from a variety of angles over recent decades, yet little attention has been paid to what happens to such literature when it is translated into another language. Taking as its corpus all sub-Saharan Francophone African texts that have ever been published in English, this book explores the ways in which translators approach innovative features such as African-language borrowings, neologisms and other deliberate manipulations of French, depictions of sociolinguistic variation, and a variety of types of wordplay. The implications of their translation decisions are drawn out with reference to the broader significances that are often accorded to postcolonial literature, and earlier critics' calls for a decolonized translation practice are explored from both a practical and theoretical angle. These findings are used to push towards a detailed investigation of the postcolonial turn in translation studies, drawing on the work of key postcolonial theorists such has Homi K. Bhabha and Gayatri Spivak. This is a timely and incisive critical assessment of contemporary discourses on the ethics and politics of translation.

By looking at engagée literature from the recent past, when the francophone African writer was implicitly seen as imparted with a mission, to the present, when such authors usually aspire to be acknowledged primarily for their work as writers, Contemporary Francophone African Writers and the Burden of Commitment addresses the currrent processes of canonization in contemporary francophone African literature. Odile Cazenave and Patricia Célérier argue that aesthetic as well as political issues are now at the forefront of debates about the African literary canon, as writers and critics increasingly acknowledge the ideology of form. Working across genres but focusing on the novel, the authors take up the question of renewed forms of commitment in this literature. Their selected writers range from Mongo Beti, Ousmane Sembène, and Aminata Sow Fall to Boubacar Boris Diop, Véronique Tadjo, Alain Mabanckou, and Léonora Miano, among others.

Africa's strong tradition of storytelling has long been an expression of an oral narrative culture. African writers such as Amos Tutuola, Naguib Mahfouz, Wole Soyinka and J. M. Coetzee have adapted these older forms to develop and enhance the genre of the novel, in a shift from the oral mode to print. Comprehensive in scope, these new essays cover the fiction in the European languages from North Africa and Africa south of the Sahara, as well as in Arabic. They highlight the themes and styles of the African novel through an examination of the works that have either attained canonical status - an entire chapter is devoted to the work of Chinua Achebe - or can be expected to do so. Including a guide to further reading and a chronology, this is the ideal starting-point for students of African and world literatures.

Although the past two decades have seen a wide recognition of the notable fiction written in French by African women, little attention has been given to their equally significant poetry. A Rain of Words is the first comprehensive attempt to survey the poetic production of these women, collecting work by forty-seven poets from a dozen francophone African countries. Some are established writers; others are only beginning to publish their work. Almost none of the poems here have been published outside of Africa or Europe or been previously translated into English. The poems are accompanied by brief biographies of the poets. Supplementing these are a critical introductory essay by Irène Assiba d'Almeida that places women's poetry in the context of recent African history, characterizes its thematic and aesthetic features, and traces the process by which the anthology was compiled and edited, an essay by Janis A. Mayes discussing language politics, the cultural contexts within which the poetry emerges, and literary translation strategies, and an extensive bibliography. This landmark bilingual collection--the result of ten years of research, collection, editing, and translation--offers readers of English and French entry into a flourishing and essential genre of contemporary African literature.

"A very important contribution to the field by an African scholar with a thorough, empathetic command of the field of African feminine writing in French."--Christiane Makward, Penn State University "A work of quality. . . . This first major study of fiction and nonfiction prose by Francophone African women is a significant work of criticism in the study of African literature."--Maxine Montgomery, Florida State University French-speaking African women traditionally expressed their creativity through oral storytelling. Previously silent in print, today they also speak through the written word, and their stories constitute one of the most significant recent developments in African literature. Ir�ne Assiba d'Almeida dates this emerging phenomenon to 1969, the year Kuoh-Moukouri's Rencontres essentielles was published. A few more books by women were published in the '70s, followed by a creative explosion in the '80 that d'Almeida describes as a militant feminist appropriation of the written word. D'Almeida's book, the first single-author critical study in English of literary expression by Francophone African women, examines novels and autobiographies by nine new and established writers, all published since 1975. She finds that writing has liberated Francophone African women. They use it to critique the patriarchal order, to champion the cause of women and the community, and to preserve positive aspects of tradition. D'Almeida divides her analysis into sections on three aspects of literary production. The first deals with autobiography and begins with A Dakar Childhood, by Nafissatou Diallo, the first Francophone African woman to write her own life history. The section also examines The Abandoned Baobab, by Ken Bugul, a book that broke sexual taboos, and My Country, Africa, by Andr�e Blouin. The second section looks at women and the family, including problems related to "compulsory" motherhood. It discusses Your Name Will Be Tanga, by Calixthe Beyala, Cries and Fury of Women, by Ang�le Rawiri (both published only in French), and Scarlet Song, by Mariama B�. The third section, "W/Riting Change: Women as Social Critics," discusses the ways female novelists link problems that affect women's lives to those affecting society at large. It examines works in French by Werewere Liking, Aminata Sow Fall, and V�ronique Tadjo. Ir�ne Assiba d'Almeida is associate professor of French and a member of the comparative literature and the women's studies faculties at the University of Arizona in Tucson. She was born in Dakar, Senegal, and grew up in Benin, West Africa. She has academic degrees from three continents (Africa, Europe, and North America) and is the author of articles on African literature, of literary translations, and of published poetry.

Originally from the Côte d'Ivoire, Ahmadou Kourouma spent much of his life working in the insurance industry and living in France and in political exile elsewhere in Africa before returning to Abidjan in 1993. His earlier novels are The Suns of Independence and Monnew. Carrol F. Coates is Professor of French and Comparative Literature at Binghamton University-SUNY and has translated numerous books, including Jacques Stephen Alexis's General Sun, My Brother (Virginia).

"Situating literature and anthropology in mutual interrogation, Miller's...book actually performs what so many of us only call for. Nowhere have all the crucial issues been brought together with the sort of critical sophistication it displays."—Henry Louis Gates, Jr. ". . . a superb cross-disciplinary analysis."—Y. Mudimbe

Two’s company... five is definitely a crowd! The Polygamist weaves a tale of four women whose lives become intertwined when they all fall for a wealthy banking magnate Jonasi Gomora. Seemingly indomitable, and oozing money, power and sex appeal, Jonasi is about to complicate all their lives forever. Joyce is pampered wife number one who lives in the lap of luxury. She believes she has the perfect marriage until Matipa rears her coiffed head. Matipa is the glamorous mistress every married woman hates. Her driving ambition is to usurp Joyce’s role as Jonasi’s lover and wife. Essie is Jonasi’s best-kept secret — the second wife no one knows about. She cared for Jonasi long before he became the man he is, and plays the role of second fiddle knowing he’ll always come back to her. Lindani’s main goal in life is to upgrade from girlfriend to wife. When she meets Jonasi, she thinks all her problems have been answered, not knowing they have only just begun... Take a journey with these four women and get caught up in the explosive havoc of marriage to a multitude!