This book explores how modern Nigerian fiction is rooted in writers’ understanding of their identity and perception of Nigeria as a country and home. Surveying a broad range of authors and texts, the book shows how these fictionalized representations of Nigeria reveal authentic perceptions of Nigeria’s history and culture today. Many of the lessons in these works of literature provide cautionary tales and critiques of Nigeria, as well as an examination of the lasting impact of colonialism. Furthermore, the book presents the nation as both the framework and subject of its narrative. By conducting literary analyses of Nigerian fiction with historical reference points, this work demonstrates how Nigerian literature can convey profound themes and knowledge that resonates with audiences, teaching Nigerians and non-Nigerians about the colonial and postcolonial experience. The chapters cover topics on nationhood, women’s writing, postcolonial modernity, and Nigerian literature in the digital age.
Table of Content
1 Introduction: Nation as Fiction/Fictionalizing the Nation.-
PART I: COLONIAL PHASE.- 2 Literature and the colonized nation.- 3 Literary Founding Fathers and ideas of Nationhood.- 4 Women writers and the (Post)colony: (Writing) The Colony in Nigerian Women’s Works.-
PART II: POST-COLONIAL PHASE.- 5 Postcolonial Modernity and Literary Imagination.- 6 Contemporary Women Writers and the Representations of Postcolonial Nigeria.- 7 Literature and Nigeria in the Digital Age.-
PART III: CONCLUDING THOUGHTS.- 8 Shifts and Ambiguities: Unstable Literature or Unstable Nation?.
About the author
Toyin Falola is the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities and a Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, USA. He is a recipient of many distinguished awards, including 16 honorary doctorates.
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