Contemporary African Literature and the Politics of Gender

The influence of colonialism and race on the development of African literature has been the subject of a number of studies. The effect of patriarchy and gender however and indeed the contributions of African women have up until now been largely ignored by the critics. <strong>Contemporary African Literature and the Politics of Gender</strong> is the first extensive account of African literature from a feminist perspective.<br>In this first radical and exciting work Florence Stratton outlines the features of an emerging female tradition in African fiction. A chapter is dedicated to each to the works of four women writers: Grace Ogot Flora Nwapa Buchi Emecheta and Mariama Ba. In addition she provides challenging new readings of canonical male authors such as Chinua Achebe Ngugi wa Thiongo'o and Wole Soyinka. <em>Contemporary African Literature and the Politics of Gender</em> thus provides the first truly comprehensive definition of the current literary tradition in Africa.