Magical Realism in West African Fiction

This study contextualizes magical realism within current debates and theories of postcoloniality and examines the fiction of three of its West African pioneers: Syl Cheney-Coker of Sierra Leone Ben Okri of Nigeria and Kojo Laing of Ghana. Brenda Cooper explores the distinct elements of the genre in a West African context and in relation to:* a range of global expressions of magical realism from the work of Gabriel Garcia Marquez to that of Salman Rushdie* wider contemporary trends in African writing with particular attention to how the realism of authors such as Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka has been connected with nationalist agendas.This is a fascinating and important work for all those working on African literature magical realism or postcoloniality.