Although postcolonial studies has explored the historical influences and connections among literatures throughout the world, it has considered African writing unique. By looking at African novels--written in both French and English--of the colonial and postcolonial periods, Claiming History places African literature in its proper context within this field. Eleni Coundouriotis shows how historical narration not only "answers back" to Europe's colonialist legacy, but also serves as a complex form of dissent among Africans themselves.Exploring subjects such as human sacrifice as portrayed...
Although postcolonial studies has explored the historical influences and connections among literatures throughout the world, it has considered African...
This study offers a literary history of the war novel in Africa. Coundouriotis argues that this genre, aimed more specifically at African readers than the continent's better-known bildungsroman tradition, nevertheless makes an important intervention in global understandings of human rights. The African war novel lies at the convergence of two sensibilities it encounters in European traditions: the naturalist aesthetic and the discourse of humanitarianism, whether in the form of sentimentalism or of human rights law. Both these sensibilities are present in culturally hybrid forms in the...
This study offers a literary history of the war novel in Africa. Coundouriotis argues that this genre, aimed more specifically at African readers than...