This anthology of essays brings together original critical comments on Nigerian literatures written in the 1970s and 1980s. It is a celebration of Nigeria's contribution to the world's heritage of letters. The twenty-three essays in it explore the fundamental role of the intelligentsia in defining and describing the nation state in space and time. The contributions represent some of the best and most articulate assessments of Nigeria's literary discourses in their pre-colonial and colonial phases. The various ideological reflections in the essays reveal significant details about the...

This is a study of the principal aspects of the Udje tradition poetry, dance and music of the Udu and Aghievwen divisions of the Urhobo of Delta State, Nigeria. It defines the territorial scope of the study, surveys Udu and Ughievwen social history, and situates Udje within the context of the Urhobo song-poetry tradition; reviews the theoretical perspectives on the practice of satire in the Udje dance-songs, and considers the conceptual views of some Udje practitioners of Udje, both as a literary art and as a medium for social reform; and attempts to classify and describe Udje songs. The...