Theory of African Literature: Implications for Practical Criticism

Cover\nAbout the Author\nTitle Page\nCopyright\nDedication\nContents\nForeword by Biodun Jeyifo\nPreface\nIntroduction\n1. Ideological Formations in the Criticism of African Literature\n	Criticism, Ideology and Society: A Dialectical Overview\n	The Class Position of the Critic\n	Aspects of Bourgeois Criticism\n	Notes\n2. Traditionalism and the Quest for an African Literary Aesthetic\n	The Intellectual Climate\n	An African World View: Illusion or Reality?\n	Pitfalls of Traditionalist Aesthetics\n	Notes\n3. Marxism and African Literature\n	Marxist Aesthetics: An Open-ended Legacy\n	Politics and Ideology in African Literature\n	African Literature and the National Question\n	The Class Question: African Literature or Literature of the African People?\n	Beyond Orthodox Marxism: The Framework for a Post-Marxist Theory of African Literature and Culture\n	Notes\n4. A Dialectical Theory of African Literature: Categories and Springboards\n	Dialectics and Cultural Theory\n	Categories for a Dialectical Theory of African Literature\n	Springboards for a Dialectical Theory of African Literature and Culture\n	Notes\n5. Issues and Problems in African Literature: A Dialectical Revision\n	African Literature: Beyond Definition\n	African Literature and its Audience\n	The Language Question\n	Commitment and Alignment\n	Continuities from the Past\n	Aesthetics and Critical Values\n	The Limits of Literature\n	Implications for Practical Criticism\n	Notes\n6. History and the Dialectics of Narrative in the African Novel\n	Problems in the Sociology of the African Novel\n	The Materialism of Cultural Nationalism: Achebe\'s Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God\n	Proletarian Consciousness and the Anti-Colonial Struggle: Ousmane\'s God\'s Bits of Wood\n	Class Struggle and the Socialist Vision: Ngugi\'s Petals of Blood\n	Notes\n7. Drama and Revolution in Africa\n	Politics and Ideology in Contemporary African Drama: Theoretical Observations\n	Historical Reconstruction and Class Struggle in Anti-Imperialist Drama: The Trial of Dedan Kimathi and I Will Marry When I Want\n	Contemporary Contradictions and the Revolutionary Alternative: Once Upon Four Robbers and Morountodun\n	Notes\n8. Poetry and Liberation Politics in Africa\n	Poetry and Politics: The Dialectic of Commitment\n	The Poetic Essence of National Liberation: Agostinho Neto\'s Sacred Hope\n	Poetry as Political Polemic: Odia Ofeimun\'s The Poet Lied\n	Notes\n9. Beyond Decolonization\nSelect Bibliography\nIndex