2 - Rulers against Writers, Writers against Rulers: The Failed Promise of the Public Sphere in Postcolonial Nigerian Fiction
Corresponding Author(s) : Ayo Kehinde
Africa Development,
Vol. 35 No. 1-2 (2010): Africa Development: Special Issue on Language, Literature and Power in the Public Sphere
Abstract
Various literary critics have dwelt on the nature, tenets and trends of commitment in Nigeria literature. However, there is paucity of scholarly studies on the representations of the failed promise to the public sphere in postcolonial Nigerian fiction. This paper, therefore, examines the strat- egies and technicalities of representing the castrated hope of the public sphere in postcolonial Nigerian fiction, using the templates provided by Chinua Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah, Ben Okri’s The Fam- ished Road and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus. The methodology involves a close reading of the selected texts, using Jürgen Habermas’s concept of the Public Sphere as the theoretical framework. The paper reveals that the context of the texts (Nigeria) lacks the public sphere, which is supposed to provide a liminal space between the pri- vate realm of civil society and the family, as well as the sphere of public authority. This is disclosed in the refusal of the characters to disregard ‘status altogether’ (Habermas 1991:36).
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- Achebe, C., 1984, The Trouble with Nigeria, London: Heinemann.
- Achebe, C., 1987, Anthills of the Savannah, London: Heinemann.
- Adichie, C., 2003, Purple Hibiscus, Lagos: Farafina.
- Cooper, B., 1988, Magical Realism in West African Fiction: Seeing with a Third Eye, New York: Routledge.
- Davidson, B., 1992, The Black Man’s Burden: Africa and the Course of the Nation State, New York: Times Books.
- Fanon, F., 1968, The Wretched of the Earth, Translated by Constance Farrington, New York: Grove Press.
- Frazer, N., 1992, ‘Rethinking the Public Sphere: A Contribution to the Critique of Actually Existing Democracy’, in Habermas and the Public Sphere, Craig Calhoun, ed., Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Frye, N., 1944-45, ‘The Nature of Satire’, University of Toronto Quarterly. XIV, 79- 80.
- Glover, B., 2004, ‘The Public Sphere and Formal Nostalgia, 1709-1785’, PhD Dissertation, University of Virginia.
- Habermas, J., 1991, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society, Translated by Thomas Burger and Frederick Lawrence, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- JanMohamed, A., 1983, Manichean Aesthetics, Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.
- Liman, A., 1977, ‘Postcolonial Discourse: The Case of Ben Okri’s Famished Road’, Currents in African Literature and the English Language, Volume 1, Number 1, 63-79.
- Mabura, L., 2008, ‘Breaking Gods: An African Postcolonial Gothic Reading of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus and Half a Yellow Sun’, Research in African Literatures, 39 (1), Spring, 203-222.
- Mazrui, A., 2005, ‘The Re-invention of Africa: Edward Said, Y.Y. Mudimbe and Beyond’, Research in African Literatures, 36 (3), Fall, 68-82.
- Ngara, E., 1990, ‘Achebe as Artist: The Place and Significance of Anthills of the Savannah’, Kunapipi, 12 (2), 113-129.
- Nkrumah, K., 1964, Conscienticism, London: Heinemann.
- Ogunsanwo, O., 1995, ‘Intertextuality and Post-Colonial Literature in Ben Okri’s The Famished Road’, Research in African Literatures, 26 (1), 40-52.
- Ojinma, U., 1991, Chinua Achebe: New Perspectives, Ibadan: Spectrum.
- Okri, B., 1991, The Famished Road, London: Jonathan Cape.
- Osundare, N., 2007, The Writer as a Righter, Ibadan: Hope Publications. Rutherford, P., 2000, Endless Propaganda: The Advertising of Public Goods, Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
- Sofola, Z., 1988, ‘African Society and the Concept of Freedom’, Okike, 27/28, 74-87.
- Szeman, I., 1998, ‘On National Cultures: Literary Politics in Canada, the Caribbean and Nigeria, 1952-1970’, Doctoral Thesis, Duke University.
- Williams, A., 1996, ‘Literature in the Time of Tyranny: African Writers and the Crisis of Governance’, Third World Quarterly, 17 (2), 349-362.
- Young, C., 2004, ‘The End of the Post-colonial State in Africa? Reflections on Changing African Political Dynamics’, African Affairs, 103, 23-49.
References
Achebe, C., 1984, The Trouble with Nigeria, London: Heinemann.
Achebe, C., 1987, Anthills of the Savannah, London: Heinemann.
Adichie, C., 2003, Purple Hibiscus, Lagos: Farafina.
Cooper, B., 1988, Magical Realism in West African Fiction: Seeing with a Third Eye, New York: Routledge.
Davidson, B., 1992, The Black Man’s Burden: Africa and the Course of the Nation State, New York: Times Books.
Fanon, F., 1968, The Wretched of the Earth, Translated by Constance Farrington, New York: Grove Press.
Frazer, N., 1992, ‘Rethinking the Public Sphere: A Contribution to the Critique of Actually Existing Democracy’, in Habermas and the Public Sphere, Craig Calhoun, ed., Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Frye, N., 1944-45, ‘The Nature of Satire’, University of Toronto Quarterly. XIV, 79- 80.
Glover, B., 2004, ‘The Public Sphere and Formal Nostalgia, 1709-1785’, PhD Dissertation, University of Virginia.
Habermas, J., 1991, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society, Translated by Thomas Burger and Frederick Lawrence, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
JanMohamed, A., 1983, Manichean Aesthetics, Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.
Liman, A., 1977, ‘Postcolonial Discourse: The Case of Ben Okri’s Famished Road’, Currents in African Literature and the English Language, Volume 1, Number 1, 63-79.
Mabura, L., 2008, ‘Breaking Gods: An African Postcolonial Gothic Reading of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus and Half a Yellow Sun’, Research in African Literatures, 39 (1), Spring, 203-222.
Mazrui, A., 2005, ‘The Re-invention of Africa: Edward Said, Y.Y. Mudimbe and Beyond’, Research in African Literatures, 36 (3), Fall, 68-82.
Ngara, E., 1990, ‘Achebe as Artist: The Place and Significance of Anthills of the Savannah’, Kunapipi, 12 (2), 113-129.
Nkrumah, K., 1964, Conscienticism, London: Heinemann.
Ogunsanwo, O., 1995, ‘Intertextuality and Post-Colonial Literature in Ben Okri’s The Famished Road’, Research in African Literatures, 26 (1), 40-52.
Ojinma, U., 1991, Chinua Achebe: New Perspectives, Ibadan: Spectrum.
Okri, B., 1991, The Famished Road, London: Jonathan Cape.
Osundare, N., 2007, The Writer as a Righter, Ibadan: Hope Publications. Rutherford, P., 2000, Endless Propaganda: The Advertising of Public Goods, Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Sofola, Z., 1988, ‘African Society and the Concept of Freedom’, Okike, 27/28, 74-87.
Szeman, I., 1998, ‘On National Cultures: Literary Politics in Canada, the Caribbean and Nigeria, 1952-1970’, Doctoral Thesis, Duke University.
Williams, A., 1996, ‘Literature in the Time of Tyranny: African Writers and the Crisis of Governance’, Third World Quarterly, 17 (2), 349-362.
Young, C., 2004, ‘The End of the Post-colonial State in Africa? Reflections on Changing African Political Dynamics’, African Affairs, 103, 23-49.