Strategic Transformations in Nigerian Writing

This is an innovative and original study which offers a new perspective on a Nigerian literary tradition. The author takes issue with the prevalent use of "oral tradition" in the criticism of Europhone written literature as a kind of cultural matrix out of which the written text emerged, and the essence of which it embodies. He proposes instead a view of literary tradition as the outcome of numerous, and varied, strategic acts of positioning in relation to indigenous resources — which vary according to the individual writer's project but also according to the larger social and political context. He constructs a historical framework in which to view these strategies as performed by Samuel Johnson in The History of the Yorubas (1921 ), Amos Tutuola (1950s), Soyinka (1960s and 70s) and Ben Okri (1980s and 90s).