Intertextuality in Contemporary African Literature

Looking Inward

This book is a study in African literary influence. It focuses on the importance of indigenous sources to new writing. The analytical framework for the study draws on recent conceptual advances in theories of authorship. Juxtaposing works and authors that are traditionally thought to be unlikely bedfellows, the book persuasively identifies their hitherto unexamined points of contact, opening up a vigorous debate about the roots of African literature and offering a radical critique of the assumptions underlying conventional notions of African literature. The book provides valuable insight on the roles of such activities as appropriation, copying, pastiche, parody, simulation, foraging, grafting, padding, recycling, and remodeling in underwriting literary expression in Africa. Alive with wit and full of delight in the texts it discusses, it is a marvel of close and attentive, detective reading.