基本説明
Examines the activities of African readers in the British colony of the Gold Coast between 1880 and 1940. Newell uncovers the surprising results of a competition to discover 'who is your favourite author and why' amongst African school children.
Full Description
Considering the literary habits - production, reception, selection - in a colonial Ghana, this study provides empirical and statistical data of how colonial literature is absorbed - and coins the new term "paracolonial" to better describe the ebb and flow of influence and creativity. It shows how colonial West Africa (the Gold Coast) adapted to an imposed education system and developed its own indigenous cultural representation, far beyond the previously conceived limited vocabularly of simple mimicry.
Contents
Introduction - The formation of readerships; a) Bookshops, bibliographies and libraries. 1 Paracolonial networks - the rise of literary and debating societies in colonial Ghana - a) Paracolonial networks, b) The nationalist awakening and Ghanaian literary clubs; 2 Are women worse than men? - Literary clubs and the expression of new masculinities; 3 "The whole library in a pocket handkerchief" - Creative writing in the vernaculars; 4 The problem of literacy - Good and bad literature for African readers; 5 Why read "The sorrows of Satan"? - Marie Corelli"s West African readerships; 6 White cargoes/black cargoes on the West coast of Africa - Mabel Dove"s "A woman in jade"; 7 Ethical fiction - Casely Hayford's "Ethiopia unbound"; 8 Been-tos and never-beens - Kobina Sekyi"s satires of Fante society - a) "The Blinkards", b) "The Anglo-Fanti"; 9 R.E. Obeng"s "Eighteenpence" - The first Ghanaian novel?; Conclusion - The production of a West African aesthetic.
