Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 August 2021
African writers in English have done much to enlarge the image of Africa in the world. The novelists among them have contributed most to the understanding of the African points of view and perspectives on life, politics, culture and history. In their roles as chroniclers, custodians of the collective heritage, social critics, teachers and visionaries of their people, the novelists have illuminated the African situation and the forces that have kept the continent in an endemic state of crisis.
Emmanuel Obiechina was a former Director of the Nigerian Universities Office, Washington, DC and for many years Professor of African Literature at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is currently a Visiting Professor of English and Third World Studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York. His publications include Culture, Tradition and Society in the West African Novel; An African Popular Literature; Onitsha Market Literature; and Language and Theme: Essays on African Literature.