Research Catalog

Title

Gods and soldiers : the Penguin anthology of contemporary African writing / edited by Rob Spillman.

Publication

New York : Penguin Books, 2009.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Spillman, Rob.

Description

xix, 344 p. : maps; 22 cm.

Summary

From the Publisher: A one-of-a-kind collection showcasing the energy of new African literature. Coming at a time when Africa and African writers are in the midst of a remarkable renaissance, Gods and Soldiers captures the vitality and urgency of African writing today. With stories from northern Arabic-speaking to southern Zulu-speaking writers, this collection conveys thirty different ways of approaching what it means to be African. Whether about life in the new urban melting pots of Cape Town and Luanda, or amid the battlefield chaos of Zimbabwe and Somalia, or set in the imaginary surreal landscapes born out of the oral storytelling tradition, these stories represent a striking cross section of extraordinary writing. Including works by J.M. Coetzee, Chimamanda Adichie, Nuruddin Farah, Binyavanga Wainaina, and Chinua Achebe, and edited by Rob Spillman of Tin House magazine, Gods and Soldiers features many pieces never before published, making it a vibrant and essential glimpse of Africa as it enters the twenty-first century.

Subject

• 1900-1999
• African literature > 20th century > Translations into English
• African literature (English) > 20th century

Genre/Form

• Short stories.
• Short stories

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

• Introduction / by Robert Spillman -- West Africa. Nonfiction. The African writer and the English language / Chinua Achebe (Nigeria) -- Fiction. Lomba / Helon Habila (Nigeria) -- The manhood test / Mohammed Naseehu Ali (Ghana) -- from Becoming Abigail / Chris Abani (Nigeria) -- Voice of America / E.C. Osondu (Nigeria) -- from Half of a yellow sun / Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria) -- Francophone Africa. Nonfiction. The Senghor complex / Patrice Nganang (Cameroon) -- Fiction. from Broken window / Alain Mabanckou (Republic of Congo) -- from The belly of the Atlantic / Fatou Diome (Senegal) -- from Murambi, the book of bones / Boubacar Boris Diop (Senegal) -- North Africa. Nonfiction. The politics of reading / Laila Lalami (Morocco) -- Fiction. from Woman at point zero / Nawal El Saadawi (Egypt) -- from The butcher's aesthetics / Mohamed Magani (Algeria) -- from The star of Algiers / Aziz Chouaki (Algeria) --
• Souvenirs / rLeila Aboulela (Sudan) -- East Africa: Nonfiction. from Discovering home / Binyavanga Wainaina (Kenya) -- Fiction. from Wizard of the crow / Ngūgī wa Thiong'o (Kenya) -- Christianity killed the cat / Doreen Baingana (Uganda) -- from Knots / Nuruddin Farah (Somalia) -- from The united states of Africa / Abdourahman A. Waberi (Djibouti) -- Former Portuguese Colonies. Nonfiction. Languages we don't know we know / Mia Couto (Mozambique) -- Fiction. Dragonfly / Ondjaki (Angola) -- from The book of chameleons / José Eduardo Agualusa (Angola) -- Southern Africa. Nonfiction. The memoirs of Breyten Breytenbach / J.M. Coetzee (South Africa) -- Fiction. Dead swimmers / Yvonne Vera (Zimbabwe) -- from Dog eat dog / Niq Mhlongo (South Africa) -- A beneficiary / Nadine Gordimer (South Africa)" -- from Agaat / Marlene van Niekerk (South Africa) -- from Ways of dying / Zakes Mda (South Africa) --
• The whites only bench / Ivan Vladislavić (South Africa).

ISBN

• 9780143114734 (pbk.)
• 0143114735 (pbk.)

LCCN

^^2008038434

OCLC

• 253634775
• SCSB-11921662

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library