عنوان
پدید آورنده
موضوع
رده
کتابخانه
محل استقرار
NATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY NUMBER
Number
LA120391
LANGUAGE OF THE ITEM
.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc
انگلیسی
TITLE AND STATEMENT OF RESPONSIBILITY
Title Proper
Lack of Return in Nigeria-Biafra Civil War Literature
General Material Designation
[Article]
First Statement of Responsibility
Stephen David
.PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC
Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.
Leiden
Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.
Brill
SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
When the Nigeria-Biafra civil war ended in July 1970, the Commander in Chief of the Federal Army, General Yakubu Gowon, declared that there was "no victor no vanquished" and, consequently, drew an iron curtain on a painful historical moment. This closure foreclosed further engagements with the events of the war in a manner that imposed a "code of silence" on its historiography. However, in the face of this silence and the silencing of public remembrances, private remembrances have continued to bloom. And in recent times, these remembrance(s) have fertilized a virulent demand for secession. I argue that literary accounts of the conflict question its 'closure' through what I call 'lack of return.' Relying on Van der Merwe and Gobodo-Madikizela's conception of narratives as spaces of healing, I engage in a close reading of one fictional account-Saro-Wiwa's Sozaboy-and two memoirs-Achebe's There Was a Country and Chukwurah's The Last Train to Biafra-to examine how narratives of Biafra call attention to the persistent freshness of the wounds and trauma of the war by creating stories that lack denouement. I find that in these texts, the silencing of ordnance doesn't herald a return home-whether spatially or mentally. Consequently, these stories could be read as palimpsests that reveal a need for spaces of narrative engagements, abreaction, and healing. When the Nigeria-Biafra civil war ended in July 1970, the Commander in Chief of the Federal Army, General Yakubu Gowon, declared that there was "no victor no vanquished" and, consequently, drew an iron curtain on a painful historical moment. This closure foreclosed further engagements with the events of the war in a manner that imposed a "code of silence" on its historiography. However, in the face of this silence and the silencing of public remembrances, private remembrances have continued to bloom. And in recent times, these remembrance(s) have fertilized a virulent demand for secession. I argue that literary accounts of the conflict question its 'closure' through what I call 'lack of return.' Relying on Van der Merwe and Gobodo-Madikizela's conception of narratives as spaces of healing, I engage in a close reading of one fictional account-Saro-Wiwa's Sozaboy-and two memoirs-Achebe's There Was a Country and Chukwurah's The Last Train to Biafra-to examine how narratives of Biafra call attention to the persistent freshness of the wounds and trauma of the war by creating stories that lack denouement. I find that in these texts, the silencing of ordnance doesn't herald a return home-whether spatially or mentally. Consequently, these stories could be read as palimpsests that reveal a need for spaces of narrative engagements, abreaction, and healing.
SET
Date of Publication
2018
Physical description
102-127
Title
Matatu
Volume Number
50/1
International Standard Serial Number
1875-7421
UNCONTROLLED SUBJECT TERMS
Subject Term
African Studies
Subject Term
Comparative Studies & World Literature
Subject Term
Criticism & Theory
Subject Term
Cultural History
Subject Term
Literature & Culture
Subject Term
Literature and Cultural Studies
Subject Term
Nigeria-Biafra war
Subject Term
Postcolonial Literature & Culture
Subject Term
secession
Subject Term
trauma
PERSONAL NAME - PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITY
Stephen David
LOCATION AND CALL NUMBER
Call Number
10.1163/18757421-05001007
ELECTRONIC LOCATION AND ACCESS
Electronic name
مطالعه متن کتاب p
[Article]
275578
a
Y
