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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Biafra as heritage and symbol: Adichie, Mbachu, and Iweala
Author:Hawley, John C.ISNI
Year:2008
Periodical:Research in African Literatures
Volume:39
Issue:2
Pages:15-26
Language:English
Geographic term:Nigeria
Subjects:Nigerian-Biafran War
novels
About persons:Dulue MbachuISNI
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (1977-)ISNI
Uzodinma Iweala (1982-)ISNI
External link:http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/research_in_african_literatures/v039/39.2.hawley.pdf
Abstract:Eddie Iroh made the observation that Nigerian writers of his generation, who had lived through the Biafran conflict, were too close to the suffering to write the definitive accounts of the war, and that the task would fall to later generations. This essay looks at three later accounts: Dulue Mbachu's 'War Games' (2005), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's 'Half of a Yellow Sun' (2006), and Uzodinma Iweala's 'Beast of No Nation' (2005), to assess the war's impact on Nigerian cultural expression in the twenty-first century. As the eldest of the three writers, Mbachu lingers more on the war itself than do the other two, but far less than its contemporaries like Achebe. Adichie portrays the war as a backdrop for interpersonal ethical questions, and Iweala, as an unnamed conflict that stands in the place of all such juggernauts against the poor, and especially these days against child soldiers. Bibliogr., notes, sum. [Journal abstract]
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