Prescribed Texts
- Joseph Conrad Heart of Darkness
- Zakes Mda Heart of Redness
- Chinua Achebe Anthills of the Savannah
- Course Reader Reading for Writing (short fiction), and Women’s Poetry
This module places the fictional representation of Africa within the political and cultural phenomenon known, in its various phases, as colonialism, anti-colonialism, post-colonialism and neo-colonialism. In following the history of this phenomenon, the module begins with late 19th century writings about Africa which express the European colonizers’ view of the continent. Then, Joseph Conrad’s fictional representation of his experiences in central Africa, Heart of Darkness, will be read both for his disgust at what he saw of colonization and for the ways in which traces of self-justifying concepts such as the ‘primitive other’ and ‘modernity, civilization and progress’ nevertheless had a hold on his imagination.
Following this, we read Heart of Redness by Zakes Mda. This novel is based on the ‘killing of the cattle’ in the 19th century Eastern Cape, yet Mda extends the reach of the historical occurrence into imagined events in the present, neo-colonial Eastern Cape. Themes of power, loyalty, ‘othering’, gender and spiritual belief are central to the study, yet the text is also marked by a robust humour. Thereafter, we turn to Chinua Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah. Set in Nigeria, this novel represents the country some four decades after independence, and we will examine the representation of political power and of corruption, as well as the role of women as both social agents and as fictional devices.
This interest in women is extended in the section on African Women’s Poetry. A range of poems from countries as diverse as Ghana, Algeria, Mozambique, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Tunisia and South Africa will be used to examine themes such as postcolonialism, experiments with agency, and traditional systems of patriarchy.
Throughout the course, the extensive emphasis on critical reading informed by an awareness of literary technique is intended to train students in developing their ability to read the work of established authors in a writerly way. Students will be expected to produce several written tasks, among them the academic essay and creative writing in the genre of short fiction.