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The first anthology devoted to the oeuvres of Africa's first internationally recognized female writer. Emerging Perspectives on Flora Nwapa reflects the scope and diversity of Nwapa's poetics, as contributions by today's leading Africanist scholars -- Julie Agabasiere, Ifi Amadiume, Susan Arndt, Ada Azodo, Naana Banyiwa Horne, Brenda F. Berrian, Jane Bryce, Akachi Ezeigbo, Ezenwa-Ohaeto, Nina Mba, Sabine Jell-Bahlsen, Mary E. Modupe-Kolawole, Teresa U. Njoku, Chimalum Nwankwo, Molara Ogundipe-Leslie, Obododimma Oha, Tess Onwueme, Florence Stratton, and Gay Wilentz -- subject the creative corpus of the "Mother of African Women's Literature" to serious scrutiny. This book is a mine of critical...
Pioneering author Flora Nwapa paints the stirring tale of a young wife attempting to carve out her own independence against the traditional beliefs of Igbo society. Ever since she was young, Efuru has been famed for her beauty, intelligence, and noble lineage. So her family is appalled when they uncover her betrothal to an unremarkable villager. Although generous in her devotion to him, Efuru soon begins to realise that love is weak in comparison to centuries of superstition and tradition. Her only reprieve is in the strange, vivid dream that visits her at night – one of an ethereal woman sitting at the bottom of a lake, entrancing Efuru with her beauty and lavish piles of riches. When a v...
The moving story of a group of Nigerian women which follows their lives from their schooldays together through the trials and tribulations of their adult lives. Through their stories we see some of the universal problems faced by women everywhere: the struggle for financial independence and a rewarding career, the difficulties of relationships, and the dilemmas of bringing up a family, often without a partner. Set against the background of a developing Nigeria, this novel shows Nwapa at her finest.
'What we are all praying for is children. What else do we want if we have children?' These two sentences from Idu contain the basic theme of this novel set in a rural Nigerian community where the life of the individual is woven into that of the community as a whole. Idu, the protagonist, faces the challenge of infertility, leading her husband Adiewere to take a second wife. Eventually, Idu gives birth to a son named Ijoma, but it takes four years before she becomes pregnant again. However, tragedy strikes as Adiewere mysteriously dies before the arrival of their second child. Defying societal norms, Idu rejects the idea of marrying her husband's brother and instead chooses to join her husband in the afterlife, showcasing that children alone do not define her ultimate desires in life. Idu stands as a testament to Nwapa's commitment to portraying the lives and struggles of African women in the face of societal pressures.
The novel is set in a small Nigerian Community. Idu finally gives birth to a fine boy.
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Appearing in 1966, Efuru was the first internationally published book, in English, by a Nigerian woman. Flora Nwapa (1931–1993) sets her story in a small village in colonial West Africa as she describes the youth, marriage, motherhood, and eventual personal epiphany of a young woman in rural Nigeria. The respected and beautiful protagonist, an independent-minded Ibo woman named Efuru, wishes to be a mother. Her eventual tragedy is that she is not able to marry or raise children successfully. Alone and childless, Efuru realizes she surely must have a higher calling and goes to the lake goddess of her tribe, Uhamiri, to discover the path she must follow. The work, a rich exploration of Nigerian village life and values, offers a realistic picture of gender issues in a patriarchal society as well as the struggles of a nation exploited by colonialism.