Africa in the Novels of Joyce Cary and Chinua Achebe

This book attempts to compare and contrast the attitudes of Joyce Cary and Chinua Achebe to Africa as manifested in their novels Mister Johnson and Things Fall Apart respectively. The book meanwhile grapples with the complex socio-cultural and historical implications of the age-old dialogue between the West and the East and between Europe and Africa. It also calls for mutual recognition and understanding on both sides and for viable, wholesome communication between the two parties especially in this brave new world which teems with upheavals and schisms. One essential challenge that has continued to haunt me while writing this book is the ease with which people, even scholars, fall prey to compartmentalization and categorization. While it has not been easy to disentangle myself as a third world writer from the network of stereotypes and cross-cultural misunderstanding informing the works of both authors, the works of Said, Bhabha, Fanon, Innes, JanMohamed, Memmi and others have provided me with indispensable props against committing this scholarly blunder from which the world still suffers in all spheres up till the present moment.

Autorentext

I am an associate Professor of literature at Tanta University and at King Faisal University, KSA. I have been particularly interested in comparative literature and in contemporary literary theory. My current research interests include the African novel, contemporary women writers, the American literary scene, and world literature written in English