Preface

Over the past fifty years, the Nigerian novel has grown to more than a hundred titles. This may appear to be rather a handful, considering the relatively long stretch of time. The fact is that not many have tried their hands at the occupation, or gone beyond the first book. It probably goes to show that writing is no easy occupation. What may be more remarkable is that relatively few, out of that handful, is known by the reading public, or discussed by the critics. Of course, it is t he task of the critics to tell us which of the titles to treat as literature, and why. Therefore, part of the reason why the reading public seems to know very little beyond what had been read as part of certificate examinations in literature must be that t he critics hav e not always played their part satisfactorily. A literary work needs to be widely discussed and presented in a variety of contexts to catch the attention of the reading public. Another reason is one often mentioned, which is that the Nigeria educational n system has not been successful in training the people who pass through it in the discipline of reading. Many a secondary school educated Nigerian has been able to pass his examinations in literature by studying publications of the questionan danswer type, which are coming out all the time, and are therefore relatively inexpensive. Undoubtedly, this sort of reading matter may help to focus the minds of the young learners on the facts which they must supply in order to achieve success and to th e kinds of iss them. tasks is ues that the examiners require of However, reading for the gathering of information relevant for specific only an aspect of the training regime, and it can do real harm if it lacks the support of reading as a continuous exercis Teaching a e. t the secondary school level should aim at giving the student good quality education. This goes well beyond what is usually meant when one speaks of literacy. Thus, developed, questionandwhere basic reading skills are poorly answer texts help people all the values associated to undermin e in the young with education. This includes reading for information as disinterested or even general knowledge. Clearly, a new emphasis on reading skills is needed in our educational system, and effort should b e made to a rouse in the young people a thirst for knowledge, which will not be adequately served by what is read in school as part of the curriculum. There is no greater training in the discipline of reading, no better means of inculcating the habits of re ading, both for relaxation and for the pursuit of the knowable than literature, because it has a way of arousing and sustaining interest. Fifty Years of the Nigerian Novel aims to highlight some of the more remarkable of the Nigerian novels thrown up by t he model of classification we have adopted here. We have also tried to bring in as many of the writers as possible, with the bias on the more literary among their works, but without losing sight of the history of the evolving literary tradition. Of course , other mod es of classification can and ought to be attempted by other similar studies. If this is done, it is bound to throw up other sets of texts, or bring about a rearranging of the ones we have selected, leading to the unveiling of quite different pro perties tha n the ones discussed in the present survey. The uncovering and discussion of all these properties is one of the main reasons why literature ceaselessly engages attention. In the last chapter is undertaken a bibliography listing as many of the N igerian nov els as can be found, with a brief note on many. This bibliography cannot claim to be exhaustive, and ought to be augmented by other studies. It is known, for instance, that several new Nigerian writers are publishing their works in Europe and Am erica, appa rently aiming at the readership of the diaspora. Although these works are not covered in our bibliography, they are part of the heritage to be brought to the notice of the Nigerian reading public, especially the young. We hope that what is attem pted here w ill not only bring out the highlights of the past fifty years, but help to promote and encourage the reading of Nigerian literature. Fifty Years of the Nigerian Novel has resulted from a co effort which was embarked upon in the early 1990s, while operative we were together in the Department of English, University of Nigeria. Academic activities in those days had led us to see how close our thinking was as regards literary phenomena. We are thankful that the decision reached at that time to coord inate our research activities towards a joint projehas at last seen the light of day. There were long delays in the execution, of course. But we had friends who encouraged us to persevere. At the outset, obviously, we were not thinking of ' Fifty Years o f the Nige rian Novel.' This new dimension is a positive outcome of the delays and the accumulated time.worker In addition to our friends, there were older and more experienced researchers to draw inspiration from, just as there were family members and co s from who m we drew encouragement and sustenance. We remember them all, and dedicate this book to them.