Title Perceiving pain in African literature / Zoë Norridge, lecturer in English and comparative literature, King's College London, UK

Published Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire ; New York, NY : Palgrave Macmillan, 2013

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Description 1 online resource Contents Acknowledgements -- Introduction: Pain, Literature and the Personal -- Painful Encounters in Yvonne Vera's The Stone Virgins -- Between Minds and Bodies : the Location of Pain and Racial Trauma in Works by Bessie Head and J.M. Coetzee -- Women's Pains and the Creation of Meaning in Francophone Narratives from West Africa -- Writing around Pain : Personal Testimonies from Rwanda by African Writers -- Responding to Pain, from Healing to Human Rights: Aminatta Forna, Antjie Krog and James Orbinski -- Epilogue: Literature and the Place of Pain -- Works Cited -- Index Summary Why do African writers choose to describe pain in their novels, memoirs and travelogues? What purpose could such descriptions serve? And do they fall into the danger of simply re-confirming negative stereotypes about Africa as an inevitably pained continent? "Perceiving Pain in African Literature" argues that the literary text has a particular role to play in contesting and re-working the personal, social and political meanings of pain. Drawing on fiction and life-writing published in English and French over the last forty years, this book explores the complexities of literature's invitation to imagine pain. Themes such as pain and meaning, literature as testimony, conflict writing, genocide and human rights are explored in relation to primary texts from West Africa, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Southern Africa. Authors including Yvonne Vera, J.M. Coetzee, Ahmadou Kourouma, Veronique Tadjo and Aminatta Forna are discussed alongside theoretical insights from medical anthropology, cultural theory, postcolonial studies and global literature "Why do African writers choose to describe pain in their novels, memoirs and travelogues? What purpose could such descriptions serve? And do they fall into the danger of simply re-confirming negative stereotypes about Africa as an inevitably pained continent? Perceiving Pain in African Literature argues that the literary text has a particular role to play in contesting and re-working the personal, social and political meanings of pain. Drawing on fiction and life-writing published in English and French over the last forty years, this book explores the complexities of literature's invitation to imagine pain. Themes such as pain and meaning, literature as testimony, conflict writing, genocide and human rights are explored in relation to primary texts from West Africa, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Southern Africa. Authors including Yvonne Vera, J.M. Coetzee, Ahmadou Kourouma, Véronique Tadjo and Aminatta Forna are discussed alongside theoretical insights from medical anthropology, cultural theory, postcolonial studies and global literature"-- Provided by publisher Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Print version record Subject African fiction (English) -- 20th century -- History and criticism Pain in literature. African fiction (French) -- 20th century -- History and criticism Postcolonialism. postcolonialism. Literary studies: post-colonial literature. Ethical issues & debates. LITERARY CRITICISM -- General. LITERARY CRITICISM -- African. LITERARY CRITICISM -- European -- English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh. LITERARY CRITICISM -- European -- French. Literature. African fiction (English) African fiction (French) Pain in literature Postcolonialism Literatur Englisch Französisch Schmerz Motiv Trauma Motiv Leid Motiv Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc. Form Electronic book ISBN 9781137292056 1137292059 9781283946773 1283946777

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