Speaking through the wound
Irruption and memory in the writing of Ben Okri and Festus Iyayi
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2187233 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Andrew Armstrong (0000-0003-2605-7921) |
| Year | 2000 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 173-183 |
| Publication date | 2000-12-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of African Cultural Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1369-6815 • E-ISSN: 1469-9346 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/713674312 |
| OpenAlex | W2080383097 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 4 |
This paper, through an explication of Ben Okri's Stars of the New Curfew (1988) and Dangerous Love (1996) and Festus Iyayi's Heroes (1986), looks at the representation of war and social turbulence in post-independence Nigerian fiction as narrative strategies for remembering and healing. Specifically, I examine the representation of the civil war in Iyayi's novel, to which it is central, and the 'shadow of war' and military presence conveyed through Okri's deployment of imagery in his configuration of the post-war society. What I am exploring here are modes of representation and how they differ, using Iyayi and Okri as exemplars: the trajectory of witness → documentation → realism (in Iyayi) versus memory → internalization → metaphorization (in Okri). For example, Iyayi's Heroes reveals a well-structured, ordered narrative in the realist mode, while Okri's use of imagery shows a certain 'unruliness' that tends towards 'chaos' and disruption. One of the main concerns of this paper is the way in which these modes work to represent war and social turbulence in Nigeria. I am looking at the problem of documenting and metaphorizing atrocity and loss; I therefore explore the ethics of representation. Is the use of fiction an adequate or ethical means of attempting to transcend the trauma of violence? I am looking, finally, at the role of representation as both an enabling and limiting force in understanding and healing, in helping or hindering the refashioning of identities (restoring ontological security and epistemological certainty) after the trauma and loss caused by war and social turbulence
Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Linguistics · Literature · Narrative · Realism · Representation (politics · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Witness · African history and culture studies · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies · Psychology · History · Law · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 0.11 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2008 - 2018 (11) |
| Highly cited | No |