- Profesor: Katherine Hallemeier
This seminar offers an introduction to Nigerian fiction in English that is not realist. Our fictions will span the famous tale of “a full-bodied gentleman reduced to a head” (Tutuola), a national epic replete with “spirit companions” (Okri), and an alien invasion adventure set in Lagos (Okorafor). We will think about how to best describe the genres of these works, which will mean reckoning with the ways African literature has often been subjected to an anthropological gaze; contemplating the limits of magical realism as a global category; and understanding the formal implications of the term Africanfuturism. Fictions will be situated in relation to Nigerian colonial and postcolonial histories and literary critical scholarship that considers the relation between speculative forms and material exploitation.
Texts for purchase: Amos Tutuola, “The Palm-Wine Drinkard” (Faber & Faber, 2014, ISBN 9780571311538), Ben Okri, “The Famished Road” (Random House, 2021, ISBN 9781529114911), Nnedi Okorafor “Lagoon” (Harper Collins, 2024, ISBN 9781481440882). All will be made available at Payot, Rue de la Confédération. Other texts will be made available on Moodle.