ALT 13 Recent Trends in the Novel: African Literature Today: A review

The re-issue of archival volumes ALT 1 to ALT 14 makes the complete series available and provides the historical perspective of these early contributions to the literature and its criticism. First published in 1983, this volume looks at new developments in the African novel and also at those aspects of more established works that received less critical attention, such as writing from southern Africa, to which censorship and war restricted access. Eldred Jones in his Editorial also cites the "searing impact of the Nigerian Civil War, on the consciousness, not just on Nigerians, but on Africans as a whole". There are also contributions on Nigerian populist Kole Omotoso and Dambudzo Marechera's prize-winning House of Hunger. One of the most significant trends is the emergence of the powerful feminist talents of Buchi Emecheta, Flora Nwapa, Bessie Head, Ama Ata Aidoo and Rebeka Njau. Articles by Eustace Palmer and Femi Ojo-Ade examine the depth and intensity with which some new novelists present the female point of view.