Disillusionment and Alienation in Contemporary African Fiction

Disillusionment and alienation are significant markers of post-independence literature in Africa. In the domain of the novel, these markers have been ably portrayed in the novels of writers as diverse as Chinua Acbebe, Wole Soyinka, Festus Iyayi, Ayi Kwei Armah, Ngugi wa Thiong'O, Sembene Ousmane and others. This study is a major enterprise concentrating, in the main, on fourteen post-independence novels written by Ngugi, Armah, Sembene and Alex La Guma, who although reflected these same markers, but situates them in the context of apartheid South Africa. Unlike, the common view that these writers write works that are programmatic in structure,and therefore inferior as creative art, the study affirms the relevance of the writers and works spotlighted in this book, especially because the writers create a nexus between their art and the African society by so doing. The study further avers that programmatic creative works can be edifying in formal terms, when deftly handled by writers as demonstrated by the spotlighted writers and works in this book. This is a work that will be relevant to those researching in the field of African literature, especially in the genre of the novel.