East African Literature Essays on Written and Oral Traditions

East African Literature: Essays on Written and Oral Traditions is a wide-ranging collection of essays by seasoned and younger literary critics based in universities across the eastern region of Africa. The contributors offer illuminating criticism on issues of gender, sexuality, historiography, stylistics and narratology in representative works by writers such as: Ngugi, Okot p'Bitek, Julius Ocwinyo, Goretti Kyomuhendo, Ebrahim Hussein, Ben Mtobwa, M. G. Vassanji, Elieshi Lema, Rebeka Njau, Kyallo Wadi Wamitila, Ken Walibora, Katini Mwachofi, Margaret Ogola, Jared Angira, Tsegaye Gebre-Medhin, Dagniachew Worku and Nuruddin Farah. Transcribed works by popular oral artists working in major vernacular languages across the region have also been examined. Several essays offer critical perspectives on stylistic trends and thematics in Kenyan, Tanzanian, Somalian and Djiboutian drama. Read collectively, these critical essays expand the field of East African literary thought at the levels of criticism, texts and issues. Fresh analyses underpinned by a number of theoretical frameworks are conducted on scriptural and oral texts by established and emergent writers. The result is a panorama of East African literature from the turn of the century to the present moment. The book breaks new ground by expanding the conventional meaning of East Africa to include not only Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania but also Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti.