Shaken Wisdom: Irony and Meaning in Postcolonial African Fiction

Index

Achebe, Chinua: Anthills of the Savannah, 11, 18, 19, 33–35, 39–46, 53, 80, 144; failed expectations in writings of, 146; Igbo culture as shown in, 149; influence of, 45–46, 86; No Longer at Ease, 86; power as viewed by, 11; raillery used by, 60; texture in meaning of works by, 2; Things Fall Apart, 86, 145; unstable ironies used by, 33–35; verbal irony in works by, 14–15, 29, 39–46, 144. See also separate listing below for Arrow of God Achebe, Chinua, Arrow of God, 17, 92–113; argumentative rhetoric in, 59–60; cultural change as theme in, 23–24, 86–87, 106, 148; metaphors in, 56–57; “power” in, 52–53, 146; proverbs in, 20, 90, 92–113, 134, 135 Adichie, Chimamanda, 117; “The Headstrong Historian,” 115–16 African-American culture, irony and, 4–5 Aidoo, Ama Ata, 114 alazoneia, 37 Allemann, Beda: “De l’ironie en tant que principe littéraire,” 42 allusional pretense theory, 95 Amadi, Elechi: The Concubine, 1–2 antanaclasis, 79–80, 104 antiphrasis, 15, 51, 57–58, 60–61, 63, 67, 73, 89, 144–45, 156n3 aphorisms, 98 Aristotle: Ethics, 37 Armah, Ayi Kwei: Two Thousand Seasons, 145 Bâ, Mariama, 114; Un chant écarlate, 119; Une si longue lettre, 126 Bakhtin, Mikhail: The Dialogic Imagination, 11–12, 13, 88; Selden’s views on, 71 Barthes, Roland: Mythologies, 91, 131 Beauvoir, Simone de: “La femme et la création,” 128 Beckett, Samuel: The Unnameable, 35 Berrendonner, Alain, Éléments de pragmatique linguistique, 147; ironic discourse viewed as argumentative by, 15–16, 55–65, 73, 94, 102, 107, 144–45, 146; presence of contradiction viewed by, 57–58, 76, 144; “sanctions” of irony, 126; studies of figurative aspects of irony, 51 Bessora, Sandrine, 115, 117; 53 cm, 116 Beyala, Calixthe: Les arbres en parlent encore, 17, 21, 58–59, 62, 90, 133–42, 146, 147, 148, 149; Assèze l’Africaine, 118; Comment cuisiner son mari à l’africaine, 118; controversiality of, 117, 123; failed expectations in writings of, i n de x Index 172 Beyala, Calixthe (continued) 146–47; L’homme qui m’offrait le ciel, 118; irony in works of, 21; Le petit prince de Belleville, 117–18; La plantation, 118; power as viewed by, 11; raillery used by, 16; texture in meaning of works by, 2; Tu t’appelleras Tanga, 122; verbal irony in works of, 14–15. See also separate listing below for Amours sauvages Beyala, Calixthe, Amours sauvages, 117, 118–33, 142; abusive white husband depicted in, 119, 132–33, 155n14; diasporic themes in, 149; Ève-Marie’s mother’s arrival passage, 119–20; identity-claim irony in, 123–32, 145–46, 147; “murder” topos, 21; personne in, 47–51; “sainthood” passage, 120–22, 160n8 Bhabha, Homi K.: The Location of Culture, 12, 13, 16 Bisanswa, Justin: Jeux de miroirs, 68, 84, 157n12 Bjornson, Richard: The African Quest for Freedom and Identity, 8 black popular music, 5–6 Blakemore, Diane: Understanding Utterances, 153n11 blasphemy, 67 Booth, Wayne: A Rhetoric of Irony, 14, 31–32, 35, 42, 143–44, 147 Borgomano, Madelaine: Des hommes ou des bêtes?, 91 Bouaka, Charles-Lucien: Mongo Beti, 8–9 Bugul, Ken: Cendres et braises, 155n14 Butler, Samuel: Erewhon, 32 Cary, Joyce: Mister Johnson, 24 caustic irony, 126 Cazenave, Odile: Afrique sur Seine, 116, “femme-rebelle,” 123; “Calixthe Beyala’s ‘Parisian Novels,’” 159–60n5 Césaire, Aimé: Cahier d’un retour au pays natal, 130; Discours sur le colonialisme, 12 chleuasme (false modesty), 44 Clark, Herbert: “On the Pretense of Irony” (with Gerrig), 95 Colebrook, Claire: Irony, 13–14 colonial rule: “civilizing and evangelizing mission” of, 75, 82–84, 120, 137–38; covert responses to, 6–9, 25, 31, 44–45; ethnic nationalism and, 153n5; impact of, 17, 136, 140–42, 153n5; literature during, 70, 145, 148 communication theory, 29–30 communitas, 101, 159n7 Conrad, Joseph: Heart of Darkness, 24 conviviality, concept of, 13 cosmic irony, 14 Cox, Tim: Post-modern Tales of Slavery, 28 Culler, Jonathan: Structuralist Poetics, 42, 147 cultural identity issues: authority and, 20; pan-African, African-American, and local notions, 4–6, 15, 20–21; persistence of African traditions, 17–18, 80–84, 87, 130–31; postcolonial questioning of, 2, 143, 144, 148; precolonial culture representations, 28; stable irony and, 32–33 cultural memory, 24, 79 Dadié, Bernard, 26; Béatrice du Congo, 145 d’Almeida, Irène: Francophone African Women Writers, 114 d’Almeida-Topor, Hélène: L’Afrique, 28 déchéance, 122 deixis, 30...