The Columbia Guide to East African Literature in English since 1945 (review)

Various reference works on African literature have come out over the past decades, including The Companion to African Literatures (ed. Killam and Rowe, 2000), Simon Gikandi's (ed.) Encyclopedia of African Literatures, 2003) and the two-volume Cambridge History of African and Caribbean Literature (2004) that Gikandi co-edited with F. Abiola Irele. While the two former were encyclopedic in nature, with entries on themes, historical developments, single authors, and works, The Cambridge History provided a forty-chapter literary history on various aspects of African literature and its Diaspora, both geographic and thematic. All of these works had in common a wide coverage of literary and linguistic traditions to provide a sense of the cultural complexities on the continent; they also shared the involvement of a multitude of specialists as contributors. With the book under review, Simon Gikandi and Evan Mwangi have embarked on the ambitious project of single-, or rather double-handedly, authoring a reference guide on a single-language literature in one specific region, East African literature in English. At first this appears somewhat surprising, given the mounting interest in the interfaces of different literary traditions, and the increasing disinterest in some circles of the academic community to view literatures in terms of "nation" or "region." Yet despite the rise of transnational, transcultural studies, these paradigms have never ceased to exist, and continue to influence the production and reception of creative writing It is this "strong sense of regionality" (Gikandi, Preface vii) of East African literature, and the comparatively scanty attention given to it in previous reference works, that has prompted the authors to give this particular body of English-language writing their attention. Given that West and Southern African literatures do indeed seem to dominate in the classrooms of English, African, and Postcolonial Studies departments in the North and West—with the exception perhaps of such literary beacons as Ngugi wa Thiong'o—teachers and students of African literature can now rest assured that a scholarly lacuna has been filled. Following the established format of the series, the Guide features a chronology of historical events, a substantial overview of the emergence and development of literary culture in the region, plus some hundred-odd alphabetical entries on either individual authors, major themes in literature and literary criticism, or social, cultural, and historical background. Each item, moreover, provides full bibliographical data on the writers presented, and references for further reading. The volume is rounded off by a short selected bibliography on "History and Culture" and "Literary Criticism."

So far, so good. This Guide is certainly a useful resource for anyone trying his or her hands on East African English-language writing, or for those refreshing their memories. Yet the longer I read, the stronger my niggling sense of discontent/dissatisfaction. For one, Gikandi's introduction is identical to his contribution in The Cambridge History but for the odd stylistic amendments and a longer section on "Historical Context," which precedes his earlier text. With the exception of Nuruddin Farah's Links (2004), no other work of fiction published after the mid to late 1990s is mentioned, let alone developments such as the establishment of writers' or literature associations (e.g., Femrite, the Ugandan women writers' organization, which gets a brief mention under "Publishing," but no separate entry), or the importance of literary prizes for the latest generation of East African writers. (Here, the Caine Prize for African Literature could have served as an example, with Binyavanga Wainaina, Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, Monica Arac de Nyeko, and Muthoni Garland as some of the authors winning or shortlisted). Outrightly irritating are parts of Gikandi's historical renderings. While he acknowledges the importance of going beyond a narrow definition of East Africa as the former British colonies of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania—the core subject of this volume—his account of neighboring countries and their literary developments leaves much to be desired. His brief, if comprehensive...