Of war and women, oppression and optimism

"Eustace Palmer's Of War and Women, Oppression and Optimism is a supplement to his two earlier works on the African novel--An Introduction to the African Novel and The Growth of the African Novel. Palmer undertakes a detailed critical assessment of key novels that he feels are typical of the main trends. Starting with an introduction that discusses in frank and characteristically lucid terms the advisability of applying Western theoretical concepts, or even using the terminology developed in Western academia, for the analysis of the African novel, he goes on to a consideration of a key trend--the war novel. His analyses of Ike's Sunset at Dawn, Okpewho's The Last Duty, and Saro-Wiwa's Sozaboy are done against the background of the Nigerian civil war, showing the disastrous impact of that war on society and particularly on women, bringing out the differing attitudes of the various writers, and considering the artistic innovations they use to communicate their insights.^ Palmer then on African women novelists. A detailed and absorbing examination of African feminist theory leads to a discussion of novels by Bessie Head, Buchi Emecheta, Mariama Ba, Nawal El Saadawi, and Tsitsi Dangere