The of homosexuality though still in its stage in African literature is one worthy of serious attention and as it has become quite in recent times the world over.
Over the years, there have been several portrayals of gayness in African works and that is what this research investigated in Jude Dibia‘s Walking with Shadows and Wole Soyinka‘s The Interpreters.
Until recently, African authors have always represented gayness in the negative light and unsympathetically. It has however been discovered that currently a few African works have portrayed it positively and even sympathetically as could be seen in Jude Dibia‘s Walking with Shadows.
The two main portrayals of gayness in African literature are sympathetic/positive portrayal and unsympathetic/negative portrayal which the two Nigeria works under study Jude Dibia‘s Walking with Shadows and Wole Soyinka‘s The Interpreters represent respectively.
The duo portray homosexuality in two opposite directions; sympathetically and unsympathetically respectively. Both authors made extensive use of literary devices in portraying homosexuality in their individual novels.
This research work looked at the following as it discussed the subject of homosexuality in the selected texts: how gayness emerge in the selected works, what goes on in the minds of some of the characters especially the gay and of course the attitude of the other characters towards the gay.
This research work did a psychoanalytical study of some characters in the texts in order to understand the thoughts of the key players in the individual texts and their attitudes toward gayness.
Table Of Contents
Title Page i
Approval Page ii
Certification iii
Dedication iv
Acknowledgements v
Abstract vi
Table of contents vii
CHAPTER ONE THE CONCEPT OF HOMOSEXUALITY
- : INTRODUCTION 1
- BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY 1
- : Meaning of Homosexuality/Gayness 2
- : Origin of Homosexuality 3
- : Types of Gay 7
- : Attitude to Homosexuality 9
- : Gayness in African Literature 12
- : Statement of Problem 16
- : Theoretical Framework 16
CHAPTER TWO
- THE REPRESENTATION OF GAYNESS IN AFRICAN LITERATURE 17
- LITERATURE REVIEW 18
CHAPTER THREE
- : THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND METHODOLOGY 38
- : Theoretical Framework 38
- : Research Methodology 41
CHAPTER FOUR
- : A PSYCHOANALYTICAL READING OF THE SELECTED TEXTS 44
- : Homosexuality in Jude Dibia‘s Walking with Shadows 44
- : Homosexuality in Wole Soyinka‘s The Interpreters 54
- : A Comparative Analysis of the Selected Texts 58
CHAPTER FIVE
- : Literary Devices in Jude Dibia‘s Walking with Shadows and Wole Soyinka‘s The Interpreters 63
- : Imagery in Homosexual Representation 63
- : Homosexuality and Symbols 69
- : Simile and Metaphor in Homosexual Representation 72
- : Irony and Sarcasm in Homosexual Representation 73
- : Narrative Voice/Point of View 77
CONCLUSION 78
WORK CITED 79
Introduction
Background of Study
The concept of homosexuality in African literature is not altogether new, but the issue has recently become a topical one across the countries of the world and is gradually asserting itself in the literary terrain; therefore it deserves being explored.
Hitherto, African writers in general and Nigerian writers in particular shy away from the subject of homosexuality which is not only sensitive but equally controversial.
They explore other themes but pay little or no attention to gayness. In the 1960s and afterwards, a body of African works explore gayness in different degrees.
Most African writers at that time depicted gayness usually in the negative light, as a taboo, moral depravity, anomaly, unAfrican and a western construct. The colonial masters and a host of other foreigners were portrayed as having initiated, practised and promoted same-sex relationships.
Works like Kofi Awoonor‘s This Earth, My Brother, Yambo Ouologuem‘s Bound to Violence, Wole Soyinka‘s The Interpreters, Mariama Ba‘s Scarlet Song, Ayi Kwei Armah‘s Two Thousand Seasons and Ama Ata Aidoo‘s Our Sister Killjoy are typical examples of such portrayals.
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
This work will give attention to the concept/meaning of gayness, origin, types and attitudes exhibited towards gayness, and of course the portrayal of gayness in African literature.
It will equally investigate the manner in which the selected novels, Wole Soyinka‘s The Interpreters and Jude Dibia‘s Walking with Shadows represent and explore gayness using the psychoanalytical literary approach which is very appropriate for analyzing representations of this kind.
References
Achmat, Dangor. Bitter Fruit. Cape Town: Kwela Books, 2001.Print.
Afrika, Tatamkhulu. Bitter Eden. Michigan: Arcadia Books, 2002.Print.
Aidoo, Ama Ata. Our Sister Killjoy. London: Longman, 1977. Print.
Altman, Dennis. ―Global Gaze/Global Gays.‖ Postcolonial and Queer Theories: Intersections and Essays, 1997, www.unm.edu, June 13th, 2013.
Amadiume, Ifeoma. Male Daughters, Female Husbands: Gender and Sex in an African Society.London: Zed Books, 1987. Print.
Apolo, Edia. Lagos Na Waa I Swear. Lagos: Heritage Books, 1982. Print.
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