Creating Postcolonial Literature African Writers and British Publishers [Hardcover]

Using case studies, this book explores the publishing of African literature, addressing the construction of literary value, relationships between African writers and British publishers, and importance of the African market. It analyses the historical, political and economic conditions framing the emergence of postcolonial literature.List of Illustrations Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations 1. Introduction PART I: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS IN AFRICA, 1927-1980 2. The Vision for OUP in Africa 3. 'The Obligation to be Profitable': OUP in West Africa 4. 'The Call to Duty': OUP in East Africa 5. Publishing under Apartheid: OUP in South Africa 6. Conclusion to Part I PART II: THE THREE CROWNS SERIES, 1962-1976 7. The History of Three Crowns 8. Judging African Literature 9. Editing Three Crowns 10. Publishing Wole Soyinka 11. Publishing Athol Fugard 12. Conclusion Bibliography Index

This hugely informative, clearly written, book will be of obvious interest to scholars of African literature, postcolonial theory, and material cultures of the book. & While demonstrating what archival material can bring to the study of inequalities in the global literary marketplace, Daviss study will encourage its readers to question and explore, in fresh ways, how the experience of literature is underpinned by the material conditions of its production and circulation. (Ruth Bush, Research in African Literatures, Vol. 47 (1), Spring, 2016)

CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title 2014

Not since Graham Huggan's The Postcolonial Exotic has there been a book that so comprehensively examines the ways in which international publishers attempt to shape the literary expectations of readers of African literatures. This book will inspire postcolonial scholars to research the material conditions in which authors work, and to expand the framework of literary scholarship beyond 'close reading' to ask questions about how African literatures were brought to print ilÃ`