The extroverted African novel, revisited: African novels at home, in the world

Abstract

This article revisits the issues at the heart of ‘The Extroverted African Novel’, appearing in Il romanzo (vol. 5; Milano: Einaudi, 2003); and The Novel (vol. 2; Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006). These include: first, what seemed to be an enormous gap between the dynamism of popular fictions, and visual arts and crafts more generally, alongside what Senegalese novelist and journalist, Boubacar Boris Diop once characterised as the ‘sadness’ of our literature. Second, a Eurocentric dead-end, to the effect that ‘the North’ (or ‘the West’) provides ‘the form’ – i.e. leads the way in developing the powerful, relevant modes and genres of artistic expression for the future – and 'the South'' necessarily follows suit. Third, the interpretation of broad intertextual engagements in African novels as signs of these novels’ derivative nature and, to the extent that these references are African, as authenticating. Above all, ‘The Extroverted African Novel’ proposed a theory of why some novels travel (while others stay at home), and of the production and effects of those novels. The current article takes up the critiques and extensions of this 'theory' in articles by Nathan Suhr-Sytsma and Ashleigh Harris in this issue of Journal of African Cultural Studies. Focusing on recent publishing in Nigeria, Nathan Suhr-Sytsma adumbrates the concept of extroversion, and Ashleigh Harris queries the very potential of the novel, given its history.

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