Between New Challenges in African Literature and Contemporary Realities:The Case Study of Opanachi's <i>Eaters of the Living</i>

Abstract

The twenty-first century is observed to pose a number of challenges for theAfrican writer, having scaled through many thorny decades producing worksof art that has passed under diverse sledge hammers. Among which arederogatory names such as �defensive�literatures.�More so, as the saga ofAfrica�s hunger tops the list of the concerns of the Millennium DevelopmentGoals (MDG) of the United Nations; which asserts that the declared level ofAfrica�s achievements might still be on paper. This challenge is comingbarely a decade or two after cases of barbaric genocides in Africa alongsideother socio-political unrests which may actually affect writers'preoccupationin Africa. The continent is sadly besieged by horrible sights andshouts of fraud which has diverted all the likely prospects of re-orientation for a new creative hope to give artistic thrust to a new world order. This paper has therefore undertaken a case-study of Idris Opanachi's concerns in Eaters of the living which a commentator says, Chronicles the consumptive defector, ravaging the land of promise against calls for a new image of the African personality to relocate her for more feasible operations in the twenty-first century. It has further challenged Charles Nnolim's critical reception; as it broadens the debate concerning the literary and cultural importance of his overture by concentrating on the explication of relevant literary works that would rather respond to socio-political realities in its milieu. Furthermore, I have demonstrated by critical evaluation of the work of a selected Nigerian poet that the impulsive response of a writer in this ageof technological innovations is not yet absolved of the traditional preoccupations of his predecessors.