By Orajiuka, Chukwujekwu Callistus
This project surveys the literature and accesses the magnitude, persistence and depth of inequality in Nigeria, using Festus Iyayi’s Violence and Helon Habila’s Waiting for an Angel. It is, therefore, a fact that African Literature has an enduring propensity for social and political commitment, reflecting and refracting the socio-political events in African societies with Nigeria as a reference point. In this, a nexus is drawn between the aesthetic of the novel and the social experiences that nurture the literary consciousness of the writer. This affirms Achebe’s claim that any African writer who shuns the social and political matters of contemporary Africa is at the risk of being irrelevant. Therefore, African literature is tied to the experiences of the people of Africa.
Employing and expounding on both social realism and Marxist theories, the project seeks, among other things, to reflect on the authors’ analysis of class relations and materialism, issues of power and wealth distribution, social conflicts.