Contemporary African literature and the politics of gender

Introduction: Exclusionary practices

I. Aspects of the male literary tradition. 1. How could things fall apart for whom they were not together? 2. The Mother Africa trope

II. Room for women. 3. Men fall apart: Grace Ogot's novels and short stories. 4. Flora Nwapa and the female novel of development. 5. 'Their new sister': Buchi Emecheta and the contemporary African literary tradition. 6. 'Literature as a ... weapon': The novels of Mariama Ba

III. Men write back. 7. Gender on the agenda: Novels of the 1980s by Ngugi and Achebe

Conclusion: Redefining the African literary tradition.