To Lay These Secrets Open. Evaluating African Writing

(Cape Town: David Philip, 1992). 211 x 136 mm; pictorial wrappers; pp. (viii) + 197, incl. index. Wraps a little rubbed and very slightly curled; earlier owner's name penned inside upper wrap; regular, light browning. Good. "This study establishes criteria for the evaluation of African literature and then applies them to a wide and exciting range of modern African novels, many of which are prescribed or recommended reading for university and college courses. The focus is on themes and issues such as black nationalism, gender, popular culture and the human condition, within the wider context of contemporary Marxist and feminist literary theories. In establishing Marxist and feminist criteria for evaluating African literature, the book is iconoclastic and bound to raise debate. Post-modernists will be challenged by its exploration of the universal, but no student or teacher of African literature can afford to ignore this challenging study." .