Reclaiming the Voice in So Long a Letter Essay -- So Long a Letter Ess

Reclaiming the portion in Bs So retentive a earn beak Barry identifies as one of the major aims of Postcolonial criticism the rejection of the claims to universalism made on behalf of canonic western literature and more specifically to show its limitations of outlook, especially its usual unfitness to empathize across boundaries of cultural and ethnic difference (198). Although Bs intentions ar not primarily anti-colonial, her novel So Long a Letter exemplifies how African literature provides a different perspective of their culture, and disdain not fitting the model of the English canon, is valuable and significant on its make terms. B is not composing in defence of Africa. She is committal to writing rough Africa, and gender and class are much more radical to her execution than race. It can be argued that rather than writing moxie to Empire, she is writing back to African male authors on behalf of African women, reclaiming the voice that has been previously denie d to them. Mariama B was born into an influential Senegalese family in 1929. She was one of the prototypal women to fill a Western education in Senegal. Reared by her parental grandparents in a traditional Muslim household, she tended to(p) school solitary(prenominal) by the grace of her father, who had a strong vision of the future for his daughter. B attended the French School in Dakar and went on to demand at the cole Normal in Rufisque, entering with the highest exam attain in all of French West Africa, graduating in 1947. She experienced purport down the stairs colonialism, and also witnessed firsthand the events surrounding Senegals independence from France, which was granted on April 4, 1960.1 taking the social and political context from which B is writing into consideration, it i... ...Bs Fiction. Ngambika Studies of Women in African Literature. Eds. Carole Boyce Davies and Anne Adams Graves. Trenton, NJ African World Press, 1986. 161-71. Carole Boyce, and Elain e Savory Fido. African Women Writers Toward a literary History. A History of Twentieth-Century African Literatures. Ed. Oyekan Owomoyela. Lincoln U. of Nebraska P., 1993. 311-46. Rueschmann, Eva. distaff Self-Definition and the African Community in Mariama Bs Epistolary Novel So Long a Letter. International Womens Writing impertinent Landscapes of Identity. Eds. Anne E. Brown and Marjanne E. Gooz. Westport, CT Greenwood Press, 1995. 3-18. Yousaf, Nahem, The Public versus the Private in Mariama Bs Novels. The Journal of Commonwealth Literature 30.2 (1995) 85-98. Zell, Hans, et al. A New Readers surpass to African Literature. New York Heinemann, 1983. Reclaiming the Voice in So Long a Letter Essay -- So Long a Letter EssReclaiming the Voice in Bs So Long a Letter Peter Barry identifies as one of the major aims of Postcolonial criticism the rejection of the claims to universalism made on behalf of canonical Western literature and more specifically to show its limitations of outlook, especially its general inability to empathize across boundaries of cultural and ethnic difference (198). Although Bs intentions are not primarily anti-colonial, her novel So Long a Letter exemplifies how African literature provides a different perspective of their culture, and despite not fitting the model of the English canon, is valuable and significant on its own terms. B is not writing in defence of Africa. She is writing about Africa, and gender and class are much more fundamental to her work than race. It can be argued that rather than writing back to Empire, she is writing back to African male authors on behalf of African women, reclaiming the voice that has been previously denied to them. Mariama B was born into an influential Senegalese family in 1929. She was one of the first women to receive a Western education in Senegal. Reared by her maternal grandparents in a traditional Muslim household, she attended school only by the grace of her father, wh o had a strong vision of the future for his daughter. B attended the French School in Dakar and went on to study at the cole Normal in Rufisque, entering with the highest exam score in all of French West Africa, graduating in 1947. She experienced life under colonialism, and also witnessed firsthand the events surrounding Senegals independence from France, which was granted on April 4, 1960.1 Taking the social and political context from which B is writing into consideration, it i... ...Bs Fiction. Ngambika Studies of Women in African Literature. Eds. Carole Boyce Davies and Anne Adams Graves. Trenton, NJ African World Press, 1986. 161-71. Carole Boyce, and Elaine Savory Fido. African Women Writers Toward a Literary History. A History of Twentieth-Century African Literatures. Ed. Oyekan Owomoyela. Lincoln U. of Nebraska P., 1993. 311-46. Rueschmann, Eva. Female Self-Definition and the African Community in Mariama Bs Epistolary Novel So Long a Letter. International Womens Writing N ew Landscapes of Identity. Eds. Anne E. Brown and Marjanne E. Gooz. Westport, CT Greenwood Press, 1995. 3-18. Yousaf, Nahem, The Public versus the Private in Mariama Bs Novels. The Journal of Commonwealth Literature 30.2 (1995) 85-98. Zell, Hans, et al. A New Readers Guide to African Literature. New York Heinemann, 1983.