Critical Perspectives on Commenwealth Literature

Sarah ANYANG AGBOR¿S text is a conceptual, historical and functional

examination of Commonwealth Literature. The text comes across

as a nice way to review some of the essential conceptual and

historical development of Commonwealth literature. This text will be

of special interest for students in Commonwealth studies.The work

responds to two ways of looking at Commonwealth literature. The fi rst

is a conceptual defi nition, historical development and diversifi cation

of Commnwealth Literature. The other is to investigate through sociological

criticism the various ways Commonwealth Literature dissents.

This comparative analysis which is not limited to authors and regions

but extends to the erstwhile and the contemporary, offers invaluable

insights into the longstanding debates surrounding the concept of

Commonwealth Literature in particular and draws conclusions that

do not pretend to close the debate but rather articulate the discursive

nature of Commonwealth Literature and the ambivalence of its ¿defi -

ning¿ parameters.

Professor Edward Oben Ako