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