Bards and Tyrants

Bards and Tyrants is a collection of essays and book review presentations in literary journals and publisher forums within and outside Nigeria in the last decade by Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic, Chin Ce. In the preface Ce admits the inscription of Africa "in two opposing and irremediable directions by her bards and petty tyrants." While one involves "a visionary literati that seek to elevate the potentials of their educational and cultural inheritance" the other embraces "the politics of tyrannosaurs" who hasten to drag the continent to "a state of complete and total degeneracy." This latter frightening possibility is the issue which must be confronted by those engaged with contemporary African writing. The critique ranges from the journalistic criticism of the Nigerian state to more scholarly essays evaluating some critical aspects and visions of African writers and critics such as Achebe, Ngugi, Soyinka, Nwoga, Chinweizu, Emenyonu, Nnolim and several new poetry, prose and critical voices from the continent. Chin Ce's arguments for new critical directions in modern African writing present bold, and often sardonic, insights.