Nigerian Novelists: Chronicles of the Nigerian Civil War

Abstract

In many instances, historical and political events during the Nigerian civil war have generated several literary works of repute.  The civil war ended in 1970 and within the next decade or two the Nigerian literary scene witnessed the publication of numerous works of poetry, drama, and especially fiction such as Chinua Achebe's Girls at War (1972) Chukwuemeka Ike’s Sunset at Dawn (1965), Elechi Amadi’s Sunset in Biafra (1973), J.P. Clark’s Casualties (1968), and Munonye's A Wreath for the Maidens (1970) based on the events of war and its aftermath. This article on the topic is galvanized by the studying of these different authors and reflecting on their portrayal of the civil war. The paper examines Nigeria Civil War and Nigerian Novelist by exploring the narratives of some of these novelists on the Civil War as well as the role of the Nigerian Novelists during and after the civil war through post-colonial and new historicism theoretical preoccupations. Even though different scholars have written on the Nigerian civil war, there is still a paucity of studies on the significant roles of Nigerian novelists during and after the war. This study, therefore, hopes to explore the different narratives of some of the Nigerian novelists on the Nigerian Civil War, bringing out the evils and the dire consequences of the civil war while providing readers with the knowledge needed to make sense of the country's current events and political climate to prevent another ugly situation from occurring.