The Word Behind Bars and the Paradox of Exile

This study grew out of a workshop at Northwestern University organized in 1994 by the Institute for Advanced Study and Research in the African Humanities. The workshop brought together a group of African writers, including many who suffered imprisonment in their home countries and/or exile abroad. This collection represents their assessments - in prose, poetry and drama - of the many facets of the exile experience. The papers are as graphic as they are varied in their subject matter and mode of communication. The interest of this collection lies not only in the expressiveness of the works, but also in the varied terms the authors employ to narrate and contextualize their personal experiences as well as their visions for the future. A fusion of the personal and the political, this book offers a perspective on conditions of literary production in many parts of Africa today.