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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Black Orpheus and the Mbari Club: partners in mid-century African literary and artistic efflorescence
Author:Yesufu, Abdul R.
Year:1989
Periodical:Africana Research Bulletin
Volume:16
Issue:1-2
Pages:24-51
Language:English
Geographic term:Nigeria
Subject:literary journals
Abstract:'Black Orpheus' began publication in September 1957, under the aegis of the Ministry of Education of the Western Regional Government of Nigeria. The cultural awakening it initiated and the ideals it stood for provided the impetus for discussions held by a group of writers and artists who gravitated towards the magazine, and who were instrumental in founding the Mbari Writers' and Artists' Club in Ibadan in July 1961. The article traces the symbiotic relationship between 'Black Orpheus' and the Mbari Club: what Mbari was and what it did; how it came to be closely associated with 'Black Orpheus', taking over responsibility for the magazine in 1962; the role it played in sustaining the magazine and the role the magazine played in turn as a house quarterly of the Mbari Club. In its capacity as an embryo publishing house, its offering of inspiration to young African writers as well as to those already well-established, and its fostering of dramatic activities in their entirety, the Mbari Club sought out and encouraged the flowering of the literary and artistic cultures of Nigeria, and of Africa in general. In this it developed a true tradition of positive collaboration with 'Black Orpheus', both bodies being attracted by identical issues and aiming at identical goals. App., bibliogr., notes, ref.
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