Tradition and innovation in the Igbo novels of Tony Ubesie

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Periodical article

Title:	Tradition and innovation in the Igbo novels of Tony Ubesie
Author:	Nwachukwu-Agbada, J.O.J.
Year:	1997
Periodical:	Research in African Literatures
Volume:	28
Issue:	1
Pages:	124-133
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Nigeria
Subjects:	Igbo language literature novels
About person:	Tony Ubesie (1949-1993)
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/3819923
Abstract:	Tony Ubesie was an Igbo writer from Nigeria, who died in 1993 at the age of 44. The publication of two of his novels in 1973 coincided with the renewed efforts of some Igbo patriots shortly after the Nigerian civil war to give the Igbo language a new impetus and image. A majority of Ubesie's novels centre on the civil war or concerns that are the fallouts of that war, including crime and banditry, materialism and opportunism, and true love. This article analyses Ubesie's novels, focusing on aspects of tradition and innovation. Ubesie made use of what he found in the Igbo literary tradition, borrowed motifs and characterization from Igbo writers before him, and recalled his readings from history, English literature, and the Holy Bible. He digested and synthesized this heritage, then applied it to issues of immediate significance and relevance to his Igbo people with a style whose foundation could be traced to these varied literary sources but whose own personal stamp was not in doubt. Bibliogr., notes, ref.