Exile and the Female Imagination; The Nigerian Civil War, Western Ideology (Feminism), and the Poetry of Catherine Acholonu

Abstract

The author analyses two volumes of verse of Catherine Acholonu, a contemporary Nigerian poet: Nigeria in the Year 1999 and The Spring's Last Drop from two aspects.

The first main aspect of the poems she examines is the feeling of exile, being outcast from the homeland. "The texts diagnose some of Nigeria's current socioeconomic and political problems which can apply to the experience of other Africans as well."

The second part of her analysis highlights violences suffered by women in the war and in the social life. The author discusses the situation of being a woman under double oppression. The conclusion is: "Acholonu clarifies the nature of the disharmony hurting contemporary society."