Jagua Nana

Last updated
Jagua Nana
Jagua Nana.jpg
Author Cyprian Ekwensi
Language English
Genre Novel
Publisher Heinemann
Publication date
1961
Publication place Nigeria
Media typePrint (Paperback)
Pages192 pp

Jagua Nana is a 1961 novel by Nigerian novelist Cyprian Ekwensi. [1] The novel was later republished in 1975 as part of the influential Heinemann African Writers Series.

Contents

The novel focuses on the contradictions within the life of an aging sex worker, the title character Jagua Nana. [2] The novel is set in the city of Lagos. [3] The novel has been compared to works by Charles Dickens, in terms of its moral assessment of the city and city life, and its critique of the social problems faced by people living in those cities. [2] [3] Critics of the work in the 1980s noted that the novel relies heavily on stereotypical depictions of women, hampering its depiction of life in Africa. [1] another International edition was published June 26, 2018.

Plot

Jagua Nana is a story about the life and affairs of an aged Lagos prostitute. Jagua, in her pursuit of happiness, takes on a much younger boyfriend whom she offers to send to England to study law with her savings on the condition that they become husband and wife.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie</span> Nigerian writer (born 1977)

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian writer and activist. Regarded as a central figure in postcolonial feminist literature, she is the author of the novels Purple Hibiscus (2003), Half of a Yellow Sun (2006) and Americanah (2013). Her other works include the book of essays We Should All Be Feminists (2014); Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions (2017); a memoir, Notes on Grief (2021); and a children's book, Mama's Sleeping Scarf (2023).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nigerian literature</span>

Nigerian literature may be roughly defined as the literary writing by citizens of the nation of Nigeria for Nigerian readers, addressing Nigerian issues. This encompasses writers in a number of languages, including not only English but Igbo, Urhobo, Yoruba, and in the northern part of the county Hausa and Nupe. More broadly, it includes British Nigerians, Nigerian Americans and other members of the African diaspora.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyprian Ekwensi</span> Nigerian author (1921–2007)

Chief Cyprian Odiatu Duaka Ekwensi was a Nigerian author of novels, short stories, and children's books.

Jude Dibia is a Nigerian novelist. In 2007, he won the Ken Saro-Wiwa Prize for Prose for his novel Unbridled.

Chief Sir Ernest Emenyonu is a Nigerian academic, who is an African literature critic and professor. He was formerly head of the department of English and Literary Studies, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, and Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calabar, in that order, through the 1980s and 1990s. He was also Provost of Alvan Ikoku College of Education, now Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri, in Imo state, Nigeria (1992–1995).

Kachifo Limited is an independent publishing house based in Lagos, Nigeria. It was founded in 2004 by Muhtar Bakare. Its imprints include Farafina Books, Farafina Educational, and Prestige Books. From 2004 to 2009, it published the influential Farafina Magazine.

<i>Farafina Magazine</i> Defunct bio-monthly Nigerian magazine

Farafina Magazine was a bi-monthly Nigerian magazine published online from 2002, and in print from October 2005, until 2009 by Kachifo Limited. It was a general-interest African magazine that included non-fiction articles alongside fiction pieces and illustrations.

<i>Half of a Yellow Sun</i> 2006 novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Half of a Yellow Sun is a novel by Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It was published in 2006 by 4th Estate. The novel, set in Nigeria, tells the story of the Biafran War through the perspective of the characters Olanna, Ugwu, and Richard.

<i>The Thing Around Your Neck</i> 2009 short-story collection by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Thing Around Your Neck is a short-story collection by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, first published in April 2009 by Fourth Estate in the UK and by Knopf in the US. It received many positive reviews, including: "She makes storytelling seem as easy as birdsong" ; "Stunning. Like all fine storytellers, she leaves us wanting more".

<i>Americanah</i> 2013 novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Americanah is a 2013 novel by the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, for which Adichie won the 2013 U.S. National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. Americanah tells the story of a young Nigerian woman, Ifemelu, who immigrates to the United States to attend university. The novel traces Ifemelu's life in both countries, threaded by her love story with high school classmate Obinze. It was Adichie's third novel, published on May 14, 2013, by Alfred A. Knopf.

Albert Egbe is a Nigerian actor and producer best known for his TV roles as the original Mr. B. in Basi and Company, and Baba TC in The Thrift Collector. He was an elected executive member of the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers Congress in 2006. After Basi & Company, he built a career in entertainment by producing short films and television movies, many of which are adaptations of literary works by Nigerian writers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wana Udobang</span> Nigerian poet and broadcaster

Wana Udobang, also known as Wana Wana, is a Nigerian writer, poet, journalist, filmmaker, and television personality. Her work has appeared on the BBC, Al Jazeera, Huffington Post, BellaNaija, and The Guardian, She has been described as "one of the biggest champions of our new spoken word renaissance is taking a leap into the void."

Kiru Taye is a Nigerian writer, who specializes in romance novels.

Pauline Ada Uwakweh is a Nigerian writer and academic. Writing as Pauline Onwubiko, she published Running for Cover (1988), a children's novel giving a child's-eye view of the Nigerian civil war. She is a Professor of Literature in the English Department at North Carolina A&T State University. Her specialism is African writing and literature from the African diaspora, particularly women's writing.

Yejide Kilanko is a Nigerian Canadian fiction writer and social worker. She is known for addressing violence against women in her work. Her debut novel, Daughters Who Walk This Path, was a Canadian fiction bestseller in 2012.

<i>Freshwater</i> (novel) 2018 novel by Akwaeke Emezi

Freshwater is a 2018 autobiographical fiction novel by Nigerian writer Akwaeke Emezi. Emezi's debut novel, it tells the story of Ada, a girl with multiple ogbanje dwelling inside her. A TV series based on the novel is under development by FX.

The following is a list of events in 1977 in Nigeria.

Aiwanose Odafen is a Nigerian feminist writer. She was born in Lagos, Nigeria. Her first novel, Tomorrow I Become a Woman, was published in 2022 and her second novel, We Were Girls Once, in 2024. She attended Nigerian Turkish International Colleges, graduating in 2009. As a high school student, she won gold and silver medals in the Nigerian National Mathematics Olympiad Competition. In 2013, she graduated from Covenant University with a first-class degree in Accounting, earning the distinction of Best Graduating Student in the Department of Accounting, School of Business and College of Development Student.

References

  1. 1 2 Onyeoziri-Miller, Gloria (2012). "Intertextuality in Contemporary African Literature: Looking Forward (review)". Research in African Literatures. 43 (3): 140–141. doi:10.2979/reseafrilite.43.3.140. ISSN   1527-2044. S2CID   161119914.
  2. 1 2 Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi (2008-02-02). "Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on the joy of reading the late Nigerian novelist Cyprian Ekwensi". The Guardian. Retrieved 2016-05-04.
  3. 1 2 Pr. B. Riche and Pr.M. Bensemanne. "CITY LIFE AND WOMEN IN CYPRIAN EKWENSI'S THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY AND JAGUA NANA" (PDF). Revue Campus (8): 37–47.

Further reading