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'Imagined States' examines representations of the law in British and Nigerian high-brow, middle-brow and popular fiction and journalism. Drawing on a rich range of examples, the book focuses on the imaginative role that the state of exception played in the application of indirect rule during British colonialism and in the legal machinations of the postcolonial state. Discussion includes works by Chinua Achebe, Joyce Cary, Cyprian Ekwensi and Edgar Wallace, as well as a range of Nigerian market literature and journalism from between 1900 and 1966.
Key Features
¿ Presents a new understanding of a range of canonical and non-canonical British and Nigerian novels
¿ Draws on rare archives of Nigerian newspaper reports and local government papers from the period
¿ Analyses a range of literature including: Chinua Achebe's 'No Longer at Ease' and 'A Man of the People'; Joyce Cary's 'Mister Johnson'; Cyprian Ekwensi's 'People of the City' and 'Jagua Nana'; J. O. Nnadozie's 'Beware of Harlots' and 'Many Friends'; R. Okonkwo's 'Never Trust All that Love You'; and Edgar Wallace's Sanders series.
Katherine Isobel Baxter is Reader in English Literature at Northumbria University. She is the author of Joseph Conrad and the Swan Song of Romance (2010) and the co-editor of The Edinburgh Companion to the First World War and the Arts (Edinburgh University Press, 2017), Conrad and Language (Edinburgh University Press, 2016) and Joseph Conrad and the Performing Arts (2009). She is general editor of the journal English.
List of contents
Acknowledgements; Introduction: Literature, Imagination and the State of Exception; Chapter One: 'Natural Justice, Equity and Good Conscience': History, Politics and Law in Nigeria, 1900-1966; Chapter Two: 'I am the law': District Commissioner Fiction and the State of Exception; Chapter Three: 'Seeking a Legal Form': Joyce Cary's Mister Johnson; Chapter Four: 'Beast of No Nation': Bribery, Corruption, and Late Colonial Administration in No Longer At Ease; Chapter Five: 'Written in the Interest of the People': Representing the Law in Cyprian Ekwensi and Market Literature; Chapter Six: 'Sensational Coverage of a Sensational Trial': Treason, Journalism and the State; Chapter Seven: Violence and the Law in A Man of the People; Conclusion: Imagined States; Bibliography.
About the author
Katherine Isobel Baxter is Reader in English Literature at Northumbria University. She is the author of 'Joseph Conrad and the Swan Song of Romance' (2010) and the co-editor of 'The Edinburgh Companion to the First World War and the Arts' (Edinburgh University Press, 2017), 'Conrad and Language' (Edinburgh University Press, 2016) and 'Joseph Conrad and the Performing Arts' (2009). She is general editor of the journal 'English'.
Summary
Imagined States examines representations of the law in British and Nigerian high-brow, middle-brow and popular fiction and journalism. It reads works by Chinua Achebe, Joyce Cary, Cyprian Ekwensi and Edgar Wallace, together with a range of Nigerian market literature and journalism.
