The professor as war hero in selected Nigerian Biafra-novels

Abstract

'Biafra' means 'trauma' for the Ibo people. It comes as no surprise that Ibo writers keep returning to this communal trauma. Writing about it is an attempt of coping with the past, even if the writers keep repeating themselves, and seem to be laboring under what has been called 'symbolization compulsions.' The three Nigerian Biafra novels by Ibo authors which I have selected for closer analysis feature a conspicuous number of professors, lecturers, and intellectuals who take an active part in the Nigerian civil war of 1968-71 and who are continuously addressed by their academic titles. In contrast to the protagonists of the traditional campus novel, these professors are actively involved in real war activities, and the authors show that the attempt to split off Biafra from the rest of Nigeria was not just an adventure taken on by a small clique of badly advised young Ibo officers but was supported by the intellectual elite of the Ibo nation. However, the novelists refrain from any kind of glorification. Their male professors are all too human and have their own individual shortcomings, while the females excel by their resilience and capacity to suffer. Since we are dealing with historical novels, and the novelists do not attempt to rewrite history, their professors cannot win the war and their defeat is determined from the start. © Peter Lang GmbH, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften, Frankfurt am Main 2016. All rights reserved.