En/countering the New Language of Exile in Uche Nduka's The Bremen Poems

Abstract

Many African writers have been very critical of Europe in their works, especially in relation to racism and the experience of colonization. Yet, with the conditions in African countries becoming unfriendly to the careers of these writers, many of them have had to seek refuge in Europe. The New European context of African writing (which means an entry into the space of the Other) raises a number of issues about literary style in the exilic/migrant text, especially with regard to the use of literature as a means of recreating the self and articulating the way the self experiences a new cultural space. To what extent does this entry into the space of the Other imply dialogism and transformation? The present paper discusses the stylistic and discourse patterns utilized by the Nigerian poet, Uche Nduka, who has been in self-exile in Germany, in his The Bremen Poems. It analyses the images that are enlisted in the textual politics of re/identification in the poems, especially in the articulation of Europe/Germany as a productive space. It analyses the images that are enlisted in the textual politics of re/identification in the poems, especially in the articulation of Europe/Germany as a productive space.