The Western Voice and Feminist Criticism of the Nigerian Novel

Abstract

The Western voice is one of the pioneering voices in the early development of the feminist criticism of the Nigerian novel. As a result it constantly deploys Western critical methods into the criticism of the Nigerian Novel .This paper therefore re-examines these issues using meta-criticism in order to put the feminist ideology in proper perspective in the Nigerian Novel. The feminist ideology in the Nigerian Novel tends to reduce Africa to cultural satellite of Europe. The attempts by the practitioners of feminist theory to define and align themselves with the theory have produced many strands of the same theory. Among these strands are: feminism, motherism, womanism among others, all in an effort to remain African and still relevant within the global perspectives. The paper discusses Western feminist critics' views on the Nigerian novel. The paper concludes that though the theory is gaining wide acclaim in Nigeria, what this paper advocates is womanism which is accommodative, complimentary and non-radical in its approach