The Slave Girl (1977 novel)

The Slave Girl
Cover of the UK 1st edition
AuthorBuchi Emecheta
Cover artistTaiwo Jegede
LanguageEnglish
GenreHistorical fiction
Published1977 (hardback)
PublisherAllison and Busby
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Pages179
AwardsJock Campbell Award from the New Statesman
Preceded byThe Bride Price 
Followed byThe Joys of Motherhood 

The Slave Girl is a 1977 novel by Nigerian writer Buchi Emecheta[1] that was published in the UK by Allison and Busby and in the US by George Braziller. It won the Jock Campbell Award from the New Statesman in 1978.[2][3] The novel was Emecheta's fourth book; it was dedicated to her editor Margaret Busby.[4]

The Slave Girl was reissued in 2018 by Omenala Press.[5]

Synopsis

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The Slave Girl is set in colonial Nigeria, in the early 1900s, and tells the story of Ogbanje Ojebeta who, following the death of her parents is sold into domestic slavery. "She finds solace among her fellow slaves but learns the painful lessons of what it means to be owned by another. As she grows into a woman she longs for freedom and for a family of her own. She realizes that she must ultimately decide her own destiny, and when the opportunity arises, makes a choice that we as modern readers might find surprising."[5]

Critical reception

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Favourable reviews of the novel appeared in publications including the New Statesman – which said: "Buchi Emecheta generates a fine sympathy with human distress; this loving novel makes a telling indictment of pagan and Christian inhumanity to women" – and the Sunday Telegraph: "Ms. Emecheta once again creates an authentic character and scene and... explains the network of customs from the past which have contributed to present attitudes."[5] Writing in The Guardian, Carol Dix observed that the novel "pales a lot of academic feminist writing into insignificance....It makes you wish more writers came from the non-white-educated-middle-classes; which is something we should be trying to encourage."[6] According to Juliana Ogunseiju's review for Africa Book Club: "It is one of the very best pre-colonial African books and is heartily recommended."[7] Anita Kern in World Literature Today stated: "Ojebeta is a welcome addition to the still too small gallery of Nigerian heroines."[8]

Awards

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Further reading

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  • Brodzki, Bella (1994), "'Changing Masters': Gender, Genre, and the Discourses of Slavery", in Margaret R. Higonnet (ed.), Borderwork: Feminist Engagements with Comparative Literature, Ithaca; London: Cornell University Press, pp. 42–60.
  • Frank, Katherine (September 1982). "The death of the slave girl: African womanhood in the novels of Buchi Emecheta". World Literature Written in English. 21 (3): 476–497. doi:10.1080/17449858208588746.
  • Tahbildar, Barnali (1997), "The Role of the Nigerian Woman in Emecheta's The Slave Girl", Postcolonial Web.

References

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  1. ^ Grimes, William (10 February 2017). "Buchi Emecheta, Nigerian Novelist, Dies at 72". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  2. ^ Ray, Mohit K., ed. (2007). The Atlantic Companion to Literature in English. Atlantic Publishers & Dist. p. 164. ISBN 9788126908325.
  3. ^ "Buchi Emecheta 1944–", Concise Major 21st Century Writers , encyclopedia.com.
  4. ^ Busby, Margaret, "Buchi Emecheta obituary", The Guardian, 3 February 2017.
  5. ^ a b c "The Slave Girl", Omenala Press.
  6. ^ Carol Dix, "Black bite: Carol Dix on women's books", The Guardian, 6 February 1975, p. 11.
  7. ^ Ogunseiju, Julianah, "The Slave Girl (by Buchi Emecheta)", Africa Book Club, 1 August 2012.
  8. ^ Kern, Anita (1979). "Review of The Slave Girl". World Literature Today. 53 (1): 172. JSTOR 40132692.
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