characters and voice the Bildgunroman Tradition in selected Third Generation Nigeria Novels

Background to the Study

Early twenty-first century witnessed the emergence of new voices in Nigerian literature, especially, the novel genre.These voices whom Pius Adesanmi and Chris Dunton have labelled “Third Generation,” may have consciously adopted the German Bildungsroman tradition. The style of exploring the moral and psychological growth of the main character has become ubiquitous in most contemporary Nigerian novels. In his A Glossary of Literary Terms, M.H. Abrams defines the Bildungsroman as: “the development of the protagonist‟s mind and character, in the passage from childhood through varied experiences and often through a spiritual crisis into maturity, which usually involves recognition of one‟s identity and role in the new world” (193). Despite Abram‟s broad illustration of the form, most critics continue to question its existence and viability within and beyond German literature.The genres flexibility allows for varieties across cultures and gives it a universal appeal. Bildungsromanis believed to originate from Germany in late eighteenth century, spread to various Western countries in the nineteenth century, and to other parts of the world in the twentieth and twenty-first century. Germanist and non-Germanist scholars continue to debate over particular texts as prototypes, main thematic and narrative features,and its consideration as a literary genre or subgenre. Susan Gohlman opine that “there is no agreement on what constitute a Bildungsroman or which novels belong to the tradition” (228). Franco Moretti writes that:“If history can make Cultural forms necessary, it can make them impossible as well, and this is what the war [WW1] did to the Bildungsroman” (229). Moretti thinks that the

form ended with the world wars. Heargues that the world wars impacted negativity on the development of the Bildungsroman andobserves that modernism became the framework of artistic expression after the wars.

Modernism rejects traditional ways and embrace new ideas. Modernist fiction emphasise the individual rather than society. It deals with the condition of man. The classical Bildungsroman follows the development and integration of a male protagonist, but the modernist hero refuse to be assimilated because he has lost faith in the society. James Joyce,A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man appeared at a time when many scholars regard the Bildungsroman as a phase that has ended. A Portrait narrates Stephen Dadalus Journey from childhood to the years of maturity. It concentrates on Stephen‟s spiritual liberation from the bonds of family, nationality and religion. Dadalus, experiences the theme of alienation, exile and enstrangement that mark the novel as a modernist Bildungsroman (Mahadin etal 17).

Modernist studies further expanded the scope of the Bildungsroman in order to accommodate non western narratives. Some of the best narratives on the form appeared during the modernist period. Tobias Boes, a modernist critic agree that the form has expanded fromits tradional roots when he says that:

The rise of feminist, post-colonical and minority studies during the 1980s and 90s led to an expansion of the traditional Bildungsroman definition; the genre was broadened to include coming-of-age narratives that bear cursory resemblance to nineteenth-centery European models. In the wake of this expansion, scholarsof modernism began to see their period as an

era of transition from metropolitan novels of formation and social affirmation to increasingly global andfragmentary narrative of transformation & rebellion (231).

This development, in turn, has had profound effect on the reception of modernist novels as critics beganreconceptualize the modernist era as a period of transition from metropolitan, nationalist discourse to post-colonial and post- imperial ones (Boes 240). Second wave feminist movement and leftist ideologies popularized the form among women,gay,lesbian, working class and postcolonial groups. Feminist critics further extend the genre by introducing gender perspective into the Bildungsroman criticism.

The Nigerian third generation variantmake upsome of theadditions. Third generation NigerianBildungsromane istheoretically linked to the tradition. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it priotises the Nigerian experience, Nigerian setting, protagonist and growth process.German scholars accuse English Department of using the form far too widely that it hasbecome divorced from its ancestral home. English scholars claim that Goethe is not the primary model for the English Bildungsroman; and that, outside the German tradition, the form exists. Twenty-first century authors, especially females and minority novelists have rewritten the genre in order to account for there distint experience. This study attempts to read the selected texts as unique examples of post- colonial Nigerian Bildungsromane. It proposes a defining criterion for reading the selected texts as variations of the extended model.

Bildungsroman in thiscontext is a fictional narrative which follows the maturation or growth of the main character (male or female) from naivety to experience.The growth is not just physical or psychological, but involves awakening to limitations and the

attainment of cognition, change and awareness. This variant differs from the European model that sees marriage, adulthood and social integration as its end point. The study argues for the transformaion of the protagonist (male and female) from childhood or childlike ignoranceto maturity. It concentrates on identifying characteristics of the Bildungsroman in selected third generation Nigerian novels. The structure the novels under study will show that growth is a continuous process, this is why the novels lacks complete denouement.

The social-cultural background of each novel determines the growth process of the protagonists. This implies that the environment plays a virtal role in the maturation process of the protagonist and quest for self autonomy. Consideration of the social- cultural background of each text will create room for its classification into political, ethinic, female and feminist Bildungsroman. The selected texts are Chris Abani‟s Graceland and Helon Habila‟s Waiting for an Angel categorise as male Bildungsroman. while KaineAgary‟sYellow-Yellow and Sefi Atta‟s EverythingGoodWillCome fall under the femaleBildungsroman.

The researchalso shows that contemporary Nigerian novelists have re- conceptualised, re-written, and indigenised the Bildungsroman form to account for the political and socio – economic challenges of the era in which they live, which is a particular period of Nigerian history, precisely, the General Babangida and late General Sani Abacha eras. The import of this study lies in the fact that the journeys of each protagonist is auniquecontribution, and example of variations in third generation Nigerian Bildungsromane. The protagonists grow from childhood or childlike features to a more mature understanding of their world and situation.

For instance, Helon Habila‟s WaitingforanAngel examines the challenges faced by writers and journalists under harsh regimes of military dictators. Chris Abani focuses on the effects of multicultural, hybrid society, which Nigeria has become, on the development of the individual shortly after the civil war. Sefi Atta and Kaine Agary write on the female experience, but their appropriations of the form differ. Agary follows the coming of age of her protagonist from a more radical perspective. The socio-cultural background of each narrative creates room for variations within the study of the Bildungsroman in Nigerian literature. Thus, we can discuss the texts above under political Bildungsroman, ethnic Bildungsroman, female Bildungsroman and feminist Bildungsroman. The study carries out a textual and intertextual reading and analysis of the purposely selected texts. The texts are written by Nigerians.Characters are from the Nigerian environment and the novels conform to the pattern of the prose genre such as setting, plot, characterisation, introduction, complication, climax and denouement. Regardless of gender differences, novels labelled Bildungsroman in the Nigerian context are essentially those of becoming.