Isidore Okpewho Research Articles

On Seeing Africa for the First Time: Orality, Memory, and the Diaspora in Isidore Okpewho'sCall Me by My Rightful Name

This paper explores the auto/biographical, panegyric, and cultural features of the different chants, and particularly that of Otis Hampton, a young African American man, in Isidore Okpewho’s Call Me by My Rightful Name within the contexts of orality, memory, and the diaspora. The paper also discusses how Otis’s panegyric poem becomes an archaeological artifact needed to probe his memory and ancestry to unravel the mysteries of the ancient and the contemporary cord that links Black Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States. Finally, the paper considers how this cord foregrounds the infamous triangular slave trade, black consciousness, and resistance both on the continent and in the diaspora.

Myth, Theory and Area Studies

Journal Compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Religion Compass 3/1 (2009): 1–6, 10.1111/j.1749-8171.2008.00130.x [Please note: the three articles referred to in this editorial (Segal, Shuxian and van Binsbergen) are published in Volume 3, Issue 2]. Blackwell Publishing Ltd Oxford, UK RECO eligion Compass 1749-8171 © 200 The Aut or Journal Compil tion © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd 30 0.111 /j. 749-8171.20 8.00130.x D cember 2008 0??? 6 rigi l A ticle EDIT RI L aniela Merolla and Mineke Schipper

Ezenwa-Ohaeto: Chants and the Minstrel

Ezenwa-Ohaeto's life encapsulates what the critic and novelist Isidore Okpewho has described as the "dignity of intellectual labour." This becomes clear as we take into consideration, the range of his production as a poet, scholar, and occasional journalist. Ezenwa-Ohaeto's work grapples with a vast range of areas of specifically Nigerian literature and culture in the 20th century, but in general with the literature of the postcolonial world as they have come to express distinct, recognizable moral and aesthetic values. His untimely death in 2005 therefore, has implication for the study of this literature, particularly because it marks the closure of the questic imagination of a poet/scholar whose interventions were critical in the formation of the critical values of contemporary African writing. This paper examines Ezenwa-Ohaeto's contributions in the light of this, and puts in some perspective, aspects of his life and work, and its implications in the formal canon that he helped to shape and stabilize.

Feminization of poverty: A reading of Okpewho's <i>the last duty</i>

This work examines patriarchy's ability to deform the woman in Okpewho's The Last Duty and affirms the centrality of choice as the basic weapon in her struggle for meaningful existence in the new millennium. Since the fundamental structures in the society have pushed her to the periphery of existence, whenever she comes to public focus, it is to enact the drama of immanence. Isidore Okpewho's The Last Duty continues this discussion and places the woman where she has always been made to serve – among the poor and weak people. LWATI: A Journal of Contemporary Research Vol. 3 () 2006: pp.90-97

The Rhetoric of a New Essentialism versus Multiple Worlds: Isidore Okpewho's Call Me by My Rightful Name and Buchi Emecheta's The New Tribe in Conversation

This paper contrasts two recently published novels by Nigerian writers living in the Diaspora — Isidore Okpewho's Call Me by My Rightful Name and Buchi Emecheta's The New Tribe. It demonstrates how Emecheta, long resident in London, embeds her fiction in the concrete realities of the everyday. She rejects the myths attached to an idealized Africa. In so doing, she relies on the rhetoric of metonymy. Okpewho, by contrast, a relatively recent migrant to the USA, harnesses a strategic form of essentialism, as he calls for black people everywhere to return, metaphorically, to the language and culture of their African homeland. This call is understood within the context of the racist American culture Okpewho, and some of his colleagues from Ibadan, confront. However, ultimately, the paper critiques this essentialism and the metaphoric language attached to it, in terms of its reproduction of some of the old, idealized ways of representing Africa and also in gender terms, given how patriarchal this revival of roots turns out to be. Finally, it demonstrates the profound difference in gender terms between Okpewho's and Emecheta's manipulations of a story taken from the oral tradition.

BOOK REVIEW: Kalu, Anthonia C. BROKEN LIVES AND OTHER STORIES. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2003.

Reviewed by: Broken Lives and Other Stories Joseph McLaren Kalu, Anthonia C. 2003. Broken Lives and Other Stories. Athens: Ohio University Press. 183 pp. $19.95 (paper). As indicated in the foreword, by noted critic Emmanuel Obiechina, the Nigerian Civil War, 1967–1970, has been a subject for numerous Nigerian literary works. The Eastern Region, which named itself Biafra, broke away from the federal republic but could not sustain its independence, and as a result of famine and overpowering military force, was subdued. On the Biafran side was the argument that "the Biafran secession was a popular and spontaneous desire. It was not just an alternative; it was a last resort" (Nwankwo and Ifejika 1970:269). The war literature was produced by "the major writers of the day," including Achebe, Okigbo, Nwapa, and Ekwensi, who were "involved on the Biafran side." Among the many fiction titles are Isidore Okpewho's The Last Duty (1976), Buchi Emecheta's Destination Biafra (1982), and Ken Saro-Wiwa's Sozaboy: A Novel in Rotten English (1994). Although he does not emphasize the women's issues of Broken Lives and Others Stories, Obiechina calls the pieces "unforgettable tales with extraordinary clarity of vision and insights" (Obiechina xii, xiv). [End Page 83] With a useful glossary, the collection suggests in the author's preface the importance of lived experience and memory. When Kalu mentions "deferred dreams" in remembering "irretrievable childhoods," she evokes the African American poet Langston Hughes (xxi). The ten stories are titled "Independence," "Angelus," "The Last Push," "Camwood," "Broken Lives," "Children's Day," "Ogbanje Father," "Relief Duty," "Osondu," and "The Gift." The opening stories are told from the perspective of a young girl, whose school experiences are rendered through straightforward storytelling. "Independence" presents the transition to nationhood, and recollections of songs and a marching competition are mingled with details of family relationships. Independence is likened to a masquerade that "would come and carry us all into the unknown" (19). The sequencing of stories is effective, for "Angelus" also deals with school years. Although muted by war anxieties, the mood is optimistic because of "the promise that had been made to our great, great-grandparents at colonization" of becoming "Africa's future" (32). The meaning of war is brought home by the bombing of the Roman Catholic mission school, the death of staff members, and the departure of the narrator, who becomes alienated from her schoolmates after she leaves in a military Jeep sent by her father. In the "Last Push," the narrator indicates how young children know "the deadly screeches of the latest explosives from the shrills [sic] of older, more familiar ones" (45). The characters are aware of the political "recognition" of Biafra by Gabon and France, but this news causes the ill-founded hope that "recognition" augured the end of the conflict, which brought "months of fear, uncertainty, hunger, and, always, death" (49). The statement "after the war" is compared to the "certainty that Christians speak of Heaven," and the complex reactions include conceptions of "nation" and "madness" (54–55). In the next story, "Camwood," there is a shift to a young girl's preparation for marriage. Ulomma, who grinds camwood, used to make body lotion, has left a win-the-war school. Her gender and age group are symbolized by grinding camwood, which "Like a girl's life, it was difficult at best" (75). The title story, "Broken Lives," advances time to cease-fires when areas such as Akasi have fallen to federal troops. The predicament of those returning is evident in unornamented, stark statements: "The only sure thing was the brutality of the enemy troops, who had brought soldiers from other countries to help restore peace and unity" (92). Here Kalu focuses on a postwar reality, involving fear of abduction and rape, the latter painfully portrayed as a tragedy that traditionally demanded "propitiation rituals" (96). The tenuous position of women such as Nneoma is reflected in her abduction and what it means for the "new peace" (105). The story "Children's Day" returns to childhood characters, dislocation, and situations where "people mostly lived fragmented lives" (115), the dominant theme of the collection. Despite "broken lives," the continuity of familial expectations...

Broken Lives and Other Stories (review)

Reviewed by: Broken Lives and Other Stories Joseph McLaren Kalu, Anthonia C. 2003. Broken Lives and Other Stories. Athens: Ohio University Press. 183 pp. $19.95 (paper). As indicated in the foreword, by noted critic Emmanuel Obiechina, the Nigerian Civil War, 1967–1970, has been a subject for numerous Nigerian literary works. The Eastern Region, which named itself Biafra, broke away from the federal republic but could not sustain its independence, and as a result of famine and overpowering military force, was subdued. On the Biafran side was the argument that "the Biafran secession was a popular and spontaneous desire. It was not just an alternative; it was a last resort" (Nwankwo and Ifejika 1970:269). The war literature was produced by "the major writers of the day," including Achebe, Okigbo, Nwapa, and Ekwensi, who were "involved on the Biafran side." Among the many fiction titles are Isidore Okpewho's The Last Duty (1976), Buchi Emecheta's Destination Biafra (1982), and Ken Saro-Wiwa's Sozaboy: A Novel in Rotten English (1994). Although he does not emphasize the women's issues of Broken Lives and Others Stories, Obiechina calls the pieces "unforgettable tales with extraordinary clarity of vision and insights" (Obiechina xii, xiv). [End Page 83] With a useful glossary, the collection suggests in the author's preface the importance of lived experience and memory. When Kalu mentions "deferred dreams" in remembering "irretrievable childhoods," she evokes the African American poet Langston Hughes (xxi). The ten stories are titled "Independence," "Angelus," "The Last Push," "Camwood," "Broken Lives," "Children's Day," "Ogbanje Father," "Relief Duty," "Osondu," and "The Gift." The opening stories are told from the perspective of a young girl, whose school experiences are rendered through straightforward storytelling. "Independence" presents the transition to nationhood, and recollections of songs and a marching competition are mingled with details of family relationships. Independence is likened to a masquerade that "would come and carry us all into the unknown" (19). The sequencing of stories is effective, for "Angelus" also deals with school years. Although muted by war anxieties, the mood is optimistic because of "the promise that had been made to our great, great-grandparents at colonization" of becoming "Africa's future" (32). The meaning of war is brought home by the bombing of the Roman Catholic mission school, the death of staff members, and the departure of the narrator, who becomes alienated from her schoolmates after she leaves in a military Jeep sent by her father. In the "Last Push," the narrator indicates how young children know "the deadly screeches of the latest explosives from the shrills [sic] of older, more familiar ones" (45). The characters are aware of the political "recognition" of Biafra by Gabon and France, but this news causes the ill-founded hope that "recognition" augured the end of the conflict, which brought "months of fear, uncertainty, hunger, and, always, death" (49). The statement "after the war" is compared to the "certainty that Christians speak of Heaven," and the complex reactions include conceptions of "nation" and "madness" (54–55). In the next story, "Camwood," there is a shift to a young girl's preparation for marriage. Ulomma, who grinds camwood, used to make body lotion, has left a win-the-war school. Her gender and age group are symbolized by grinding camwood, which "Like a girl's life, it was difficult at best" (75). The title story, "Broken Lives," advances time to cease-fires when areas such as Akasi have fallen to federal troops. The predicament of those returning is evident in unornamented, stark statements: "The only sure thing was the brutality of the enemy troops, who had brought soldiers from other countries to help restore peace and unity" (92). Here Kalu focuses on a postwar reality, involving fear of abduction and rape, the latter painfully portrayed as a tragedy that traditionally demanded "propitiation rituals" (96). The tenuous position of women such as Nneoma is reflected in her abduction and what it means for the "new peace" (105). The story "Children's Day" returns to childhood characters, dislocation, and situations where "people mostly lived fragmented lives" (115), the dominant theme of the collection. Despite "broken lives," the continuity of familial expectations...

The African Diaspora: African Origins and New World Identities by Isidore Okpewho, Carole Boyce Davies and Ali A. Mazrui, eds.

The African Diaspora: African Origins and New World Identities by Isidore Okpewho, Carole Boyce Davies and Ali A. Mazrui, eds.

Meditations on African Literature

Preface by Femi Osofisan & Dubem Okafor The Cacophonous Terrain of Nigerian/African Literature by Dubem Okafor Language, Theory, and Modern African Literature: Some More Questions by Wole Ogundele On the Concept Commonwealth Literature by Isidore Okpewho Who Counts? De-Ciphering the Canon by Bernth Lindfors Five Nigerian Novel by Romanus Egudu Things Fall Apart: Problems in Constructing an Alternative Ethnography by Charlie Sugnet Historicity and the Un-Eve-ing of the African Woman: Achebe's Novels by Chimalum Nwankwo Over-Determined Contradictions: History & Ideology in a A Man of the People by Dubem Okafor The True Fantasies of Grace Ogot, Storyteller by Peter Nazareth The Anglo-African, the Woman Question, and Imperial Discourse by Michael J.C. Echeruo Impersonation in Some African Ritual Theater by Sam Ukala Exile and Home: Africa in Caribbean Theater by Osita Okagbue One Year in the First Instance by Biodun Jeyifo Select Bibliography Index

The African Diaspora: African Origins and New World Identities

The African Diaspora: African Origins and New World Identities

The African Diaspora: African Origins and New World Identities

Introduction by Isidore Okpewho, Carole Boyce Davies, and Ali Mazrui The Diaspora: Orientations and Determinations Michael J. C. Echeruo, An African Diaspora: The Ontological Project Maureen Warner-Lewis, Cultural Reconfigurations in the African Caribbean Elliott P. Skinner, The Restoration of African Identity for a New Millenium Addressing the Constraints Joseph E. Inikori, Slaves or Serfs?: A Comparative Study of Slavery and Serfdom in Europe and Africa Richard Price, Modernity, Memory, Martinique Peter P. Ekeh, Kinship and State in African and African American Histories Jack Blocker, Wages of Migration: Jobs and Homeownership Among Black and White Workers in Muncie, Indiana, 1920 Ira K. Blake, The Significance of Cognitive-Linguistic Orientation for Academic Well Being in African American Children Sharon Aneta Bryant, The Relationship of Place of Birth and Health Status Race, Gender, and Image Celia M. Azevedo, Images of Africa and the Haiti Revolution in American and Brazilian Abolitionism Kimberly Welch, Our Hunger is Our Song: The Politics of Race in Cuba, 1900-1920 Antonio Benitez-Rojo, The Role of Music in the Emergence of Afro-Cuban Culture Sally Price, The Centrality of Margins: Art, Gender and African American Creativity Eliana G. Ramos Bennett, Gabriela Cravo e Canela: Jorge Amado and the Myth of the Sexual Mulatta in Brazilian Culture Patience Elabor-Idemudia, Gender and the New African Diaspora: African Immigrant Women in the Canadian Labor Force Sandra L. Richards, Horned Ancestral Masks, Shakespearean Actor Boys, and Scotch-Inspired Set Girls: Social Relations in Nineteenth-Century Jamaican Jonkonnu Creativity, Spirituality, and Identity Oyekan Owomoyela, From Folklore to Literature: The Route from Roots in the African World Jean Rahier, Blackness as a Process of Creolization: The Afro-Esmeraldian Decimas (Ecuador) Omoniyi Afolabi, The (T)Error of Invisibility: Ellison and Cruz e Souza Adetayo Alabi, Recover, Not Discover: Africa in Walcott's Dream on Monkey Mountain and Philip's Looking for Livingstone Ali A. Mazrui, Islam and the African Diaspora: The Impact of Islamigration Pierre Damien-Mvuyekure, From Legba to Papa Labas: New World Metaphysical Self/Refashioning in Ishmael ReedOs Mumbo Jumbo Robert Elliott Fox, Diasporacentricism and Black Aural Texts David Evans, The Reinterpretation of African Musical Instruments in the United States Nkiru Nzegwu, The Concept of Modernity in Contemporary African Art LeGrace Benson, Habits of Attention: Persistence of Lan Ginee in Haiti Andrea Frohne, Representing Jean-Michel Basquiat Charles Martin, Optic Black: Implied Texts and the Colors of Photography Keith Q. Warner, Caribbean Cinema, or Cinema in the Caribbean? Reconnecting with Africa Laura J. Pires-Hester, The Emergence of Bilateral Diaspora Ethnicity Among Cape Verdean-Americans Alvin B. Tillery, Jr., Black Americans and the Creation of America's Africa Policies: The De-Racialization of Pan-African Politics Joseph McLaren, Alice Walker and the Legacy of African American Discourse on Africa Joyce Ann Joyce, African-Centered Womanism: Connecting Africa to the Diaspora

Soyinka's Euripides: Postcolonial Resistance or Avant-Garde Adaptation?

After encountering Isidore Okpewho's essay Soyinka, Euripides, and the Anxiety of Empire (in RAL 30A: 32-55), I was challenged not only to read Euripides's The Bacchae through the lens of Soyinka's adaptation but further to read Soyinka's The Bacchae of Euripides as a reac? tion to the source text through the lens of Okpewho's critical eyes. This kind of comparative reading entails unraveling a dense web of intertextu? ality inherent in a dramaturgical approach to contemporary theatrical adaptations of classical plays. First, there are my own?multiple readings of at least five translation/adaptations of The Bacchae over a 35-year period. Second, there are Soyinka's essays about Yoruba myths and cosmology; his connection to and interpretation of the god Ogun and his significance to Yoruba society; his critique of, as well as insistence upon, the community's need of the carrier and scapegoating rituals of purification for the New Year among the Yoruba, Ijo, and Onitsha that surface in such plays as The Strong Breed and Death and the King's Horseman. In addition there is the fact that Soyinka mastered English and European drama under the tutelage of G. Wilson Knight and with the encouragement ofthe Royal Court Theater managed to have a young playwright's dream fulfilled: full-scale produc? tions of The Swamp Dwelkrs and The Invention within a year of his graduation; and The Lion and the Jewel and The Road in London in 1966. Complicating this reading further is the fact that The Bacchae of Euripides was commissioned by the National Theatre, a politically sawy move since Soyinka had proven his prowess as an anglophone African playwright whose theater met Eurocentric standards but relied on Afrocentric aes?

Once upon a Kingdom: Myth, Hegemony, and Identity. By Isidore Okpewho (Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1998) 252 pp. $39.95 cloth $19.95 paper

<i>Once upon a Kingdom: Myth, Hegemony, and Identity</i>. By Isidore Okpewho (Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1998) 252 pp. $39.95 cloth $19.95 paper

Isidore Okpewho. &lt;italic&gt;Once Upon a Kingdom: Myth, Hegemony, and Identity&lt;/italic&gt;. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 1998. Pp. xiii, 252. Cloth $39.95, paper $19.95

Isidore Okpewho. Once Upon a Kingdom: Myth, Hegemony, and Identity. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 1998. Pp. xiii, 252. Cloth $39.95, paper $19.95 Get access Okpewho Isidore. Once Upon a Kingdom: Myth, Hegemony, and Identity. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 1998. Pp. xiii, 252. Cloth $39.95, paper $19.95. Elizabeth Tonkin Elizabeth Tonkin Queen's University of Belfast Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The American Historical Review, Volume 105, Issue 1, February 2000, Pages 321–322, https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr/105.1.321 Published: 01 February 2000

Isidore Okpewho: The epic in Africa: towards a poetics of the oral performance. [Revised paperback edition.] xvii, 288 pp. New York: Columbia University Press, 1991. $20.

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Reviews

Social Order and the General Theory of Strategy by Alexander Atkinson, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1981. xi plus 305 pp. including appendices and bibliography. £8,50 paperback. Arms for Africa: Military Assistance and Foreign Policy in the Developing World edited by Bruce E. Arlinghaus, Lexington Books, and D.C. Heath and Co., Lexington (Massachusetts), 1983. xi plus 233 pp. including figures, tables and notes. 126,95. Myth in Africa: A Study of its Aesthetic and Cultural Relevance by Isidore Okpewho, Cambridge University Press, London, 1983. x plus 305 pp. including appendix, notes, bibliography and index. R.17,10 paperback. Moderne Afrika by A.P.J. van Rensburg, De Jager‐HAUM Publishers, Pretoria; 1983. viii plus 317 pp. including bibliography and index. R.17,95. Transformations in Slavery: A History of Slavery in Africa by Paul E. Lovejoy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1983. xvi plus 349 pp. including maps, tables, notes, index and bibliography. R.20,55. Slavery, Colonialism and Economic Growth in Dahomey, 1640–1960 by Patrick Manning, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1982. xvii plus 446 pp. including maps, tables, figures, notes, appendices, bibliography and index. 1178,75. Tanzania; A Political Economy by Andrew Coulson Oxford University Press, and Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1982. 394 pp. including maps, tables, notes, bibliography and index. £6,95 paperback. Tanzania: An African Experiment by Roger Yeager Westview Press, Boulder (Colorado), and Gower, Aldershot (England), 1982. xii plus 136 pp. including map, illustrations, tables, notes, bibliography and index. 8.30,34. Afrika‐Kartenwerk, Zentrale Orte, 1969: Südafrika (Moçambique, Swaziland, Republik Südafrika) edited by Ulrich Freitag, el al. and annotated by Joseph Matznetter and Bernd Wiese, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Bonn‐Bad Godesberg, and Gebruder Borntraeger Verlagsbuchhandlung, Berlin and Stuttgart, 1983. 1:1 000 000, S9 (Series S, Sheet 9). DM25,95. Essays, on African Marriage in Southern Africa edited by Eileen Jensen Krige and John L. Comaroff, Juta and Co., Cape Town and Johannesburg, 1981. xvii plus 205 pp. including references and index. R.24,95. R.12,75 paperback. Black Gold: The Mozambican Miner, Proletarian and Peasant by Ruth First, Harvester Press, Brighton (England), 1983. xxi plus 252 pp. including illustrations, bibliography, appendices and notes. $30,00. Namibia: The Last Colony edited by Reginald Green, Marja‐Liisa Kil‐junen and Kimmo Kiljunen, Longman, London, 1981. 310 pp. including maps, figures, appendices, bibliography and index. R.36,50. La Namibie vue de l'Intérieur by Christine von Garnier Berger‐Levrault, Paris, 1984. 189 pp. including annexures, bibliography and postscript. FF90. Perspectives on Namibia: Past and Present edited by Christopher Saunders, Centre for African Studies, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, 1983. 162 pp. including bibliography. R.3,50 paperback. Families Divided: The Impact of Migrant Labour in Lesotho by Colin Murray, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, and Ravan Press, Johannesburg, 1981. xvi plus 219 pp. including tables, figures, appendices, notes, bibliography and index. R.38,35. The Accord of Nkomati: Context and Content by Gerhard Erasmus South African Institute of International Affairs, Johannesburg, 1984. 33 pp. R5,00 paperback. Living under Apartheid: Aspects of Urbanization and Social Change in South Africa edited by David M. Smith, George Allen and Unwin, London, 1982. 256 pp. including tables, figures, bibliography and index. £ 18,00. Understanding Revolution in South Africa by Calvin A. Woodward Juta and Co., Cape Town and Johannesburg, 1983. 70 pp. R8,95 paperback. South African Politics by Leonard Thompson and Andrew Prior David Philip, Cape Town, 1982. 255 pp. including maps, tables and index. R12,00 paperback. Constitutional Change in South Africa: The Next Five Years edited by W.H.B. Dean and Dirk van Zyl Smit, Juta and Co., Cape Town and Johannesburg, 1983. 124 pp. including tables, figures, notes and references. R9,25 paperback. A Documentary History of Indian South Africans edited by Surendra Bhana and Bridglal Pachai, David Philip, Cape Town, and Hoover Institution Press, Stanford (California), 1984. vii plus 306 pp. including bibliographical note and index. R15,00 paperback. History in Black and White: An Analysis of South African School History Textbooks by Elizabeth Dean, Paul Hartmann and May Katzen, UNESCO, Paris, 1983. 137 pp. including appendices and references. $15,00 paperback.

Eroticism in Baluyia Body Arts

Eroticism in Baluyia Body Arts

The Last Duty

The Last Duty by Isidore Okpewho is a novel of Nigerian conflict though thinly disguised under names of mythical combatants, Simbia and Zonda. It is an intensely felt story of war, yet in one sense not a war novel. There is little fighting described. The author concerns himself with a village in Federally occupied Simbia and focuses upon greed and jealousies given new life by tensions of civil war. The central characters are Aku, wife of a man jailed for suspected pro-rebel activities; Major Ali Idris, Federal commander aiming only at humanity and tolerance in a world that denies both; and Toje, a crooked local chief and entrepreneur who seeks to turn circumstances of war to his ownfinancial advantage, pursuing corruption of his peacetime activities that are now only reinforced by national emergency. The concentration is then on people and honor and honesty with which they maintain such integrity under ferocious pressure of war, which debases moral and makes evil a virtue. The structure of novel is unusual and highly calculated. Okpewho calls it the collective evidence technique. It is in essence a series of personal statements indicating individual reaction of protagonists to composite circumstances which they all share. segment thus adds afurther dimension to tale by exposing another separate point of view. When all compounded, these make social statement. The device is a mode that recognizes that social is quite literally compound of individualized experiences. The language at first seems stilted, even awkward, for there is no obvious attempt at individualizing it to match a diction appropriate to speech of any one character. Okpewho argues that this is a deliberate literary device. There have been artistic problems in creating an appropriate English speech in African writing, and as author observes, Each of these people would speak well in their own native tongues anyway...I think African literature has now had a painful surfeit of attempts to reproduce so-called 'rhythm' or 'flavour' of traditional languages... Our traditional languages know no social distinctions,...as a matter of fact, poor country bumpkin speaks better, more idiomatic vernacular than us 'emancipated' ones: that's a social fact, perhaps a socio-historical fact. Okpewho describes his own concept of this novel: This essentially is tragedy of any civil war: lofty political speeches, declarations, etc., take little notice of lives of small people involved in war, yet have far-reaching effects on their fortunes. Why that title The Last Duty? Basically because story makes point that a man's ultimate concern, his 'last duty', is to his conscience his deep human conviction of what he must do in accordance with dictates of his manhood or his sense of justice. It is not an original philosophy, yet it needs restating repeatedly and it is heart of all that humane understanding to which a writer must inevitably address himself. Here, when it is in a new context and set in history of an event that engaged conscience of world, its reiteration is more challenging and more profound.