From Library Journal
Thometz's selection of popular pamphlets, originally sold in Nigeria's huge Onitsha Market from the 1940s through the 1960s, features stories, novels, plays, and advice on topics ranging from loose living to handling money. What makes this volume especially fascinating is its facsimiles of the originals, including "Drunkards Believe Bar As Heaven," "Lack of Money Is Not Lack of Sense," and "Beware of Harlots and Many Friends." Purchasers should be advised, however, that since these pamphlets are exact reproductions, the print quality is occasionally less than perfect (but still readable). The writings are both entertaining and culturally illuminating, along the lines of Western "white slave" adventures and photonovellas, and Thometz's introduction and "Reader's Guide" are fine means of acquainting oneself with this subgenre. Essential for all African and popular studies collections, to complement Emmanuel Obiechina's anthology An African Popular Literature (1973) and his Language and Theme (Howard Univ., 1990). Anthony J. Adam, Prairie View A&M Univ., TX
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From the Inside Flap
A unique anthology that brings together examples of once wildly popular but long out-of-print African market literature never intended as art: irresistibly charming, brief literary anomalies in all genres, written for entertainment, instruction, and moral guidance.
An indigenous Nigerian publishing phenomenon that was all the rage from World War II until the late 1960s, Onitsha Market literature consisted of pamphlets that contained stories, novels, plays,
discourses on the dangers of loose living, and advice on matters ranging from selecting a wife to managing your money. They carried titles such as
Lack of Money Is Not Lack of Sense,
Drunkards Believe Bar As Heaven,
No Condition Is Permanent, and
How to Write Love Letters, Toasts, and Business Letters.
Originally sold at Onitsha Market (the largest open-air market in Africa), the pamphlets have become priceless collectors? items. This anthology?facsimile reproductions of the original texts, illustrations, and cover art?now makes them available to a wider audience.
