Title as a Clue to Magical Realism in Selected Anglophone African Post-colonial Novels

This study deals with realism of titles as one of the hallmarks of postcolonial African literature. Conducted through the theoretical lens of Gérard Genette’s ‘paratextuality’, which echoes the work of other pioneers of ‘titrology’ such as Claude Duchet (1973) and Léo H. Hoek (1981), it analyses how the choice of certain paratextual elements such as titles and subtitles by the authors selected for this study forms the basis of a literary work, if not a key indicator of the thematic concerns raised. This analysis shows that titles and subtitles are not limited to simply designating or identifying the work; they shape and condition the interpretation of its critical reception even before the first page is turned. Titles and subtitles in Buchi Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood, Sefi Ata’s Everything Good Will Come, and NoViolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names and Glory, for instance, globally reflect a deliberate and nuanced engagement with the socio-political realities of post-independence Africa. In the first two novels, these paratextual features reflect the realistic way in which these feminist authoresses challenge patriarchal ideologies, resonating in a very interesting way, as an anthem for all African women subjugated by a conservative society. In We Need New Names and Glory, however, titles and subtitles emerge as indicators of a moral and political outrage in Zimbabwe, taken as a microcosm of post-independence African countries prone to unspeakable turpitude. These narratives respectively express an outcry for a paradigm shift in identity and leadership, since the abjectness depicted here draws attention to the failure of African leaders who, through their mismanagement, have disillusioned young people in particular. The latter have no alternative but to flee in endless waves, risking their lives and leaving behind an empty and devastated continent.