Riddles And Bash by novelist, poet and critic, Chin Ce, contains ten volumes of essays and book reviews published in journals of African writing in the last decade.
In this second collection, Ce reviews African oral traditions using the riddles and bash performances of his community as a case study; he also takes a hard, honest evaluation of modern Igbo
music and culture showing how Western Christian materialism appears to have also corrupted African traditional and philosophical thoughts.
The subsequent parts contain a look at new literatures and emerging tendencies in African writing, plus a chat on new Nigerian poetry and literary criticism.
Ce argues that the continent is one in spite of different experiences in colonialism, nationalism and post-independent identities. And 'as we join the twenty-first century with the world
becoming a global village, writers from Africa will need to preserve the heritage of their people and ensure that the healthy traditions and cultures of Africa are not lost in the march of
civilisation.
An important new voice in contemporary African writing and criticism, Chin Ce is author of three works of fiction, Children of Koloko, Gamji College and The Visitor in addition to three volumes
of poetry, FullMoon, An African Eclipse and Millennial.
Riddles and Bash is the natural sequel to Bards and Tyrants, with insightful essays on the literature, culture and politics of Africa and her relationship with Western traditions in the twenty
first century.
