Ekwensi, Cyprian - Ekwensi, Cyprian 1921–
Ekwensi, Cyprian 1921–
A Nigerian-born Ibo novelist, short story writer, and pharmacist, Ekwensi is considered a masterful stylist, most skillful in his depiction of rural Africans forced into developing urban centers. (See also Contemporary Authors, Vols. 29-32.)
If [Ekwensi] were an American we would not have much difficulty in assessing his position. He would be a best-selling book-of-the-month-club author. But it needs little knowledge of the contemporary African scene to appreciate the significant difference between a writer such as Chinua Achebe, intellectual, classic, and a novelist who can declare, "I am a writer who regards himself as a writer for masses." With such a determination, it is easy to see where the obvious strengths and weaknesses of Ekwensi's writing will lie. He often dangerously approaches the sentimental, the vulgar and melodramatic. Behind his work stands a reading of American popular fiction and paperback crime...
[The entire page is 1727 words long]
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