Gender and Religion in Mariama Bâ’s So Long a Letter
Main Article Content
Keywords
Religion, Gender, Literature, Death, Mariama Bâ
Abstract
In this essay, I argue that Mariama Bä’s So Long a Letter unveils a social reality in which gender and religion take center stage in a difficult dialogue played on the stage of a family. This drama unfolds in the context of death, and it is ensuing to a sense of loss and grief in which the main character deploys religion and her resolve to address gender biases and claims her selfhood.
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References
Azodo, Ada Uzoamaka "Lettre Sénégalaise de Ramatoulaye: Writing as Action in Mariama a's Une si Longue Lettre," in Emerging Perspectives on Mariama Bâ: Postcolonialism, Feminism, and Postmodernism, edited by Ada Uzoamaka Azodo, (Trenton, NJ." Africa World Press, 2003).
Bâ, Mariama, Scarlet Song, Translated by Dorothy Blair, London: Longman, 1986, p. 28.
Bâ, Mariama. So Long a Letter. Translated from the French by Modoupé Bodé-Thomas. London: Heinemann, 1981.
Bahktin, M. Problems of Doestoevsky's Poetics.
Bangura, Ahmed S. Islam and the West African Novel: The Politics of Representation, Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2000. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781626373679
Brown, Ella. "Reactions to Western Values as Reflected in African Novels." Phylon, XLVIII.3 (1987): 216-28. https://doi.org/10.2307/274382
Campbell, Elizabeth. "Re-Visions, Re-Flections, Re-Creations: Epistolarity in Novels by Contemporary Women," in Twentieth Century Literature, Vol 41, Issue 3 (Autum, 1995): 332-348. https://doi.org/10.2307/441856
Cham, Mbye B. "The Female Condition in Africa: A Literary Exploration of Mariama Bâ." In A Current Bibliography on African Affairs, 7.1 (1984-85): 29-51. https://doi.org/10.1177/001132558501700105
Champagne, John. "A Feminist Just Like Us? Teaching Mariama Bâ's so Long a Letter." In College English, Volume 58, Issue 1 (Jan., 1996): 22-42. https://doi.org/10.58680/ce19969074
Cunha, Helena Parente Woman Between Mirrors, Translated by Fred P. Ellison and Naomi Lindstrom, Austin: University of Texas Press.
d'Almedia, I.A. "The concept of Choice in Mariama Ba's Fiction" in C.B. Davies and A. A. Graves, eds. Ngambika: Studies of Women in African Literature, pp. 161-171, Trenton, N.J.: African World Press, 1986.
Fetzer, Glenn W., "Women's Search for the Voice and the Problem of Knowing in the Novels of Mariama Bâ." In CLA Journal, 35.1 (September 1991): 31-34.
Flewellen, Elinor C. "Assertiveness vs. Submissiveness in Selected Works by African women Writers." Ba Shiru: A Journal of African Languages and Literature 12.2 (1985): 3-18.
Harrow, Kenneth W. ed. Faces of Islam in African Literature, Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1991.
Hermann, Anne. "Intimate, Irreticent and Indiscreet in the Extreme": Epistolary Essays by Virginia Woolf and Christa Wolf," in New German Critique, Vol 0 Issue 38 (Spring-Summer 1986): 161-180. https://doi.org/10.2307/488082
Larrier, Renee. "Correspondence et Creation Litteraire: Mariama Bâ's Une si Longue Lettre," The French Review Vol 64, Issue 5 (747-753).
McElaney-Johnson Ann. "Epistolary Friendship: La prise de parole in Mariama Bâ's Une si longue lettre" in Research in African Literatures Vol. 30, no. 2 (Summer 1999): 110-21. https://doi.org/10.1353/ral.2005.0071
Mortimer, Mildred. "Enclosure/Disclosure in Mariama Ba's Une si longue lettre" in The French Review, Vol. 64, Issues 1 (Oct., 1990) 69-78. jo-Ade, Femi. "Still a Victim? Mariame Bâ's Une si longue letter." African Literature Today 12 (1982): 71-87.
Bâ, Mariama, Scarlet Song, Translated by Dorothy Blair, London: Longman, 1986, p. 28.
Bâ, Mariama. So Long a Letter. Translated from the French by Modoupé Bodé-Thomas. London: Heinemann, 1981.
Bahktin, M. Problems of Doestoevsky's Poetics.
Bangura, Ahmed S. Islam and the West African Novel: The Politics of Representation, Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2000. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781626373679
Brown, Ella. "Reactions to Western Values as Reflected in African Novels." Phylon, XLVIII.3 (1987): 216-28. https://doi.org/10.2307/274382
Campbell, Elizabeth. "Re-Visions, Re-Flections, Re-Creations: Epistolarity in Novels by Contemporary Women," in Twentieth Century Literature, Vol 41, Issue 3 (Autum, 1995): 332-348. https://doi.org/10.2307/441856
Cham, Mbye B. "The Female Condition in Africa: A Literary Exploration of Mariama Bâ." In A Current Bibliography on African Affairs, 7.1 (1984-85): 29-51. https://doi.org/10.1177/001132558501700105
Champagne, John. "A Feminist Just Like Us? Teaching Mariama Bâ's so Long a Letter." In College English, Volume 58, Issue 1 (Jan., 1996): 22-42. https://doi.org/10.58680/ce19969074
Cunha, Helena Parente Woman Between Mirrors, Translated by Fred P. Ellison and Naomi Lindstrom, Austin: University of Texas Press.
d'Almedia, I.A. "The concept of Choice in Mariama Ba's Fiction" in C.B. Davies and A. A. Graves, eds. Ngambika: Studies of Women in African Literature, pp. 161-171, Trenton, N.J.: African World Press, 1986.
Fetzer, Glenn W., "Women's Search for the Voice and the Problem of Knowing in the Novels of Mariama Bâ." In CLA Journal, 35.1 (September 1991): 31-34.
Flewellen, Elinor C. "Assertiveness vs. Submissiveness in Selected Works by African women Writers." Ba Shiru: A Journal of African Languages and Literature 12.2 (1985): 3-18.
Harrow, Kenneth W. ed. Faces of Islam in African Literature, Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1991.
Hermann, Anne. "Intimate, Irreticent and Indiscreet in the Extreme": Epistolary Essays by Virginia Woolf and Christa Wolf," in New German Critique, Vol 0 Issue 38 (Spring-Summer 1986): 161-180. https://doi.org/10.2307/488082
Larrier, Renee. "Correspondence et Creation Litteraire: Mariama Bâ's Une si Longue Lettre," The French Review Vol 64, Issue 5 (747-753).
McElaney-Johnson Ann. "Epistolary Friendship: La prise de parole in Mariama Bâ's Une si longue lettre" in Research in African Literatures Vol. 30, no. 2 (Summer 1999): 110-21. https://doi.org/10.1353/ral.2005.0071
Mortimer, Mildred. "Enclosure/Disclosure in Mariama Ba's Une si longue lettre" in The French Review, Vol. 64, Issues 1 (Oct., 1990) 69-78. jo-Ade, Femi. "Still a Victim? Mariame Bâ's Une si longue letter." African Literature Today 12 (1982): 71-87.
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Sep 30, 2024
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Gender and Religion in Mariama Bâ’s So Long a Letter. (2024). Utambuzi: Journal for the Study of the Religions of Africa and Its Diaspora, 4(1), 35-53. https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/ujsrad/article/view/3399
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How to Cite
Gender and Religion in Mariama Bâ’s So Long a Letter. (2024). Utambuzi: Journal for the Study of the Religions of Africa and Its Diaspora, 4(1), 35-53. https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/ujsrad/article/view/3399