Chronicles of Darkness

<p>First published in 1989 Chronicles of Darkness is about images of Africa seen through the eyes of writers visitors residents and native-born. They range from Joseph Conrad and Olive Schreiner through Laurens van der Post Karen Blixen and Evelyn Waugh to more recent writers like Nadine Gordimer Andre Brink and J.M. Coetzee.</p><p>Such writers have frequently been faced with feelings of alienation marginality exile self-consciousness and egoism. It is only in this sense- that the eyes which see are shadowed and troubled- that Africa is a ‘dark continent’ and that these writings are ‘chronicles of darkness’. In some cases Africa even if merely a backdrop painted in crude and garish colors becomes a way of revealing or admitting something about ‘Europe’ which might be concealed when a writer performs in a different theatre. This is an interesting read for scholars and researchers of English literature and African studies.</p>