ABSTRACT
This chapter concerns writing in English, concentrating on a number of key moments and figures. The field of cultural production encompassed by the seemingly simple title 'West Africa' is a particularly rich and diverse one. In most accounts of African literature, contemporary figures such as Soyinka and Achebe assume such proportions that it is easy to imagine that West African writing began with them in the period of decolonisation. The development of African women's writing has resulted in a shift in criticism not unlike that in European and American feminist criticism indicated by Elaine Showalter. In 'Feminist Criticism in the Wilderness' and elsewhere, Showalter charts the move in feminist criticism from a concern with representation – the problem of the way men portray women; women as object, in a sense – to a focus on women as writers – women as subjects, rather than objects. These two moments are labelled, respectively, feminist critique, and gynocritics.
