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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What essay from the book Writers in Politics does the author describe in Chapter 4, Part III?

2. Who wrote A Room of One's Own?

3. What Guatemalan poet wrote the poem addressed to apolitical intellectuals that is excerpted in Chapter 4, Part VIII?

4. Who was the President of Toto from 1967 until 2005?

5. What did a very cruel prison superintendent warn Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o against writing?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is Wole Soyinka and what works has he written?

2. How were copies of Caitaani Mũtharabainĩ distributed in rural Africa?

3. How was written language largely developed in Africa?

4. What does the author mean when he refers to a person's philosophic base of relevance?

5. What does the author remark about Franz Josef Strauss's official visit to the Independent Republic of Togo in Chapter 3, Part VII?

6. What does the author remark about Faust in Chapter 3, Part VIII?

7. What does the author remark about Joseph Conrad in regards to narrative perspective?

8. What about George Lamming's work impressed the author?

9. What does the author remark about African poetry in Chapter 4, Part I?

10. How does the author describe his prison cell in Chapter 3, Part I?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Who were Léopold Sédar Senghor and Chinua Achebe? In what languages did they each write? What works did they publish? What criticisms does the author observe of these authors?

Essay Topic 2

Describe Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o's education and career. Where did he grow up? Where did he study? What were his major subjects of study? What books has he written?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss how the printing press and the introduction of colleges and universities in Africa stood as opposing forces for African literature. When was the printing press introduced to Africa and by whom? Who controlled the publication of literature? How did colleges and universities stand as obstacles to African novelists?

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