Novel
The Last Duty
Isidore Okpewho · 1976
Synopsis
In a small town in the West held by the federal army, Oshevire is locked up without trial: he comes from the other side and is accused of having helped the rebels. His wife Aku is left alone with their small son, shunned at the market, with nothing to eat. Toje, a notable who pushed for the arrest, sends her food through his crippled nephew, Odibo, and waits to be repaid. Each person tells the affair in turn, and the versions do not agree.
Context
The book was published by Longman, in the Drumbeat series, after winning, in manuscript, the literature prize of the African arts centre of the University of California, Los Angeles, awarded by an international competition. Several narrators tell the same events in the first person, in styles that set them apart and in versions that contradict one another: one critic sees in it the first African novel to use point of view to such an extent as a device, the reader having to form his own picture of the truth.
Who it is for
In English, with no French version. The narration changes voice with each chapter and demands a little attention at the start. It helps to know that the Midwest was occupied in succession by the two armies.
Prizes and reception
African Arts Prize for Literature in 1976, awarded on the manuscript. The book entered Longman's African classics and is read in schools.