The Forger's Tale
The Search for Odeziaku
Published on 1. November 2006
Book
Paperback/Softback
272 pages
978-0-8214-1710-2 (ISBN)
Description
Between 1905 and 1939 a conspicuously tall white man with a shock of red hair, dressed in a silk shirt and white linen trousers, could be seen on the streets of Onitsha, in Eastern Nigeria. How was it possible for an unconventional, boy-loving Englishman to gain a social status among the local populace enjoyed by few other Europeans in colonial West Africa?
In The Forger's Tale: The Search for Odeziaku Stephanie Newell charts the story of the English novelist and poet John Moray Stuart-Young (1881-1939) as he traveled from the slums of Manchester to West Africa in order to escape the homophobic prejudices of late-Victorian society. Leaving behind a criminal record for forgery and embezzlement and his notoriety as a "spirit rapper," Stuart-Young found a new identity as a wealthy palm oil trader and a celebrated author, known to Nigerians as "Odeziaku."
In this fascinating biographical account, Newell draws on queer theory, African gender debates, and "new imperial history" to open up a wider study of imperialism, (homo)sexuality, and nonelite culture between the 1880s and the late 1930s. The Forger's Tale pays close attention to different forms of West African cultural production in the colonial period and to public debates about sexuality and ethics, as well as to movements in mainstream English literature.
In The Forger's Tale: The Search for Odeziaku Stephanie Newell charts the story of the English novelist and poet John Moray Stuart-Young (1881-1939) as he traveled from the slums of Manchester to West Africa in order to escape the homophobic prejudices of late-Victorian society. Leaving behind a criminal record for forgery and embezzlement and his notoriety as a "spirit rapper," Stuart-Young found a new identity as a wealthy palm oil trader and a celebrated author, known to Nigerians as "Odeziaku."
In this fascinating biographical account, Newell draws on queer theory, African gender debates, and "new imperial history" to open up a wider study of imperialism, (homo)sexuality, and nonelite culture between the 1880s and the late 1930s. The Forger's Tale pays close attention to different forms of West African cultural production in the colonial period and to public debates about sexuality and ethics, as well as to movements in mainstream English literature.
Reviews / Votes
"In Stuart-Young, literary scholar Stephanie Newell has found a fascinating subject for a study of race, class, and sexuality in West Africa and Britain between the 1880s and 1930s.... The intriguing narrative at its center will appeal to a wide range of readers, while specialists in the history of colonialism, West Africa, and sexuality should find this study provocative and insightful." (American Historical Review) "Newell is to be commended for directing interest towards one of the most fascinating personalities of colonial Nigeria." (Journal of African History) "Beyond being a good read and telling a fascinating story, this book makes significant new contributions to Queer, African, and British imperial history." (African Studies Review) "An innovative analysis of a very intriguing figure, The Forger's Tale is beautifully and accessibly written. It will appeal to scholars with specialized research interests in imperial history, sexuality, and Nigeria." "Newell casts a meticulous eye over a wide range of sources, including oral evidence from Igbo informants, to garner insight into colonial and Igbo attitudes toward non-normative sexuality. The Forger's Tale challenges both monolithic conceptions of colonial masculinity and presumptions about heterosexual, timelessly homophobic "African sexuality.'" "The Forger's Tale is an unusual but rattling good tale of Empire, meticulously researched, truly enlightening, and very funny."More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Athens
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 228 mm
Width: 151 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
348 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8214-1710-2 (9780821417102)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
11/2006
1st Edition
Ohio University Press
€29.99
Available for download
Person
Stephanie Newell is a professor of English at the University of Sussex, UK, and the author of West African Literature: Ways of Reading, Literary Culture in Colonial Ghana, and Ghanaian Popular Fiction: How to Play the Game of Life.