LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 13:4 April 2013
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

HOME PAGE

Click Here for Back Issues of Language in India - From 2001

BOOKS FOR YOU TO READ AND DOWNLOAD FREE!

REFERENCE MATERIAL

BACK ISSUES

  • E-mail your articles and book-length reports in Microsoft Word to languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.

  • PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES GIVEN IN HOME PAGE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE LIST OF CONTENTS.

  • Your articles and book-length reports should be written following the APA, MLA, LSA, or IJDL Stylesheet.

  • The Editorial Board has the right to accept, reject, or suggest modifications to the articles submitted for publication, and to make suitable stylistic adjustments. High quality, academic integrity, ethics and morals are expected from the authors and discussants.

Copyright © 2012
M. S. Thirumalai
Custom Search

Suspense Strategies in Buchi Emecheta’s Head Above Water

Stephen Jantuah Boakye, M.Phil.

Abstract

This paper explores two strategies employed by Buchi Emecheta to create suspense in her autobiography Head Above Water. The two strategies are the use of chapter headings and provision of backgrounds to episodes. It has been ascertained from this study that contrary to some assertions by some scholars about the structure of female autobiography, Emecheta’s self-account is coherently organised. This organisation is exploited by the author to create expectation in her readers about what transpires in her account.

Keywords: female autobiography, suspense, Buchi Emecheta, African autobiography

Introduction

Almost every autobiographer has as his or her focus the mission of portraying his or her life as the ideal one. In fact, without this aim, the need for autobiography will be obviated as writers of autobiography try to paint pictures of their lives whether it was progressive or otherwise. According to White and Epston (1990), “persons give meaning to their lives and relationships by storying their experience” (p. 13). Hence the necessity for autobiography by those who deem their experiences worthy of portrayal. The ideal life, according to the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, is one that corresponds to the ideal story; each act is coherently related to all other with nothing to spare (cited in Nehamas, 1985). In creating this coherence, some authors try to get their readers involved by gluing them to the account through the use of suspense. This is a controlled way on creating internal tensions in a narrative (Yanal, 1996). Suspense is the creation of a sense of anticipation on the part of the reader concerning what will ensue in a piece of narrative. This paper explores the strategies employed by Buchi Emecheta to create suspense in her autobiography Head Above Water. The two main techniques to be looked at are chapter headings and backgrounding of episodes or withholding of revelation.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Stephen Jantuah Boakye, M.Phil.
Department of English
University of Cape Coast
Cape Coast
stepjan@gmail.com
Custom Search
  • Click Here to Go to Creative Writing Section

  • Send your articles
    as an attachment
    to your e-mail to
    languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.
  • Please ensure that your name, academic degrees, institutional affiliation and institutional address, and your e-mail address are all given in the first page of your article. Also include a declaration that your article or work submitted for publication in LANGUAGE IN INDIA is an original work by you and that you have duly acknowledged the work or works of others you used in writing your articles, etc. Remember that by maintaining academic integrity we not only do the right thing but also help the growth, development and recognition of Indian/South Asian scholarship.