Historization of Setting and Textualization of History: A Comparative Study of Helon Habila’s Waiting For An Angel and Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus

Abstract

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Helon Habila are among the “Avant Garde” of contemporary Nigeria fiction. This period of fiction according to Charles Nnolim falls between 2000 and 2005 and is characterized by its brilliance of articulation, simplicity of thought, the creative utilization of the resources of language as well as the unique control and sustenance of narrative power. James Okpiliya insists that these new voices are actually describing the world around them and the experiences of their formative years (3). In the light of this, it is worthy to note that Adichie and Habila are witnesses to a fractured society which characterises the Nigerian nation-state. The lenses of these writers have been focused on the socio-political landscape, especially on the fact that the nation had been held hostage by military dictatorship, poor governance and corruption, reactionary forces that are still plaguing the country.