Between Law and Literature: The Quest for Justice in Post-Independence Nigerian Fiction

Abstract

Post-independence African societies are victims of challenges of poor quality political leadership. Indeed, the experience of the individual in terms of access to justice and the empowerment of the self are abysmal. Against the above backdrop, critical and interdisciplinary inquiries have been focused on the challenge of restoring the dignity of the citizenry and enforcement of the rights enshrined on various legal provisions and international conventions. One of such attempts is the literature and law interdisciplinary approach at promoting justice. This paper underscores the paradigm of quest for justice in postcolonial Nigerian fiction. The study draws textual references from selected third-generation Nigerian novels represented by Helon Habila’s Waiting for an Angel and Bina Ilagha’s Condolences. The paper demonstrates that, the post-independence fiction corpus is dedicated to enthronement of justice in both stylistic and thematic outlooks.

Keywords: Quest for justice, Nigerian fiction, third-generation, interdisciplinary commitment, law and literature