INTERVIEW WITH ECKHARD BREITINGER

Authors

  • Naomi Nkealah University of South Africa Department of English Studies

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25159/2078-9785/1858

Keywords:

Eckhard Breitinger, African Studies, Anglophone Cameroonian literature

Abstract

This interview was conducted on Thursday, 27 August 2009, at Bayreuth University in Bayreuth, Germany. At the time, Eckhard Breitinger worked as a professor of African Studies at Bayreuth University and also ran a small publishing house, which published research by African students on African literature under the Bayreuth African Studies Series. He had done extensive research on Anglophone Cameroonian literature, having collaborated with Bole Butake and other Anglophone Cameroonian scholars on various projects. Because my doctoral research was on Butake’s plays, I interviewed Breitinger to gain his perspective on how Butake’s plays contributed to the development of Anglophone Cameroonian drama. I had already had an interview with Butake himself and needed a less subjective viewpoint on the vision in his works. This interview pays tribute to Breitinger, who died on 15 August 2013, and to Butake himself, who passed away on 1 October 2016.

 

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References

Achebe, C. 1988. Anthills of the savannah. London: Heinemann.

Alembong, N. 1993. Oral traditions in literary imagination: the case of spirit possession in Bole Butake’s And palm wine will flow. In Anglophone Cameroon Writing, ed. N. Lyonga, E. Breitinger & B. Butake. Bayreuth: Bayreuth African Studies 30, 130 – 142.

Butake, B. 1999. Lake God and other plays. Yaounde: Éditions CLÉ.

Butake, B. 2005. Family saga. Yaounde: Éditions CLÉ.

Breitinger, E. 1993. ‘Lamentations patriotiques’: writers, censors and politics in Cameroon. African Affairs 92: 557 – 575. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a098665

Breitinger, E. 2001. Bole Butake’s strategies as a political playwright: ‘I’m not going to say things in a blunt manner simply because I want to be politically committed’. In African theatre: playwrights & politics, ed. M. Banham, J. Gibbs & F. Osofisan. Oxford: James Currey, 7 – 17.

Eyoh, H.N. 1993. Historicity and new Anglophone Cameroon drama. In Anglophone Cameroon Writing, ed. N. Lyonga, E. Breitinger & B. Butake. Bayreuth: Bayreuth African Studies 30, 101 – 108.

Jeyifo, B. 1985. The truthful lie: essays in a sociology of African drama. London: New Beacon Books.

Lyonga, N. 1993. Natural democrats: women and the leadership crisis in Cameroon literature. In Anglophone Cameroon Writing, ed. N. Lyonga, E. Breitinger & B. Butake. Bayreuth: Bayreuth African Studies 30, 175 – 179.

Ngome, V.E. 1992. What God has put asunder. Yaounde: Pitcher Books.

Nkealah, N and Odhiambo, C. 2009. Interview with Bole Butake. South African Theatre Journal 23: 189 – 206. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10137548.2009.9687909

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Published

2017-02-24

How to Cite

Nkealah, Naomi. 2016. “INTERVIEW WITH ECKHARD BREITINGER”. Imbizo 7 (1):101-11. https://doi.org/10.25159/2078-9785/1858.

Issue

Section

Interview
Received 2016-11-02
Accepted 2016-11-18
Published 2017-02-24