The Tough Alchemy of Ben Okri

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Winner of the Booker Prize for The Famished Road, Ben Okri is widely regarded as one of the most important contemporary writers writing today. Featuring a substantial new interview with Ben Okri himself, a full bibliography of his creative work and covering his complete works, this is the first in-depth study of Okris themes and artistic vision. Rosemary Gray explores Okris career-long engagement with myth, Nigerian politics and culture, and with the environmental crisis in the age of the Anthropocene.

Reviews

This inspired and thoughtful study of the work of the acclaimed novelist and poet Ben Okri emerges from deep reflection on the many different cultural, spiritual and philosophical traditions that weave together in his writing. Rosemary Gray's careful readings shed new and illuminating light on Okri's transformational aesthetic and intensely felt planetary concerns, as manifested in each one of his works. I have no doubt that The Tough Alchemy will remain the go-to study on Okri for many years to come. * Elleke Boehmer, Professor of World Literature in English, University of Oxford, UK *
In these essays Rosemary Gray shows her wide reading and her eclectic mind. The essays burst with energy and critical fizz. Often the excitement of discovery can be discerned; often the surprise at intuitive delight can be felt; and often the sheer scale of the research undertaken yields lovely rewards. But mostly it is the yoking of disparate critical disciplines, brought to bear on a new reading of my work, that delivers the interest and the fascination * Ben Okri, Man Booker prize-winning novelist and poet *
Grays illumination of [Okri's] writings and her own profound insight into tolerance deserve a first place on the bookshelf of any modern humanities course. * Tydskrif vir Letterekunde *

Author Bio

Rosemary Alice Gray is Emeritus Professor in the Department of English at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. She is Managing Editor of the English Academy Review: Journal of English Studies and her previous publications include Broken Strings: The Politics of Poetry, Light Comes out of the Darkness, A Glass Half Full or Half Empty: The Challenges of Elections and Succession in Africa and Sounding Wings: Short Stories from Africa (edited with Stephen Finn).