Ben Okri, The Famished Road

Thomas Martinek (Universitat Wien)
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The Famished Road

is Ben Okri's third novel. Published in 1991 and awarded the Booker Prize in the same year, it has remained his most successful work to date and has won its author a place in the literary hall of fame, international critical acclaim and a large readership.

The Famished Road is the story of the narrator-protagonist Azaro, a boy of about seven years of age, who lives in the suburban ghetto of an African metropolis which is never named, but which can nevertheless be identified as the city of Lagos. The main action covers a time span of approximately one year, presumably the months just before Nigeria's independence from colonial rule in 1960. Azaro is an only son and an abiku, a spirit-child. To understand this cultural icon, one has to resort to the traditional Yoruba

2468 words

Citation: Martinek, Thomas. "The Famished Road". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 July 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=889, accessed 14 December 2024.]

889 The Famished Road 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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