Never look an American in the eye
Subtitle: flying turtles, colonial ghosts, and the making of a Nigerian American
By: Okey Ndibe
Published: 2016
Language: eng
Number of pages: 210
ISBN-13: 9781616957605
Subjects: American Novelists; Journalists; Anecdotes; Nigerian Authors; Nigerian Americans; Civilization; College teachers; Biography
Description: "Okey Ndibe's funny, charming, and penetrating memoir tells of his move from Nigeria to America, where he came to edit the influential--but forever teetering on the verge of insolvency--African Commentary magazine. It recounts stories of Ndibe's relationships with Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, and other literary figures; examines the differences between Nigerian and American etiquette and politics; recalls an incident of racial profiling just 13 days after he arrived in the US, in which he was mistaken for a bank robber; considers American stereotypes about Africa (and vice-versa); and juxtaposes African folk tales with Wall Street trickery. All these stories and more come together in a generous, encompassing book about the making of a writer and a new American"--
Table of contents: title: English Dreams, Communist Fantasies, and American Wrestling; title: Never Look an American in the Eye; title: My Commission and a Chilly American Reception; title: Sleepless in New York; title: Nigerian, Going Dutch; title: Fitting the Description; title: Are You Okay?; title: A Norwegian "Okay" Interlude; title: On a Croc's Back, America-Bound; title: Will Edit for Food; title: Lying to Be a Writer; title: Writing, Reading, Food, Some Ass Kicking; title: A Brand-New American; title: An African Folktale, a Wall Street Lesson; title: A Dying Father, Dreams of Burma and England; title: Wole Soyinka Saves My Christmas; title: Crashing a Party, Changing Hearts.