A Spirit of Dialogue: Incarnations of Ogbanje the Born-To-Die, in African American Literature

The Igbo Ogbanje and Yoruba abiku are related traditional African images of part-human part-spirit children, who go through repeated births and deaths to the same mother. Nigerian native Okonkwo (English, U. of Missouri-Columbia) explores how African American writers have appropriated the image. Among the works he looks at are Wild Seed, Mind of My Mind, The Between, The Cattle Killing, and Beloved. Annotation 穢2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)