Intertextuality and Archival Memory in Recent Nigerian Historical Fiction: Reading Elnathan John and Chigozie Obioma

This study examines the intertextual strategies and functions of archival memory in recent Nigerian historical fiction, focusing specifically on the novels of Elnathan John and Chigozie Obioma as representative of a new generation of historical novelists who use intertextual engagement with historical documents, oral accounts, and prior literary representations to construct counter-memories that challenge dominant national historical narratives. Historical fiction in Nigeria has historically been associated with the Biafran war archive and the colonial era, but John and Obioma work with more recent and differently contested histories, including Northern Nigerian political violence and rural South Eastern community experience in the post-independence era. The study applies intertextuality theory and theories of cultural memory to close readings of John's This Our Country and Obioma's The Fishermen and An Orchestra of Minorities, examining how each author's intertextual practice constructs authority for his fictional historical reconstruction. Analysis focuses on the use of oral history as a narrative source, the embedding of historical document quotation within fictional narrative, and the relationship between literary predecessors including Achebe and Soyinka, and the specific historical interventions of each novel. Findings demonstrate that intertextuality in both authors functions as an epistemological claim: the novels assert that their version of Nigerian history is more complete and more truthful than official records because it incorporates voices that archives have excluded. Keywords: intertextuality, historical fiction, archival memory, Elnathan John, Chigozie Obioma.