Duty and Freedom in T. Obinkaram Echewa's The Land's Lord: A Sartrean Assessment

Abstract: T. Obinkaram Echewa's The Land's Lord appears to be little known among African literary critics, but it is a narrative that explores the individual soul in such a way that it seems to reach far beyond that individual soul, achieving far wider significance. A reading of this novel based on the action represented may get caught up in the discourse and discursive practices of African traditional society and its familiar narrative strategies, whereas it is asking much deeper questions, questions of existence, self-cognition, and identity. One of the main characters of this novel, Philip, is centrally preoccupied with these questions. Sartre's philosophy of authentic humanness is used in this study to make sense of Philip's search, and to account for the other characters' struggles and the kinds of meanings they construct out of their experiences.