In the Ditch

Pamela J. Olúbùnmi Smith, University of Nebraska at Omaha

Used by permission of EBSCO Information Services.

Abstract

Originally written as a collection of "observations" and published serially in The New Statesman, In the Ditch, Buchi Emecheta's first novel, is discussed almost always only in relation to Second Class Citizen (1974), its rightful chronological predecessor. Like its companion piece, In the Ditch is heavily autobiographical, following Eme­cheta's own descent into the "ditch" of welfare living and enforced dysfunctionality.