The Artist as a Historian: A New Historicist Analysis of Helon Habila's Waiting for An Angel

Revisiting human history simply refers to retelling significant past events; however, according to Stephen Greenblatt, in his new historicist perspective, these past histories usually manifest as narratives with inherent propaganda, political agendas, and ideological underpinnings. Previous existing studies have examined new historicism from a variety of perspectives. However, there is a gap. There is a scanty new historicist analysis done on Habila, specifically on Waiting for an Angel. The study, therefore, fills the gap by contributing significantly to the existing studies. The study aims at carrying out a new historicist analysis of Helon Habila’s novel, by exploring how Habila artistically retells a dark history of harsh realities, unjust imprisonment, gross poverty, and psychological torture unleashed by postcolonial military dictatorships of Babangida and Abacha. Findings show that the primary text not only exposes the brutality of the military in the 1990s, but also highlights the role of the artist as both historian and sole witness in times of crisis. In conclusion, by blending artistic prowess with historical facts, this writing underscores the significance of African literature as a site of memory, resistance, and historical reclamation in the postcolonial African context.