History Culture and Tradition in Helon Habila’s Measuring Time

Nigerian literature has evolved over the past fifty years and no longer looks like it used to when first generation writers Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka and their contemporaries first started to write in the late 1950’s. Nigeria itself has changed greatly since the time of colonialism and nationalism. But, present generation Nigerian literary artist even though swamped by globalization and neo-colonialism, continue to tread the path of the writers before them by the reiterating in their works, the need to engage with and confront the distorted and sometimes, untold histories of their societies. Helon Habila in Measuring Time (2007), presents the simple statement that a society’s present is better understood if its history is better known in all its glory and shame. He goes on to show a concern with the need for the people to be the ones to voice or relate that history. Writing on issues, that are not only relevant but also timely, he shows how that the more fully we understand our past, the better we are likely to understand ourselves. With this background, the present paper aims to explore Helon Habila’s concern with history, culture and tradition in Measuring Time with the intention of highlighting his presentation and reassessment of these within the threshold of governance in Keti in particular and in Nigeria in general