''The Second Round'' is an English language novel by

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

an- The Gambia, Gambian writer and poet Lenrie Peters. The novel is Peters's first and only novel. The novel was first published in 1965, and subsequently reprinted in 1966 as part of the influential Heinemann African Writers Series. The novel is

semi-autobiographical An autobiographical novel is a form of novel using autofiction techniques, or the merging of autobiographical and fictive elements. The literary technique is distinguished from an autobiography or memoir by the stipulation of being fiction. Bec ...

, following the experience of a western educated doctor, Dr. Kawa, who returns to

Freetown Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and p ...

to practice medicine. Critics describe the novel as reflecting the concerns of West Africans during the immediately post-colonial African community, nationalism, westernization, the difficulty adjusting to returning to Africa from abroad, and the "ethos" of Freetown society at the time. The novel has overt

Pan-Africanist Pan-Africanism is a worldwide movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all Indigenous and diaspora peoples of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atlantic slave trade, the movement exte ...

political themes, juxtaposes the "black world versus the European". The book also describe characters in terms of Jungian psychology. Charles Larson called the novel "African Gothic", though this characterization was criticized by reviewer Omalara Leslie in ''Black World''. The novel has been compared to Chinua Achebe's ''

No Longer at Ease ''No Longer at Ease'' is a 1960 novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. It is the story of an Igbo man, Obi Okonkwo, who leaves his village for an education in Britain and then a job in the Nigerian colonial civil service, but is conflicted bet ...

'' and the works of fellow Gambian-born Sierra Leonean

William Conton William Farquhar Conton (5 September 1925 – 23 June 2003) was a Sierra Leone Creole educator, historian and acclaimed novelist. Background and early life William Farquhar Conton was born on 5 September 1925 in Bathurst, Gambia, to the union o ...

References

African Writers Series 1965 novels Gambian novels Freetown 1965 debut novels {{1960s-novel-stub