AFRICAN LITERATURE

AFRICAN LITERATURE

• African literature, literary works of the African continent. African literature consists of a body of work in different languages and various genres, ranging from oral literature to literature written in colonial languages (French, Portuguese, and English).

HISTORY

• The first African literature is circa 2300-2100, when ancient Egyptians begin using burial texts to accompany their dead. These include the first written accounts of creation - the Memphite Declaration of Deities. Not only that, but 'papyrus', from which we originate our word for paper, was invented by the Egyptians, and writing flourished. In contrast, Sub-Saharan Africa feature a vibrant and varied oral culture.

• To take into account written literary culture without considering literary culture is definitely a mistake, because they two interplay heavily with each other. African oral arts are "art's for life's sake" (Mukere) not European "art's for art's sake", and so may be considered foreign and strange by European readers.

• However, they provide useful knowledge, historical knowledge, ethical wisdom, and creative stimuli in a direct fashion. Oral culture takes many forms: proverbs and riddles, epic narratives, oration and personal testimony, praise poetry and songs, chants and rituals, stories, legends and folk tales. This is present in the many proverbs told in Things Fall Apart, and the rich cultural emphasis of that book also is typically African.

THE PERIOD OF COLONIZATION

• With the period of Colonization, African oral traditions and written works came under a serious outside threat. Europeans, justifying themselves with the Christian ethics, tried to destroy the "pagan" and "primitive" culture of the Africans, to make them more pliable slaves.

• In 1948, African literature came to the forefront of the world stage with Alan Paton's publishing of Cry the Beloved Country. However, this book was a somewhat paternalistic and sentimental portrayal of Africa.

AFRICAN WRITERS

• Postcolonial African writers have made an enormous contribution to world literature.

• These writers frequently examine such issues as emerging identities in the postcolonial climate, neo-colonialism and new forms of oppression, cultural and political hegemonies, neo-elitism, language appropriation, and economic instability.

• During the last decade, their works have elicited increasing critical attention. This reference book overviews the richness of postcolonial African literature. The volume focuses on how post coloniality is reflected in the novels, poetry, prose, and drama of major, minor, and emerging writers from diverse countries in Africa.

• The reference book begins with an introductory essay on postcolonial criticism and African writing. The volume then presents alphabetically arranged profiles of approximately 60 writers, such as Chinua Achebe, Ama Ata Aidoo, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Buchi Emecheta, Nadine Gordimer, Bessie Head, Tabar Ben Jelloun, Doris Lessing, Peter Nazareth, Gabriel Okara, Femi Osofisan, and Efua Theodora Sutherland.

• the poets Christian L. Leipoldt, Christiaan M. van der Heever, and Eugene Marais. A. A. Pienaar under the pseudonym Sangiro wrote nature stories. Uys Krige was extremely versatile; his works include novels, short stories, poems, and plays in both Africans and English. Important poets who have written in Africans include W. E. G. Louw and his brother N. P. van Wyk Louw, Adam Small, Ingred Jonker, and Elisabeth Eybers.

STYLES OF WRITERS

• Alex La Guma, Time of the Butcherbird

When the government trucks had gone, the dust they had left behind, hung over the plain and smudged the blistering afternoon sun so that it appeared as a daub of white-hot metal through the moving haze. This was no land for plowing and sowing; it was not even good enough to be buried in.

• WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE THEME OF THE WRITER IN HID POEM?

• CAN YOU TELL WHAT KIND OF PERSON IS ALEX LA GUMA AND HIS EXPERIENCES?

• This text is a sample of literature by an African writer. The author is Alex la Guma, who was born and lived in South Africa. He was one of the defendants in the Treason Trials of 1956 and was kept under house arrest for four years; eventually he was forced into exile and lived outside Africa. He used literature as a means of seeking to understand the painful racial divisions of South Africa during the dark years of apartheid.

Themes of african literary works

• Oral literature, including stories, dramas, riddles, histories, myths, songs, proverbs, and other expressions, is frequently employed to educate and entertain children.

• Oral histories, myths, and proverbs additionally serve to remind whole communities of their ancestors' heroic deeds, their past, and the precedents for their customs and traditions.

• Some of the first African writings to gain attention in the West were the poignant slave narratives, such as The Interesting Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African (1789), which described vividly the horrors of slavery and the slave trade.

• As Africans became literate in their own languages, they often reacted against colonial repression in their writings. Others looked to their own past for subjects. Thomas Mofolo, for example, wrote Chaka (tr. 1931), about the famous Zulu military leader, in Susuto.

• Since the early 19th cent. writers from western Africa have used newspapers to air their views. Several founded newspapers that served as vehicles for expressing nascent nationalist feelingsAfter World War II, as Africans began demanding their independence, more African writers were published.

• All were writing in European languages, and often they shared the same themes: the clash between indigenous and colonial cultures, condemnation of European subjugation, pride in the African past, and hope for the continent's independent future.

• Much of contemporary African literature reveals disillusionment and dissent with current events. For example, V. Y. Mudimbe in Before the Birth of the Moon (1989) explores a doomed love affair played out within a society riddled by deceit and corruption.

• The weaving of music into the Kenyan's play points out another characteristic of African literature. Many writers incorporate other arts into their work and often weave oral conventions into their writing. Others, such as Senegalese novelist Ousmane Sembene, have moved into films to take their message to people who cannot read.

David Diop

• David Mandessi Diop (July 9, 1927-1960)was one of the most promising French West African poets known for his contribution to the Négritude literary movement. His work reflects his hatred of colonial rulers and his hope for an independent Africa.

AFRICA

The very first poem I ever read on stageAfrica, my AfricaAfrica of proud warriors in ancestral savannahsAfrica of whom my grandmother singsOn the banks of the distant riverI have never known youBut your blood flows in my veinsYour beautiful black blood that irrigates the fieldsThe blood of your sweatThe sweat of your workThe work of your slavery

• Africa, tell me AfricaIs this you, this back that is bentThis back that breaksUnder the weight of humiliationThis back trembling with red scarsAnd saying yes to the whip under the midday sunBut a grave voice answers meImpetuous child that tree, young and strongThat tree over thereSplendidly alone amidst white and faded flowersThat is your Africa springing up anewSpringing up patiently, obstinatelyWhose fruit bit by bit acquiresThe bitter taste of liberty.