The Guardian Arts (Nigeria)

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Nigerian written literature since 1914

(Part I)

J.O.J. Nwachukwu-Agbada1

Background

The year 1914 marks the founding of a potentially great country. A hundred years Comentado [1]: Why? What happened back then?
Comentado [2]: Base, cimientos, establecimiento.
after, the adverb ‘potentially’ which modifies the adjective ‘great’ has refused to delete
itself because of the long years of both poor leadership and bad followership. In spite Comentado [3]: Nigeria, according to JOJ, is still a
great country only potentially...
of her occasional gestures of distinction combined with her size, population, affable Comentado [4]: A pesar de...

climate, soil fertility and all kinds of resources within, including trained hands and Comentado [5]: Nigeria as a her...

brilliant minds, Nigeria has not been able to convert her endowments into lasting Comentado [6]: Dotes, dotaciones, dones, recursos,
cualidades.
monuments of grandeur.

Instead we continue to be feckless and unpatriotic, leaving ourselves each time at the Comentado [7]: ¿Irresponsable?
Comentado [8]: Buscar expresión.
mercy of clay-footed potentates who think ethnically; who turn an endowed nation
En todo caso, clay es arcilla.
into a bastion of poverty, where corruption is king; and nepotism its fraternal twin. Pies de arcilla (metáfora).
Comentado [9]: Interesante expresión. Me imagino:
Yet this is a nation of writers, the home of laureates at varying levels, including one piensan en términos de etnia y no de nación.
Comentado [10]: Nepotismo: Trato de favor hacia
1 familiares o amigos, a los que se otorgan cargos o
Nwachukwu-Agbada, distinguished critic, is a professor of literature at the Abia State University, empleos públicos por el mero hecho de serlo, sin tener
Uturu. en cuenta otros méritos.

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Nobel Prize in the kitty. A nation of ‘pen-pushers’ is a nation where the intellect
prevails; it should be a nation of creativity, enlightenment and varying attainments. Comentado [11]: Logros.

Before 1914, there had flourished literatures in the various languages spoken in what
is now Nigeria. In the North, Arabic literary scholarship was the vogue. Much poetry Comentado [12]: Vogue: one that is in fashion at a
particular time.
blossomed, whether in Arabic or Ajami (the Hausa version of the Arabic language),
which is perhaps why poetry in the modern tongue of English has recently emanated
from the North.

Before we proceed further, it is pertinent to cite Oseni’s inaugural address in which Comentado [13]: Who is Oseni?

he remarks that “over eighty per cent of the literary works in Arabic by Nigerian
writers are in verse, and many of them have been studied in detail in Nigeria, Egypt,
Greece, Britain, United States, Germany etc.” This is not to say that the North did not
have its own indigenous literature different from the Arabic or Ajami varieties. These
literatures existed side by side, Arabic/Ajami being the exclusive pursuit of the local Comentado [14]: La literatura oral y/o escrita en
lenguas indígenas, y aquella expresada en árabe o en
educated elite who were scant and limited in number. ajami.

According to E.N. Obiechina (1990), “… proficiency in the use of Arabic writing has Comentado [15]: Maestría, excelencia.

remained at all times the prerogative of a small section of the population, the scribes
and the learned men; it was never diffused among the entire population. The
production of literature in the Arabic script as well as its use of communication
purposes has remained largely the preserve of a tiny intelligentsia of religious and
administrative dignitaries.”

This was perhaps those I.Y. Yahaya (1988) referred to as malamai (scholars, teachers) Comentado [16]: Tal vez, quizás, a lo mejor...

“who developed a unique system of learning, mainly in two phases: the first phase is
the search for the mastery of Koran… and the second phase is the search for
specialization in such branches of knowledge as jurisprudence, theology, syntax, logic,
law prosody and the sciences of astrology and mathematics.”

In the South, before 1914, traditional literature held sway. Described in many ways Comentado [17]: Predominaba.
En el sur, predominaba la "literatura tradicional" (¿?).
as oral literature, orature, folk literature, oral tradition etc. indigenous literature is

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a survivalist art. By which is meant that this literature has always [been] in Africa Comentado [18]: Arte sobreviviente, superviviente.
Arte de la supervivencia.
since immemorial times and surprisingly not waning; its impact is still felt, even as Comentado [19]: Menguante, reducida, aminorada.

this piece is being written up. Oral transmission of the Nigerian experience is still Comentado [20]: Which this? This article?

popular in spite of the many decades of the introduction of literacy.

Notwithstanding the mutual habitation of the ancient and the modern in recent Comentado [21]: No obstante, a pesar de...

folktale formulation, a sharing of abode popularized by Amos Tutuola in his ‘tall, Comentado [22]: Morada, estancia.

devilish story’ – to use the haunting words of Dylan Thomas – new folklore is still Morada compartida (Nigeria), para lo antiguo y lo
"moderno".
being produced. Apart from the proverb, the formulation of folktales and fables,
riddles, epigrams, myths and legends is a continuous loric activity. Comentado [23]: Acertijos.
Comentado [24]: Lorico: lleno de entusiasmo e
inspiración.
There is no doubt that folktale telling, riddle games etc. are on the decline, their use
in modern Nigerian literature is a cherished recipe for an eventful aesthetic Comentado [25]: Apreciada.
Comentado [26]: Memorable.
experience. It is difficult to say when this cooperation between folklore and the
Comentado [27]: El uso de elementos propios de la
modern literary art in Nigeria will end as this collaboration seems to serve the two literatura indígena en las producciones estéticas
contemporáneas.
well. This artistic collusion is not only noticeable in written literature, it is easily Comentado [28]: ¿Por qué estaríamos pensando en
que se acabe?
observed in proverbs, riddles, anecdotes and new songs, particularly when such songs
relate to the various activities in the modern arena.

A writer whose deployment of folklore is so obvious is Amos Tutuola. A few critics Comentado [29]: Uso, despliegue.

had tried to depict him and his foray into folklore as no more different from what a Comentado [30]: Incursión.

stamp collector does with old postal stamps. Some of them deny him merit and
originality and give the impression that he has simply brought folktales known to
many people together and put them into semi-literate English.

Some West Africans were even unhappy with Tutuola’s publishers who they accuse
of having shown that this was all the English the newly emancipated Africans would
be writing. However, more recent local critics have shown more understanding.
While they do not think that a work like The Palm-wine Drinkard (1952) will be Africa’s Comentado [31]: Algunxs críticxs locales, nigerianxs.

best use of English, they consider Tutuola’s censurers as hasty and self-restrictive. Comentado [32]: Apresurados, e imponiendo
restricciones para sí mismos o para sus
conciudadanos...

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As it is today, to write a piece of African literature without the injection of African

traditional materials is like preparing a soup without thinking of salt. African oral
materials found even in snippets confer authenticity on the modern African literary Comentado [33]: Buscar palabra.

heritage. Thus Achebe, Soyinka, Okigbo, Okara, Aluko, Clark, Ike, Amadi, etc. are
today remembered among other reasons for what they have made of orature which
they inherited from their different cultures.

The inculcation of traditional literature did not stop with the older artists, recent
writers are even more aggressively adept at appropriating folk materials. Osofisan, Comentado [34]: Why "appropriating"? ¿No es también
su propia tradición?
Okri, Osundare, Fatoba, Sowande, Ofeimun, Enekwe, Nwabueze, Ezenwa-Ohaeto
have in various proportions incorporated folk elements in their writings such that
their rootedness is not in doubt.

Literature in local languages

Literature in indigenous languages is a literary afflatus that is hardly given attention. Comentado [35]: ¿Afflatus en este contexto?

Yet this is the mainstay of our claims to having a buoyant literary tradition. At best, Afflatus: término tomado de Cicerón.
Meaning: a divine creative impulse or inspiration.
educated members of the different Nigerian ethnic groups knew indigenous writers Comentado [36]: Pilar.

of their expression, and at worst those even within the ethnic territory who have
readily encountered these writers in their works are few and far between. Often,
writings in English were encouraged while those in the local languages were not given
the same impetus. However, the curriculum change of the 1980s has made it
imperative for secondary school students to offer at least one Nigerian language in
their School Certificate examinations, thus compelling them to be more familiar with
their indigenous literature and language. This is commendable but it could be better.

Literature in Hausa

It has been pointed out that literature in Northern Nigeria is traceable to the Ajami
writers who were essentially elitist and religious. Moreover, they largely wrote poems
while showing no real interest in the novel and drama traditions. The reason was that
poetry was used to convey their religious bent while prose and drama are by their

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nature – given to secularism and entertainment. Christian missionary societies played Comentado [37]: No sé bien cómo el autor sustenta
esta oración.
a role in instigating Hausa literature. However, their outputs were focused on Comentado [38]: Esfuerzos, imagino.

proselytising literature written in both Ajami and Boko scripts. Similarly, a newspaper Comentado [39]: No entiendo qué quiere decir con
"proselytising literature".
like Gaskiya Ta Fi Kwabo, first printed in 1939, published in Hausa has played a
strident role in advancing literature in Northern Nigeria.

No mention of poetry writing in the North is complete without reference to Shehu

Usman Dan Fodio who lived in the 19th century. He is said to have composed 480
poems, some of them short, ranging from 11 lines to 450 stanzas. He also wrote books
in Arabic. While his poems were written in Arabic, Fulfulde and Hausa, “some 25
poems (out of the lot) are composed in Hausa by him in either Arabic or Fulfulde and
later translated in similar poetic form into Hausa” (Yahaya, 1988). Dan Fodio did not
write alone, members of his family wrote poems as well. His daughter, brother and
his son wrote varying number of poems. There were also the scholars who wrote
poems in Hausa, in addition to their outputs in Arabic and Fulfulde. As there was
virtually no print media in the Hausaland of the 19th century, the scholars had their
poems written on plain sheets of paper in local ink and published by being re-
copied by their disciples and students. Yahaya further remarks, “koranic, blind
beggars recited them after congregational prayers in mosques, in market places where
they found keen listeners”. Comentado [40]: "Mendigos coránicos y ciegos los
recitaban después de oraciones congregacionales en
mezquitas, y en mercados donde encontraban oyentes
entusiastas".
The establishment of the Translation Bureau (and later Literature Bureau) in the
1930s, first headed by R.M. East, saw to the production of the first set of Hausa novels. Comentado [41]: ¿Y estos nombres?

Writers like Abubakar Iman, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Bello Kagara, Mohammadu
Gwarzo, etc. published novels. The writings freely made use of the oral traditions in
their narrative technique. Similarly, Dr. East was to edit and publish in 1930 Six
Hausa Plays in which five of the plays were folktales made into drama and the sixth
one, the dramatization of the Bayijida legend.

In 1953, the North Regional Literature Agency (NORLA) was established to augment
the exertions of the Literature Bureau. NORLA saw to the compilation of the Comentado [42]: Esfuerzos.

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anthology of the poems of some important 20th century Hausa poets such as Sa’adu
Zungur, Mu’azu Hadeja, Mudi Sipikin Alhaji Aliyu Namangi, etc. After a seven-
year period in 1959, NORLA was disbanded and its role later taken up by Gaskiya Comentado [43]: Disuelta, desmantelada.

Corporation, and much later by Northern Nigerian Publishing Company Limited

(NNPC), which was responsible for the flourishing of Northern writings between 1960
and 1967. Not only did NNPC re-publish NORLA titles, it published new Hausa
novels like those by Umaru Dembo, A. Katsina, Garba Funtua, Abdulkadir
Dangambo, etc.

In 1980, NNPC ran a creative writing contest which saw to the publication of the three
of the submissions, adjudged as the best. In 1980 too, the Triumph Publishing
Company was established by the Kano State Government which not only published
two Hausa newspapers but brought out assorted books of various interests.

Literature in Igbo

Literature in the Igbo language was first encouraged by the Christian missionaries
who needed a handle to spread Christianity. The church in 1840 directed Rev. J.F. Comentado [44]: Herramienta, manija, palanca. Algo
para ayudarse, para controlar, manejar.
Schon (German) and the Yoruba ex-slave-turned missionary, Rev. Samuel Ajayi Comentado [45]: Figura importante para la codificación
de las lenguas africanas en Occidente.
Crowther, [aimed] to study certain African languages which could assist their
Comentado [46]: Personaje a explorar. Primer obispo
evangelistic missions on the Niger. They selected Hausa and Igbo. Igbo was found anglicano-africano en Nigeria.

by Rev. Schon to be difficult while preferring Hausa although he hid under the claim Comentado [47]: Se escondió.

that Hausa was more widely spoken, for his recommendation. Schon managed to
publish A Grammar of the Ibo Language in 1890 but a greater work on the Igbo language Comentado [48]: Revisar fechas. Se habla aquí de
1890, y luego se menciona una segunda empresa, de
was done by Rev. Crowther and his fellow missionaries. The cooperative efforts of a 1848. Las fechas no encajan de manera coherente.

¿Será 1840?
Baptist missionary named Clark and an African American called Merrick saw to the
second collection of Igbo vocabulary in 1848. S.W. Koelle’s Polyglotta Africana was
published in 1854. In it, there were 300 Igbo words “given in five different dialects”
(E.N. Emenyonu, 22).

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Dr. William Baikie published his self-account of his expedition into Igbo land, named
the Niger Expedition in the year Koelle’s book was published. Crowther’s Isoama-Ibo Comentado [49]: 1854.

Primer, first published in 1857, later republished in 1927, and known to us today as
Azundu could be said to be the foundation of Igbo literary origins in the modern
sphere.

In 1933, Pita Nwana from Ndizogu in Imo State published the first Igbo novel
entitled, Omenuko. According to E.N. Emenyonu, Omenuko soon superseded Comentado [50]: Reemplazó, sustituyó, suplantó.

Azundu in its educational function. “Generations of school children (as well as

learners at Adult Education Centres) read it for its wit, volatile humour and its Comentado [51]: Ingenios.

insistent moral overtones. The sayings of Omenuko became something like the John Comentado [52]: Connotaciones morales.

Ploughman’s Talks.” The next Igbo novel was to emerge thirty years later, precisely in
1963, Ije Odumodu Jere (The Trip Made by Odumodu) written by Leopold Bell-Gam.
In the same year D.N. Achara published Ala Bingo (Bingo Land). However, none of
these two matched Omenuko in terms of its popularity, suavity and extent of
acceptability.
Comentado [53]: Parece que esto es una novela, de
mediados del siglo XIX. Pero no sé exactamente
porque equipara el Omenuko con esta novela. Quizás
aquella se utilizó en su momento como texto guía-base
para aprender inglés.
Escrita por Charles Spurgeon.
Comentado [54]: Ojo: la ópera prima de Chinua
Achebe es de 1958, pero no fue una novela escrita en
Igbo propiamente. Se escribió y se publicó en inglés.

In the last 30 years, many Igbo plays and poems have been issued by well known Comentado [55]: 1987-2017.
Comentado [56]: Emitido, expedido, publicado.
publishing companies, including the Igbo plays of A.B. Chukuezi and the Igbo poetry
collections edited by R.N. Ekechukwu and E.N. Emenanjo in the 1970s and 1980s. One
writer whose Igbo novels have helped to shape Igbo literature is Tony Ubesie.
Written in fluid and enjoyable Igbo, his novels are memorable and touch at the base
of human social and environmental psychology. His interesting novels in Igbo, largely
titled in proverbs include, Ukwa Ruo Oge Ya O Daa (When a breadfruit ripens it falls), Isi
Akwu Dara n’Ala (A palm nut which falls on the ground), Juo Obinna (Ask Obinna), Miri
Oku E Ji Egbu Mbe (The hot water with which the tortoise is killed), Ukpaka Miiri Onye Ubiam
(The oil bean which has fruited for the poor man). By the time he died in 1994, Ubesie still Comentado [57]: Ha dado frutos.

had several unpublished Igbo titles which reveal how prolific he would have been had
[if] death [had] allowed him.

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Any narration of the development of Igbo literature without a mention of the

singular effort of the late Maazi F.C. Ogbalu is faulty. He devoted over forty years of
his life to the promotion of Igbo studies. Incidentally, he had no formal training in Comentado [58]: Accidentalmente, o por casualidad.

Igbo, nor was he a linguist before enthusiastically plunging into Igbo studies. Using
his press in Onitsha, he published his own books on the Igbo proverbs, Igbo idioms,
riddles, customs and traditions, etiquette, stories, poetry collections, fiction (four Comentado [59]: Acertijos.

novels) and several books in Igbo for primary and secondary school students.

Initially trained as an economist and political scientist, he devoted much of his

teaching career at DMGS, Onitsha (also his alma mater), and St. Augustine’s Nkwerre
to the promotion of the Igbo language. He was the first Head of the Department of
Igbo Language and Culture at both the Alvan Ikoku College of Education, in Owerri,
and later at the defunct Anambra State College of Education, Awka. He was a very Comentado [60]: Extinto, que ya no existe.

energetic man who expended his efforts largely on the promotion of Igbo language
and culture; he did not just publish his own works on and in Igbo, he also published
many important books by fellow Igbo in the Igbo language, not excluding the re-
publication of pioneer books on the Igbo such as those by G.T. Basden, an early
white missionary who worked in the Onitsha area.

Literature in Yoruba

If Ajayi Crowther, the Yoruba ex-slave, played such a prominent role in the founding Comentado [61]: Rev. Samuel Ajayi Crowther, antes
mencionado.
of Igbo literature, one imagines that by the time he took on Igbo, much development
had taken place in his Yoruba language. This was largely due to the influx of the
liberated slaves – many of who were literate – into Yoruba land a little before the
middle of the 19th century. There was also the influence of the establishment of
Christian mission’s primary and secondary schools whose products soon acquired the Comentado [62]: Whose products? Which products?

art of reading and writing. Although the Yoruba renaissance which was stirred by the Comentado [63]: Movido, impulsado.

ex-slaves started in the 1880s, the book on Yoruba history by Rev. Samuel Johnson,
completed in 1897 and published in 1921, could be said to be the proper take-off point. Comentado [64]: Punto de despegue.
Libro de Samuel Johnson sobre historia yoruba (1897):
The year 1921 is a crucial year for both Yoruba and Igbo studies, being also the year punto de despeque del Yoruba renaissance.

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G.T. Basden’s book on the Igbo was published; the Yoruba ‘crusade’ was effected by Comentado [65]: White missionary who worked on the
Onitsha area.
a Yoruba while a white man published the first meaningful book on the Igbo. Comentado [66]: Yoruba crusade? What was that?

According to Toyin Falola, “most people who now claim to be knowledgeable in

Yoruba history only narrate Johnson.” [Even though] Basden’s book on the Igbo may
not have been historical like Johnson’s on the Yoruba, what is now known about Igbo
culture and tradition was first mooted in that book. Comentado [67]: Esbozado. Puesto para la discusión.

One of the critical sources of Yoruba interest in literature is Deniga’s West African
Biographies (1914). Adeoye Deniga organised a series of lectures over later years
centred on African leaders of West Africa. Each lecture was published as a pamphlet;
he was to bring together these lectures to form a book. His second volume of these
series was published in 1934. It was not until 1939 that D.O. Fagunwa’s Ogboju-ode Comentado [68]: Of lectures over West African
leaders:
ninu igbo irunmale (The skilful hunter in the forest of spirits), a long prose narrative in West African Biographies (1914).
Comentado [69]: Veinte años después.
the tradition of Yoruba folklore, was published. Those who could not read Yoruba had
to wait for Wole Soyinka’s translation of the story under the title, The Forest of a
Thousand Daemons: A Hunter’s Saga (1968). Some thirteen years later, precisely in Comentado [70]: 29 años después de su publicación
original en Yoruba.
1952, Amos Tutuola, writing in ‘quaint English’ published The Palm-wine Drinkard. Comentado [71]: Después de la narrativa de Fagunwa,
publicada en 1939.
It was hailed in Europe and America but distrusted in his country. He wrote just as
Comentado [72]: Pintoresco, interesante, curioso,
Fagunwa did except that his linguistic medium was not Yoruba; his tales, which singular.
Comentado [73]: Aclamado, aplaudido (el libro de
were linked artistically to yield The Palm-wine Drinkard, were essentially Yoruba Tutuola).
Comentado [74]: Rechazado.
stories. Since Fagunwa, other writers who write like him in the Yoruba language Falta de confianza. Recelo frente a algo.

include Ogundele, Omoyajowo, Fatanmi, etc. Others who wrote in the realistic Comentado [75]: ¿Producir, crear?

tradition were I.O. Delano who published his first Yoruba novel in 1955 and his
second work of fiction in 1963. Since then there have emerged the novels of J.F.
Odunjo, Afolabi Olabimtan, Adebayo Faleti, T.A. Ladele, Ola Owolabi, Kola Akinlade,
A. Oyedele, Yamitan, Awoniyi, etc. Novels of detection have also made an impact. Comentado [76]: Novels of detection?

Thus the works of Oladejo Okediji and Kola Akinlade are well known in this artistic
sub-genre.

Notable trajectories in the development of Nigerian literature since 1914

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The Ogunde Tradition

Ebun Clark informs that about March 1945, Hubert Ogunde, a police constable Comentado [77]: Alguacil, oficial, agente, guardia.

resigned from his job and modelled his African Music Research Party after the
Alarinjo. Alarinjo was a local Yoruba theatre of masked strolling players which Comentado [78]: Ambulante, itinerante, paseante.

existed from the 16th century. This theatre itself took its own roots from the Egungun
(masquerade) as “ancestor worship and during the reign of Alaafin Ogbolu who Comentado [79]: Culto, adoración, devoción.

ascended to the throne at Oyo Ighoho about 1590 as a court entertainer” (Adedeji,
1981).

Thus before Ogunde, Alarinjo professional actors, usually masked, performed largely
for the nobility, and later for the church. However, when Ogunde took it outside of
the royal courts, he stripped it of its Egungun origination meant only for the
enjoyment of the monarchy; he allowed it to metamorphose from flattering the court Comentado [80]: Halagar, elogiar, lisonjear, adular,
favorecer.
and the nobility for their amusement, to casting satirical butts at both the nobility or
any other important figure for that matter.

Unlike the Alarinjo of the nobility, Ogunde’s actors wore no masks. Rather than rely
on the patronage of the monarchy, Ogunde’s Alarinjo re-creation relied on the
patronage of the public through gate-takings. Ogunde introduced Yoruba Comentado [81]: Imagino: cobros en la puerta de
entrada.
commercial drama by “taking indoors what was traditionally an open-air theatre”.

Members of Ogunde’s cast were largely made up of himself and members of his Comentado [82]: Extraña expresión.

immediate and extended families. He did so in order not to suffer from the attrition of Comentado [83]: Desgaste, roce.

actors normally associated with such artistic enterprise which saw people leave a little Atrición: sorprendente palabra en la teología.

after making their fame. In his dramatic productions, oral tradition was very critical. Comentado [84]: No entendí bien...

Although his theatre is often linked to the Ghana concert party – a largely Western
variety style – his theatrical performances were unique because they were folk-
based.

His operas include, “The Garden of Eden and the Throne of God” (1944); “Worse than
Crime” (1945), “Tiger’s Empire” (1946); “Strike and Hunger” (1946), “King Solomon”

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(1948), “Bread and Bullet” (1950), “My Darling Fatima” (1951), “Song of Unity” (1960),
“Yoruba Ronu” and “Otito Koro” (1964) etc. “Bread and Bullet” (1950) attracted the Comentado [85]: Pan y balas.

ire of the white colonial overlords for which he was arrested and charged for Comentado [86]: Jefes, señores, patrones.

sedition. He was later released but fined 125 pounds for “Strike and Hunger” and £6
for “Bread and Bullet” (1950). Those who followed after Ogunde were Kola
Ogunmola, Oyin Adejobi, Duro Ladipo, Ade Afolayan, Obotunde Ijimere (who wrote
a play in English), Baba Sala etc.

(Part II)

Onitsha Market Literature

Around the time Ogunde’s theatre was being founded, a literary revolution was Comentado [87]: Década de 1940.

taking place in Onitsha. It was the burgeoning period of pamphleteering in the late Comentado [88]: Floreciente período del "panfletismo".

1940s, which went on to dominate the reading taste of the 1950s and 1960s. It was a
revolution of a kind because those who had become newly educated wanted to show
off their newly acquired skill of writing by writing short essays, stories and letters
centred on ethics, love, biography and politics. The writers themselves were largely
the not-so highly educated news reporters, traders, booksellers, printers and
secondary school students. Just as Onitsha traders financed the early Nollywood films

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and turned it into an instant money spinner, Onitsha was the home of this breath of
writing. By the nature of the town, Onitsha was (and still is) “a self-confident place
where a man would not be deterred even by insufficient learning from aspiring to
teach and improve his fellows – and making a little profit as well”.
Comentado [89]: Significativa palabra: a man. Not just
"someone", a person.
Comentado [90]: Impedido, disuadido, desalentado.

Onitsha market literature was a literary epoch which lasted some three decades
(1940s to 1960s). Of all its writers, only Cyprian Ekwensi went on to be known as a
novelist. An established Nigerian story-teller, “he pioneered this species of writing”. Comentado [91]: Which one?
¿Cuáles son las características de la tradición literaria
A pharmacist by training, his two booklets – When Love Whispers and Ikolo the Wrestler del mercado de Onitsha?
Comentado [92]: ¿Folleto?
and Other Igbo Tales – were published by Tabansi Bookshop, Onitsha in 1947. Most
Comentado [93]: Luchador, guerrero.
narratives of the early development of Nigerian literature point to Ekwensi’s When
Love Whispers, a novella which the author used to ‘get back at’, the father of the girl Comentado [94]: Novela de 1948.
Comentado [95]: ¿Vengarse?
who discouraged his daughter from befriending him (Ekwensi), who at the time was
Comentado [96]: Complicada construcción de la
not materially well-off, and so was an unwanted son-in-law. The famous Onitsha oración. Pero, en resumen, parece ser lo siguiente:

market literature writers who could not rise to the stature of Ekwensi in Nigerian Ekwensi pretendía a una chica. Y el padre de esta le
aconsejó que no se metiera con el escritor, ya que este
no era muy adinerado. Entonces, Ekwensi quiso
literature, even though they wrote amply, were Chika Okonyia, Ogali A. Ogali, vengarse del hombre, escribiendo "When Love
Whispers".
Orlando Iguh, O. Olisa, F.N. Stephen, etc.

Independence Euphoria

The independence that was coming yielded its euphoria which extended to Comentado [97]: Produjo, dio lugar a...

Nigerian writing. A little earlier, writers like Cyprian Ekwensi, Amos Tutuola,
Chinua Achebe, James Ene Henshaw and even Gabriel Okara (who published his first
set of poems in Black Orpheus in 1957), started to emerge. Soyinka’s earliest play
productions were about the independence euphoria period. According to G. G. Darah,
“By 1959, there were three performing groups that treated the Ibadan audience to
plays taken from Greek, English and Nigerian repertories. Soyinka’s The Swamp
Dwellers and The Lion and the Jewel were among these.”

Just as the University College, Ibadan trained writers were coming of age, the pioneer
poets such as Dennis Osadebay, K. Epelle, Enitan Brown, Adeboye Babalola, etc.

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held the forte. Osadebay’s full volume of poetry, his first and the first in Nigeria Comentado [98]: ¿The first volume of poems in
Nigeria?
entitled Africa Sings was published in 1952. The Ibadan University coterie of writers, Comentado [99]: Grupo, pandilla.

using Black Orpheus and The Horn published alluring poetry. Most of the earliest Comentado [100]: Seductora, atractiva, atrayente.

contributors to The Horn were Aig Higo, [C.] Okigbo, Pius Oleghe, Abiola Irele, J.P.
Clark, and Wole Soyinka. Only Okigbo, Soyinka and Clark flourished as creative
writers. Into the 1960s there were Nelson Olawaiye, Dapo Adelugba, Omolara
Ogundipe-Leslie, Mabel Segun (then Mabel Imoukhuede) etc. Only the women
Mabel Segun and Ogundipe-Leslie made some impact in literary writing. The same Comentado [101]: Interesante.

euphoria encouraged the founding of the Mbari Club whose founding members
included Wole Soyinka, J.P. Clark, Amos Tutuola, Daniel Fagunwa, Ulli Beier (a Comentado [102]: D. O. Fagunwa.
Yoruba.
German) Ezekiel Mphahlele (a South African on exile), Demas Nwoko etc. ¿El escritor de "The skilful hunter in the forest of
spirits"?

Literature arising from the Nigerian Civil War

Every war yields its literature; the Nigerian civil war of 1967-1970 could not be
different. Nwahunanya remarks that “the five hundred and twelve novels produced
by the American civil war indicate how fertile wars can be as material for creative
literature.” Both the Biafran voices and the Federal voices in the Nigerian war novel
are quite appreciable, not to include the drama and poetry it generated. Novelists on
the Biafran side who readily come to mind are S. Okechukwu Mezu (Behind the Rising
Sun, 1971); John Munonye (A Wreath for the Maidens, 1973); I.N.C Aniebo (Anonymity
of Sacrifice, 1974); Chukwuemeka Ike (Sunset at Dawn, 1976); Ekwensi (Survive the Peace,
1976); Eddie Iroh (Toads of War, 1979); Ekwensi (Divided We Stand, 1980); Chimamanda Comentado [103]: Desde 1970 hasta 1980.

Adichie (Half of a Yellow Sun, 2006); Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo (Roses and Bullets, 2011)
etc.

The federal novelists on the war would include Isidore Okpewho (The Last Duty,
1976); Buchi Emecheta (Destination Biafra, 1982); Ken Saro-Wiwa (Sozaboy, 1985);
Elechi Amadi (Estrangement, 1986); Festus Iyayi (Heroes, 1986), etc. There is also a rich
tradition of poetry and drama inspired by the war. As it still is, no Nigerian experience

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has equalled in influence or has elicited the response of the Nigerian writer as much Comentado [104]: Provocar, sonsacar.

as the Civil War of 1967-1970.

Post-war era: Poetry of a different tenor

In 1962, and at different interviews with Lewis Nkosi, the South African critic and
writer, both Christopher Okigbo and Wole Soyinka showed by their utterances that Comentado [105]: Declaraciones, pronunciamientos.

they cared little about their audience. Okigbo is known to have said: “Somehow, I
believe I am writing for other poets all over the world to read and see whether they
can share in my experience…. Nowadays everything is done for the study and on few
occasions it steals out, I think it is to please, but not a large public.” Hear Soyinka: “…
I don’t think I need to bother about the audience, whether Nigerian or European.”
Except the late Okigbo, who began to ‘care’, their not caring for their audience showed
in much of their poetic output. Usually obscure and recondite, their poetry was
difficult to follow, at least for the average educated Nigerian. It was [the] repelling
type of verse [the reason because] they were respected [for] abroad, for writing like
Pound, Eliot, Mallarme or Tagore. At home, their poetry could not be ‘touched’ by
the local critic, [leaving] alone the ordinary lover of literature. Comentado [106]: ¡Qué interesante!
They were respected abroad, says JOJ, because they
were writing like Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, Mallarmé or R.
Tagore.
Whereas the leisure of pre-war Nigeria could contend with the draconian poetry of And even though their poetry was very difficult to follow
for the average Nigerian reader, the local critic was not
that era, post-war Nigerian versification was earnest and urgent, and called for allowed (by who?) to touched their works.
Comentado [107]: Ocio.
audience consciousness and communicative impulse. The poets of post-war Nigeria
Comentado [108]: Draconiano: de Dracón, el rígido
seemed to have agreed with Gabriel Pearson who said in 1962 that “poetry undirected legislador griego.
Comentado [109]: Curiosa expresión.
towards its audience must be sick.” Poets like Niyi Osundare, Chinweizu, Femi
Comentado [110]: Creo que no entiendo muy bien eso
Osofisan, Femi Fatoba, Odia Ofeimun, Tanure Ojaide, Funso Aiyejina, Olu Obafemi, del leisure de la pre-war era.
Comentado [111]: Fervorosa.
Obiora Udechukwu, Ossie Enekwe, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Ben Okri, etc. sprang up. A
whole coterie of poets has since [then] come alive as a result of the courage of their
precursors in the post-war vintage who were largely their university teachers:
Ezenwa-Ohaeto, Olu Oguibe, Esiaba Irobi, Usman Shehu, Remi Raji, Toyin Adewale-
Gabriel, Promise Okekwe, Lola Shoneyin, Funmi Adewole, Angela Agali, Hannatu
Abdullahi, Nike Adesuyi, Hope Eghagha, Idris Amali, Uche Umez, Obiwu, Unoma

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Azua, Lynn Chukura, Hauwa Sambo, etc. just to mention these few. It is not my Comentado [112]: Estos son los y las poetas que
sucedieron a los corajudos del período de posguerra.
intention to [make an] exhaust[ive] list or [to] classify who belongs where in atomized
terms; I am convinced that all post-war Nigerian poets were bitten by the same bug!
The meeting point of these poets – whether ‘father’ or ‘son’/’daughter’ – is
accessibility. There is in their vintage clarity of feeling rather than an aridity of it,
which could lead a poet to be impassive and detached.

Female Writing

Since 1914, Nigeria’s female writers have had to make an impact too. Between that
year and 1966, when Flora Nwapa wrote Efuru, the females as writers were hardly
heard. Before 1966, only men were heard. It was not just that there were no female
writers of sufficient significance, women characters were poorly represented in
writing by men. In spite of Achebe’s ‘nneka’ (mother is supreme), Igbo creed of female
superiority, espoused by Uchendu in Things Fall Apart, female critics, exemplified by
Chikwenye Ogunyemi, saw Achebe’s literary effort as rather disrespecting the female.
As she puts it, “Achebe’s macho spirit with its disdain for women, robs him of the Comentado [113]: Lo atracan.

symbolic insight into the nurturant possibilities of women’s vital role. Things fall
apart also because of the misogyny or contempt for the female.”

The women had complained that male writers generally presented the female in bad
light. Male writers, they claim, had regaled their readers with the presentation of the Comentado [114]: Buscar palabra.

female as witch, the faithless woman, the prostitute, femme fatale, the virago etc., Comentado [115]: Mujer que tiene aspecto, ademanes
y actitudes que se consideran propios de los hombres.
while male writers who had a romantic inclination painted female characters as Marimacho.

goddesses or helpless victims.

Apart from Flora Nwapa, who tried to correct this impression in her works, there were
also Adaora Ulasi (novelist), Buchi Emecheta (novelist), Zulu Sofola (dramatist),
Mabel Segun (poet), Tess Onwueme (dramatist), Zaynab Alkali (novelist), Ifeoma
Okoye (novelist), Omolara Ogundipe-Leslie (poet), Catherine Acholonu (poet), Ifi
Amadiume (poet), Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo (novelist), Chimamanda Adichie

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(novelist) etc. Working in close cooperation with these female writers are the female
critics such as Mrs. C.O. Ogunyemi, Omolara Ogundipe-Leslie, Juliet Okonkwo, Rose
and Catherine Acholonu, Ebun Clark, Ebele Eko, Helen Chukwuma, Emelia Oko,
Virginia Ola, etc.

However, one observes that although both the female writers and critics do what
feminists do, they do not want to associate themselves with feminism, and rather Comentado [116]: ¿Y qué es eso? ¿Qué es lo que
hacen las feministas?
prefer milder categorisations such as womanists, accommodationists, motherists and Comentado [117]: Milder?

“feminist with a small ‘f’” – whatever this means. Comentado [118]: Ok...
Habrá que investigar más sobre esta reticencia frente al
término "feminista".

Nigerian Pidgin-English writing in the 1980s

It is safe to say that Pidgin-English as a medium for literature in Nigeria was to a great
extent a characteristic of the 1980s. Before the ‘80s, Nigerian writers appeared timid
about its use. They deployed Pidgin as if they were afraid of something, probably the
fall-out of Tutuola’s castigation for having made use of poorly brewed English. In Comentado [119]: Elaborado.
Comentado [120]: Desprecio frente a la propia cultura:
poetry, Dennis Osadebay and Aig-Imoukhuede respectively wrote lone Pidgin rasgo de la psicología colonial.

poems. Chinua Achebe, Cyprian Ekwensi, Wole Soyinka, T.M. Aluko, all Nigerian Comentado [121]: Just, me imagino.
"Sólo".
novelists, gave Pidgin to some of their characters. In the dramatic genre, Ola Rotimi
and Wole Soyinka did the same.

Commentators had wondered why Pidgin could not replace English or at the worst
flourish side by side with the English language as a medium for the articulation of
experience. Okeke-Ezeigbo thinks it is viable to use Pidgin while Femi Osofisan
opposes such a suggestion. Yet there had been a long drawn-out argument as to which
language best suited the African writer and [Nigerian] writer. Obi Wali, Chinua
Achebe, Austin Shelton, Gerald Moore, Ezekiel Mphahlele and others, spent a lot
of energy on this subject in the 1960s.

Dennis Osadebay wrote the first Pidgin poem, published in his Africa Sings (1952)
volume. Frank Aig-Imoukhuede published ‘One Wife for One Man’ in 1963 in Gerald
Moore edited poetry anthology. However, it was not until the 1980s that Nigerians

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returned to the use of Pidgin to write poems, stories and even drama. Aig-
Imoukhuede in 1982 published a large collection of poems in Pidgin, Stew and
Sufferhead, which includes his ‘One Wife for One Man’.

Mamman Vatsa’s Tori for Geti Bow Leg and Other Pidgin Poems came out in 1985.
Ezenwa-Ohaeto published a few poems in Pidgin in his first collection of poetry,
Songs of a Traveller (1986) and reaped a bumper harvest of Pidgin-English poems in Comentado [122]: Cosechó.
Comentado [123]: Vaso lleno hasta el borde.
I Wan Bi President (1988). Oyekunle published his Pidgin play, Kataka for Sufferhead
in 1983. Tunde Fatunde has published some Pidgin poems in journals, all these in the
1980s. In the novel genre, Ken Saro-Wiwa published Sozaboy (1985) which surprisingly
has not been emulated by any other Nigerian writer. It seems that Nigerian writers Comentado [124]: ¿No han escrito más novelas en
Pidgin?
are comfortable with Standard English and would not want the applecart to be
upturned. Thus the Nigerian writers who have engaged Pidgin-English have done so Comentado [125]: Puede ser...
Creo que es un fenómeno a investigar con más
as experimentations, and as it is, we await in the near future those who may return to detenimiento...

this iconic mode of writing with the same fervour.

Literature and the Niger Delta impasse

An emerging literature in Nigeria is the writing which focuses squarely on the

contemporary happenings in the Niger Delta. By Niger Delta, one is referring to
those parts of Nigeria (officially nine states) where there has been intense oil
exploration, starting at Oloibiri in 1956. The people of this area laboured in pain to Comentado [126]: Exploration or explotation?

eke [get] out a living from their devastated land and environment over many years of
the search for oil by oil prospecting companies.

They had made their grievances known over time but their leaders worked at cross- Comentado [127]: Quejas, agravios.

purposes with them and instead aligned themselves with the interest of the Federal
Government and those of the oil conglomerates.

The creation of states in 1967 during which Rivers and Cross-Rivers States were
Comentado [128]: Labrados, tallados.
carved out of the former Eastern region seemed to have assuaged the people
Comentado [129]: Calmar, aliviar, saciar.
temporarily while oil exploration went on, even more heedlessly. By the time, The Comentado [130]: Descuidadamente.

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people, led by Saro-Wiwa, returned to talk about the devastation of their environment
in the early 1990s, [as] they met a stiff opposition in Sanni Abacha who at the time
was not just a maximum leader but tolerated no opposition of any kind.

Ken Saro-Wiwa, the Ogoni environmental activist who could have probably written
the first Niger Delta novel or drama was busy, physically engaged, eyeball-to-
eyeball, with the Establishment monsters who were responsible for the poor social and
psychological conditions of his people. In what looked like an extra-judicial killing,
Saro-Wiwa and eight other activists were hastily executed so that they could give way Comentado [131]: De prisa, precipitadamente.

for the exploitation of the material resources of the land to continue unhindered. Comentado [132]: Sin obstáculos.

However, this was not to be as Niger Deltans responded through the intellect
(literature and writing) and an abrasive militancy, which seemed to have been
unexpected at the time. The people with an obvious loud voice woke up to ask why
“in spite of the huge revenue accruing from the exploitation of the oil under their feet, Comentado [133]: A pesar de...
Comentado [134]: Acumulándose, acrecentándose.
their region had been overly ignored in developmental terms while the resources
realized from the sale of their crude oil had been used to develop certain cities in the
other parts of the country as well as feathered the nests of certain individuals of a Comentado [135]: Emplumado.
Alimentado, engordado.
particular class in both the Niger Delta and elsewhere.”(Nwachukwu-Agbada, 2009).

In 1993, Isidore Okpewho published his ‘prophetic’ novel entitled Tides, in which he
deployed the Saro-Wiwa figure named Bickerbug to fight the oil companies and the
Nigerian government. Bina Nengi-Ilagha brought out her Condolences in 2002; Kaine
Agary (Yellow-Yellow, 2006), Tanure Ojaide (The Activist, 2006), Vincent Egbuson (Love
My Planet, 2008) etc. In drama, J.P.Clark as always is a pioneer (All for Oil, 2000);
Ahmed Yerima (Hard Ground, 2006) etc. In poetry, the collections are quite ample:
Tanure Ojaide (Labyrinths of the Delta, 1986; Delta Blues and Home Songs, 1998); Ibiwari
Ikiriko (Oily Tears of the Delta, 1999); Nnimmo Bassey (We Thought it was Oil but it was
Blood, 2002); Nengi Ilagha (Mantids and Apples and Serpents, 2007); Tanure Ojaide (The
Tale of the Harmattan, 2008; Waiting for the Hatching of a Cockerel, 2008). G’ Ebinyo

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Ogbowei has over three collections of poetry, each of them centred on an aspect of
the Niger Delta eco-activism.

Conclusion

Nigerian literature in the last hundred years has been very vibrant, and will – I believe
– continue to be so. It is not just that writers based at home write as often as they can,
Nigerians resident abroad are beginning to create their own genre of Nigerian
writing. Chimamanda Adichie’s 2013 title, ‘Americanah’, succinctly bears the onus of Comentado [136]: Me resulta significativo que
mencione a Ngozi Adichie.
this genre. A number of Nigerians living outside the country have started to put their Comentado [137]: Literalmente: lleva la
responsabilidad.
experiences in fictive formats for the consideration of the Nigerian audience at home. Pero quizás quiso decir: lleva la bandera.

They are using the medium of both poetry and narrative to unburden themselves. Comentado [138]: Desahogarse, descargarse.

Before long this could constitute a sub-genre since these writers, no matter how long
they live in the West, cannot be absorbed as [fully] European or American poets or
novelists. Comentado [139]: Esto es fundamental, y
problemático.

Europeos y gringos, sea lo que eso sea.

Asked if Nigerian literature has fared well since 1914, I would say ‘yes’. But this is not
Comentado [140]: Si le ha ido bien.
to say that this wellness is a perfect one. In terms of production, the Nigerian writer
is fecund, producing more than what comes out from all the other African countries
put together. The yearly submission to the annual NLNG literary contest, for instance,
proves me right. As a consequence of the large output, there has been as well a
diversity of themes, language, style and technique. The Nigerian writer continues to
visit the oral traditions for strength and a healthy, refreshed yield. Comentado [141]: Cosecha.

However, Nigeria has not yet stood up to establishing dependable publishing outfits.
Publishing continues to be left for a few daring local publishers who receive no Comentado [142]: Atrevidos, corajudos, valientes.

encouragement in any way from the governments. Again, as of today, only one or
two Nigerian writers could live off their writings. Maybe Achebe, when he was alive,
and Soyinka after retiring as a professor. I have my doubts if we could point to any
other writer in Nigeria as one whose source of livelihood is his/her writing. Comentado [143]: Ngozi Adichie?

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That is how pitiable the situation is. Those who could have contributed to the writer’s
well-being by buying and reading their literary works, prefer watching Nollywood
films which do not require so much intellection to follow. Nollywood attracts
governmental attention, but book publishing receives no impetus. Yet book
publishing is a carrier of culture as it will in the future tell the story of today.

Another worry about Nigerian writing is the hunger for prizes. There seems to be a
new doctrine about how significant prize-chasing is vis-a-vis the worth of a literary
work. Rather than ventilate his/her mind by continuous writing, some Nigerian
writers write for prizes. As a result when they do not win they get frustrated and get
their writing impeded. There have similarly sprung up publishing outfits that only Comentado [144]: Surgido.

promote writings that stand to win accolades. In some cases, these outfits organize Comentado [145]: Elogios, premios.

such ‘prizes’ themselves and bring only a few copies of these ‘award-winning’ stuffs Es español: acolada.

to the prize grounds, show off the copies that day, and close the chapter about such
books. Personally, I have heard about some ‘magnificent’ works which won prizes Comentado [146]: Comillas...

about ten years ago, and as I speak I have not seen copies, let alone buy them. If
people like us cannot obtain copies of these ‘wonderful’ writings, who gets them and
where are such people?

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