AFRICAN LITERATURE

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The oral and written works of the continent, whether they were produced in African or
other languages, are collectively referred to as African literature. The majority of formal African
literature is still establishing its own particular styles. However, the broad African oral tradition
is full of myths, proverbs, riddles, and folktales that not only offer a fantastical perspective on
the world but also have religious, social, and educational purposes.
The written literature has been significantly influenced by the oral tradition. Contrary to
Europe, the Middle East, and some parts of Asia, Black Africa has no ancient traditions of
written literature, although some African poetry has been written more than a thousand years
ago. The majority of African literary works have only been produced in the 20th century, most of
them after World War II. The oldest instances are religious literature from North Africa that were
influenced by Islam. Before Christian missionaries came to sub-Saharan Africa in the 19th
century, the majority of the continent was illiterate. As a result, there isn't much African
literature that has been around for more than a century; the main exceptions being the literatures
written in Arabic in western Sudan, Swahili on the east African coast, and Ge'ez in Ethiopia.

CHARACTERISTICS OF AFRICAN LITERATURE

The transformation of African literature can be categorized into four distinct phases:
namely, oral literature, pre-colonial literature, colonial literature, and post-colonial literature.
Most Africans today, as in the past, are primarily oral peoples, with oral rather than literary art
forms. African literature is heavily influenced by oral literature. They acknowledge oral literature
as the basis of written literature.
 Oral literature
Oral literature (orature) is frequently sung or recited by bards or griots (West African
praise singers, poets, or musicians) and can take the form of songs, tongue twisters, recitations,
poetry, proverbs, and riddles. It simply means "literature delivered by word of mouth."
 Pre- colonial literature
The pre-colonial literature is the literary works done before the coming of the white men
to the African continent. Pre-colonial African literature can be found as early as the fourth
century AD. The Kebra Negast, or "Book of Kings," is the most well-known. A common theme
in traditional African folklore is the small animal who tricks larger creatures in order to survive.
 Colonial literature
The slave narrative was a common theme during the colonial period, often written in
English or French for western audiences. “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, was one of the
first pieces of African literature to receive widespread critical acclaim when it was published in
1958. Liberation and independence are prominent themes in late-colonial African literature.
 Postcolonial literature
Post-colonial literature has become increasingly diverse, with some writers returning to
their native languages. Common themes include the clash between past and present, tradition and
modernity, self and community, as well as politics and development. This era addressed endemic
corruption in government circles, conflicts, and economic disparities, as well as women's rights
and roles.

AFRICAN WRITERS AND POETS

 Wole Soyinka
Wole Soyinka is perhaps the foremost English-language poet and certainly the most
celebrated playwright of black Africa. Combining Western dramatic forms with music, dance
and mime of Africa. His plays achieve a ritualistic power and demonstrate the fundamental
African concern with “numinous” boundaries: those between the human and the divine,
between life and death.

From his first play, The Swamp Dwellers, which was produced in London in 1958,
most of Soyinka’s theatrical works have been seen on English and American as well as Nigerian
stages. Two volumes of his collected plays have been published (1973 and 1974) as well such
later plays as Death and the King’s Horseman (1975), Opera Wonyosi (1979), and A Play of
Giants (1984).

Wole Soyinka won the Nobel prize for literature in 1986- the first time a black African
writer had been so honored and., in fact the first international honor in literature ever won by a
black African. Soyinka’s fame created a new interest in black African literature.

 Chinua Achebe
One of the world’s most widely recognized and praised writers, Chinua Achebe wrote
some of the most extraordinary works of the 20th century. His most famous novel, Things Fall
Apart (1958), is a devastating depiction of the clash between traditional tribal values and the
effects of colonial rule, as well as the tension between masculinity and femininity in highly
patriarchal societies. Achebe is also a noted literary critic, particularly known for his passionate
critique of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1899), in which he accuses the popular novel
of rampant racism through its othering of the African continent and its people.

 Ngugi wa Thiong’o
Ngugi wa Thiong’o is one of Africa’s most important and influential postcolonial writers.
He began his writing career with novels written in English, which nevertheless revolved around
postcolonial themes of the individual and the community in Africa versus colonial powers and
cultures. His first two novels, “Weep Not, Child (1964) and “The River Between” (1965),
concern the impact of colonialism, Christianity and rebellion on the east African people.
Thiong’o was imprisoned without trial for over a year by the government for the staging of a
politically controversial play Petals of Blood (1967); after his release, he committed to writing
works only in his native Gikuyi and Swahili, citing language as a key tool for decolonizing the
mind set and culture of African readers and writers.

 Nadine Gordimer
Nadine Gordimer was a South African writer, political activist, and recipient of the 1991
Nobel Prize in Literature. She was recognized as a woman "who through her magnificent epic
writing has been very great benefit to humanity".

Her first novel, The Lying Days (1953), was based largely on her own life and set in her
home town. Her next three novels, A World of Strangers (1958), Occasion for Loving (1963),
which focuses on an illicit love affair between a black man and a white woman, and The Late
Bourgeois World (1966), deal with master-servant relations in South African life. In 1974, her
novel The Conservationist, was joint winner of the Booker Prize for Fiction. Her last novel to
appear in her lifetime was No Time Like the Present (2012).
AFRICAN POEMS AND SHORT STORIES

AFRICA
(David Diop)
Africa, my Africa
Africa of proud warriors in ancestral savannahs Africa of whom my grandmother sings
On the banks of the distant river I have never known you
But your blood flows in my veins
Your beautiful black blood that irrigates the fields

The blood of your sweat The sweat of your work The work of your slavery Africa, tell me
AfricaIs this you, this back that is bent This back that breaks
Under the weight of humiliation This back trembling with red scars
And saying yes to the whip under the midday sun

But a grave voice answers me

Impetuous child that tree, young and strong That tree over there
Splendidly alone amidst white and faded flowers That is your Africa springing up anew
Springing up patiently, obstinately Whose fruit bit by bit acquires The bitter taste of
liberty.
In this poem, he talks about the “blood” (the bond) he shares with his country and his fellow
countrymen who are either enslaved by Europeans or colonized. He empathizes with their
suffering and says their spirit is “unbent” even though they are tortured. A voice (probably of
personified Africa) directs him to see the “tree” representing the nation that grows in a steady
and headstrong way. Slowly its fruits, a metaphor for Africans, obtain the taste of liberty. Thus,
Diop expresses his hope for a free Africa.

This poem was all about the effects colonialism has had on Africa. It traces the history of pre-
colonial Africa, then shows the torture that Africans underwent in colonialism (We know for a
fact that African experience colonization, discrimination, colorism, slavery& etc.) and how
Africa is starting a fresh like a young tree. As you try to imagine there is transition in of slavery
to freedom of the poem.

Once Upon A time

(Gabriel Okara)

Once upon a time, son,

they used to laugh with their hearts and laugh with their eyes:

but now they only laugh with their teeth, while their ice-block-cold eyes
 search behind my shadow.

There was a time indeed

they used to shake hands with their hearts: but that’s gone, son.

Now they shake hands without hearts while their left hands search

my empty pockets.

‘Feel at home!’ ‘Come again’: they say, and when I come again and feel

at home, once, twice, there will be no thrice

for then I find doors shut on me.

So, I have learned many things, son. I have learned to wear many faces like dresses –

homeface, officeface, streetface, hostface,

cocktailface, with all their conforming smiles

like a fixed portrait smile.

And I have learned too

to laugh with only my teeth

and shake hands without my heart.

I have also learned to say, 'Goodbye’, when I mean ‘Good-riddance’:

to say ‘Glad to meet you’,

without being glad; and to say ‘It’s been nice talking to you’, after being bored.

But believe me, son.

I want to be what I used to be when I was like you. I want

to unlearn all these muting things.

Most of all, I want to relearn

how to laugh, for my laugh in the mirror shows only my teeth like a snake’s bare fangs!

So, show me, son,

 how to laugh; show me how I used to laugh and smile

once upon a time when I was like you.

This is a free verse poem that focuses on a father’s attitude to cultural change and times past,
before the incoming Western culture affected the native African way of life. In the poem, the
man (presumably a father) addresses the son, telling him in a rather nostalgic manner, how things
used to be. As you can see, they use the word “they used to” which means the father reminds of
what happened in their pre-colonial time owing the fact that in my perspective, this is a sad poem
during the colonialism. Therefore, African poems focuses on colonialism and how the powerful
Europeans invade the said territory, it also focuses on the lens of survivability with the people
and how they face the AGONIZING challenges they been through.

 Chinua Achebe’s “Civil Peace” (1971).

This is a short story written in third-person limited point of view. It takes place during the
civil-war that just ended in Nigeria. The main protagonist is Jonathan who survives the civil war
in Nigeria and is trying to take care of his family. The living conditions are hard and difficult and
one of the themes in this story is war and its impact on human lives.

 Year of the Elephant

Leila Abouzeid’s novella Year of the Elephant: A Moroccan Women’s Journey Toward
Independence tells the story of Zahra, a Moroccan woman who sought freedom for her country
and for herself by struggling for independence from France.

 African Short stories can usually be read in only one sitting. Unlike novels, they do not
diverge from the main plot, and all of the information is directly relevant to the plot. The
author sometimes adds personal experiences for effect. All in all, African literature
include slave narratives, protests against colonization, calls for independence, African
pride, hope for the future, and dissent.