LESSON 1:

Learning Objectives:
• Write a close analysis and critical interpretation of literary texts,
applying a reading approach and doing an adaption of these,
require from the learner the ability to identify: representative
texts and authors from Africa
• Compare and contrast the various 21st century literary genres
and their elements structures and traditions from across the
globe
 African literature is as diverse as the
continent itself, but several characteristics
and themes prevail throughout much of
the written works emerging from Africa.
For instance, there is often a great
emphasis on the history, culture and
customs of a group of people when telling
their stories.
A. Storytelling
- The storyteller speaks, time collapses, and the
members of the audience are in the presence of history.
History becomes the audience’s memory and a means of
reliving of an indeterminate and deeply obscure past.
B. Riddle
- In the riddle, two unlike, and sometimes unlikely, things
are compared.
i. A pot without an opening.
ii. The silly man who drags his intestines.
B. Riddle
African riddles are vital to the culture of many Africans across the continent and
world. In many different African traditions, folklore and language are primarily
made up of puzzling statements that force minds to wander and contemplate life
in many different ways.

Some of the finest philosophies known to man have their origins in Africa's
beautiful enigmas. Though some are questions, others are presented as inferable
statements. Both types, force readers to think outside of the box; promoting
cognitive skills and mental stimulation.
C. Lyric
- The images in African lyric interact in dynamic fashion,
establishing metaphorical relationships within the poem,
and so it is that riddling is the motor of the lyric.
People were those who
Broke for me the string.
Therefore, The place
became like this to me,
On account of it,
Because the string was
that which broke for me.
(a San poem, from W.H.I. Bleek and L.C. Lloyd, Specimens of Bushman Folklore [1911])
Therefore, The place does not
feel to me, As the place used to
feel to me, On account of it. For,
The place feels as if it stood
open before me,
Because the string has broken
for me. Therefore,
The place does not feel pleasant
to me, On account of it.
 Specimens of Bushman Folklore is a book by the
linguist Wilhelm H. I. Bleek and Lucy C. Lloyd, which was
published in 1911. The book records eighty-seven legends,
myths and other traditional stories of the ǀXam Bushmen in
their now-extinct language.
D. Proverb
- In one sense, the experience of a proverb is similar to
that of a riddle and a lyric poem: different images are
brought into a relationship that is novel, that provides
insight.
i. Work the clay while it is fresh.
ii. Wisdom killed the wiseman.
e. Tale
- the images of the tale are made lyrical—that is, when they are
rhythmically organized. Such images are drawn chiefly from two
repertories: from the contemporary world (these are the realistic
images) and from the ancient tradition (these are the fantasy
images).
https://www.worldoftales.com/African_folktales.html#gsc.tab=0
Africa is the second largest continent in the world. The earliest
humans we know of are discovered in Africa.

The people from Africa included unique characteristics in their

folklore, showing their way of life and the animals and plants that
surround them. African stories sometimes include trickster animals
and spirits.

The collection of folktales from Africa consists of four books with 88

stories: 28 South African folktales, 40 Nigerian folktales and 10
Tanzanian folktales.
f. Heroic Poetry

- It is in heroic poetry, or panegyric, that lyric and

image come into their most obvious union. History
is more clearly evident in panegyric, but it remains
fragmented history, rejoined according to the poetic
intentions of the bard.
Hero who surpasses other
heroes!
Swallow that disappears in the
clouds,
Others disappearing into the
heavens!
Son of Menzi! Viper of Ndaba!
Erect, ready to strike,
It strikes the shields of men!
Father of the cock!
Why did it disappear over
the mountains?
It annihilated men!
That is Shaka,
Son of Senzangakhona,
Of whom it is said, Bayede!
You are an elephant!
(from a heroic poem dedicated to the Zulu chief
Shaka)
g. Epic
- In the epic can be found the merging of various frequently
unrelated tales, the metaphorical apparatus, the controlling
mechanism found in the riddle and lyric, the proverb, and
heroic poetry to form a larger narrative. All of this centres on
the character of the hero and a gradual revelation of his frailty,
uncertainties, and torments; he often dies, or is deeply
troubled, in the process of bringing the culture into a new
dispensation often prefigured in his resurrection or his coming
into knowledge.
• Epic of Mwindo - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzmFEDNWTO8
 a. History and Myth
The Book of the Dead
Myth, which is deeply, intensely emotional, has to do with the gods and
creation, with the essence of a belief system; it is the imaged
embodiment of a philosophical system, the giving of form to thought
and emotion. It is the driving force of a people, that emotional force
that defines a people; it is the everlasting form of a culture, hence its
link to the gods, to the heavens, to the forever. At the centre of the
story is myth, the fantasy element, a character or event that moves
beyond reality, though it is always rooted in the real.
Thank you!