AFRICAN LITERATURE
ETYMOLOGY
• AFRICA TERRA – Land of the Afri
May be from:
• PHOENICIAN AFAR – meaning “dust”
• AFRIDI – Tribe of Northern America
• GREEK APHRIKE – meaning “without cold”
• LATIN APRICA – meaning “sunny”
AND LATER BECAME AFRICA.
INTRODUCTION
•AFRICA – 2nd largest continent
next to Asia
•It covers more than 1/5 of all
the earth surface
•It comprises 46 countries and
territories
AFRICAN LITERATURE
1. ORAL LITERATURE
• They called it “ORATURE”
• ORATURE - was coined by Pio Zirimu
• PIO ZIRIMU – Ugandan scholar
AFRICAN LITERATURE
2. PROSE – mythological or
historical, written or spoken
language
AFRICAN LITERATURE
3. CALL AND RESPONSE –
spontaneous verbal and non-verbal
interaction between the speaker and
the listener
AFRICAN LITERATURE
A. Pre-colonial Literature
B. Colonial Literature
C. Post-colonial Literature
A. PRE-COLONIAL LITERATURE
• Pre- colonial african
literature are numerous.
• EPIC OF SUNDIATA –
composed in medieval Mali
• EPIC OF DINGA – from old
Ghana empire
A. PRE-COLONIAL LITERATURE
•KEBRA NAGAST or THE BOOK
OF KINGS – the best known
work in this tradition
•TRICKSTER STORY – one of
the popular form of
traditional African folktale
B. COLONIAL LITERATURE
• During this period, African plays
written in English began to emerge.
• JOSEPH EPHRAIM CASELY HAYFORD –
published the 1st African novel written
in English
• ETHIOPIA UNBOUND – 1st African novel
written in English
B. COLONIAL LITERATURE
•HERBERT ISAAC ERNEST
DHLOMO – published the 1st
English language African play
•THE GIRL WHO LIKED TO
SAVE – 1st English language
African play
B. COLONIAL LITERATURE
•NGUGI WA THIONG’O –
wrote the 1 East
st
African drama
•BLACK HERMIT – 1 East
st
African drama
B. COLONIAL LITERATURE
•LEOPOID SEDAR SENGHOR – President
of Senegal published the 1st anthology
of French language poetry
•ANTHOLOGY OF THE NEW BLACK AND
MALAGASY POETRY IN THE FRENCH
LANGUAGE - 1st anthology of French
language poetry
B. COLONIAL LITERATURE
•THINGS FALL APART by CHINUA
ACHEBE – receive significant
worldwide critical acclaim
C. POST- COLONIAL LITERATURE
•With liberation and increased literacy
since most African nations gained their
independence, African writers in this
period wrote both in Western languages
(English, French and Portuguese) and in
traditional African languages such as
Hausa.
C. POST- COLONIAL LITERATURE
ALI A. MAZRUI – mention 7 CONFLICTS as themes:
The clash between
• Africa’s past and present
• tradition and modernity
• Indigenous and foreign
• individualism and community
• socialism and capitalism
• development and self-reliance
• Africanity and humanity
Notable
Novels in
African
Literature
DISGRACE
By: J.M Coetzee
Is about a middle-aged professor of Romantic
poetry finds himself observing the ritual of
relatively happy life in which his sexual needs
are adequately taken care of. He appears to
be content but secretly yearns for more. An
enchanting liason with a prostitute is followed
by reckless affair with young student and his
"ordered" existence becomes shattered.
SEASON OF CRIMSON BLOSSOMS
By: Abubakar Adam Ibrahim
Is a beautiful sad story told with great
artistry. Against a backdrop of tragic
family history both about by ruthless
politicking and religious extrimism,
Binta a devour middle-aged Muslim
widow and Riza a young weed-smoking
gangster begin an illicit affair.
COMING TO BIRTH
By: Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye
This is a deceptively simple novel that is all
about a young woman, coming of aged at a
time of rapid social change in Kenya gains
independence and Paulina only 16, arrives
in the city to join her new husband Martin.
A recent in the city himself, Martin
strabbles the rural and urban divided: his of
life are often seen through the side-mirror,
peering into past that he lived in the
village.
HARVEST OF SKULL
By: Abdourahman A. Weberi
Revisits the genocide that took place in Rwanda in
1994 that result in more than million deaths.
Franco-Djiboutian author Abdourahman Weberi,
one for fancophone Africa's leading voices, visited
Burubdi andRwanda on several occasion
aftermath of the genocide under the aegis of the
Writing by Duty of the Memory project, an
initiative launched by the Fest Africa festival.
Weberi's book delivers an origin narrative that is
at the same time a journey through turbulent
continent.
JAZZ AND PALM WINE
By: Emmanuel Dongala
Navigation between African and American from
communist experiment and deals that define the
early years of political indepedence,
considerations of the imfact of brutal and
repressive dictatorship, African mysticism, to
the trial and tribulation of Africa and America
during 1960's framed in a profound facination for
Jazz music in which the author finds equilibrium
and salvation.
Other Novels
AFRICAN WRITERS AND POETS
• NADINE GORDIMOR
• 2ND AFRICAN WRITER
• WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN 1991
• 1ST PLAY : The Swamp Dwellers
• OTHER PLAYS: Death And The King’s Horse
Man, Opera Wonyosi, Play Of Giants
AFRICAN WRITERS AND POETS
•WOLE SOYINKA
•( JULY 13, 1934 IN NIGERIA )
•English Language Poet
• 1st AFRICAN WRITER who won
the NOBEL PRIZE FOR THE
LITERATURE IN 1986
AFRICAN WRITERS AND POETS
•CHINUA ACHEBE
•Nigerian novelist and poet
• his 1st novel was entitled
“THINGS FALL APART”
•He has been co-editor of
Okike
AFRICAN WRITERS AND POETS
•OKIKE – Africa’s most
influential literary magazines
•Other works: The Arrow Of
God, A Man Of The People,
Girls At War, Christmas In
Biafra And Other Poems
AFRICAN WRITERS AND POETS
• JOHN PEPPER CLARK( April
6, 1935 )
Nigerian poet, dramatist, and
literary critic
Plays: OZIDI AND SONG OF
GOAT
Representative of his poetry
was the volume, A DEVADE
OF TONGUES
AFRICAN WRITERS AND POETS
•NGUGI WA THIONG’O
( January 5, 1938 in Kenya )
•Most important East African
novelist
•1st two novels: WEEP NOT,
CHILD AND THE RIVER
BETWEEN
QUIZ
JOKE LANG
Thank you!
