African Literature

AFRICAN LITERATURE



The literature of the continent of Africa. Much still belongs to the oral tradition, closely linked to both secular occupation and religious ritual. Throughout the many language groups, there is a wealth of dirges, laments, love songs, chants, celebrations, invectives, and poems inciting warriors to battle, with musical accompaniment. Literature is written in both African and the post-colonial languages. Much vernacular composition tends to be in drama and poetry, such as Kwasi Fiawoo's Ewe play Toko Atolia (1937, The Fifth Landing Stage), and Okot p'Bitek's satirical poem in Acholi; whereas Africans writing in English or French will often prefer fiction. Notable examples include the English novels of Chinua Achebe (among them Things Fall Apart, 1958), the plays of Wole Soyinka, and the French poetry of Leon Damas (1912–78), Léopold Senghor, and Aimé Césaire. African Literature Today provides an annual review of the field; while the anthology Daughters of Africa (1992) adds women's writing to what is now available. The quite different culture of South Africa has produced a number of distinguished novelists, most recently writing against or despite the apartheid state, among them Olive Schreiner, Nadine Gordimer, J M Coetzee, and Christopher Hope. During the later decades of the 20th-c, several writers of African and European descent spoke out, often at great danger to themselves, against human rights abuses. Notable among these was the Nigerian writer, Kenule (‘Ken’) Beeson Saro-Wiwa (1941–95), who was executed in 1995 by his country's military regime.


African literature generally refers to the novels, short stories, and poetry written by African writers during the 20th century. The term "African literature" may also include the oral literary traditions of precolonial Africa.

Precolonial African literature

Because literacy did not become widespread in Africa until the arrival of Christian missionaries in the 1800s, much of the precolonial African literary canon is oral.

One popular form of traditional African folktale is the "trickster" story, where a small animal uses its wits to survive encounters with larger creatures.

Colonial African literature

The African works best known in the West from the period of colonization and the slave trade are primarily slave narratives, such as Olaudah Equiano's The Interesting Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Olaudah Equiano, also called Gustavus Vassa, the African (1789).

During this period, African plays began to emerge. In 1962, Ngugi wa Thiong'o of Kenya wrote the first East African drama, The Black Hermit, a cautionary tale about "tribalism" (racism between African tribes).

African literature in the late colonial period (between the end of World War I and independence) increasingly showed themes of liberation, independence, and (among Africans in French-controlled territories) négritude.

Postcolonial African literature

With liberation and increased literacy since most African nations gained their independence in the 1950s and 1960s, African literature has grown dramatically in quantity and in recognition, with numerous African works appearing in Western academic curricula and on "best of" lists compiled at the end of the 20th century. African writers in this period wrote both in Western languages (notably English, French, and Portuguese) and in traditional African languages. Female writers are much more common today in African literature than they were prior to independence.