The changing face of African Literature

 African literature spans centuries, yet written forms can only be traced to the late 19^th century. Much of African literary forms were preserved as oral literature. Today, African literature can boast of both oral and written forms.
To define African Literature, one question needs to be answered first, ‘should African Literature be written in African languages’? In the 1960s, much diatribe was exchanged by African literary artists within their caucus, and outside with different scholars interested in African Literature. According to the argument, African literature must be written in an African language. To this Chinua Achebe responded, “You cannot cram African literature in a small, neat definition. I do not see African literature as one unit but as associated units – in fact, the sum total of all the national and ethnic literatures of Africa”, (Mbagwu, 2011).

In defining African Literature, one therefore needs to search deeper than the surface, to find the essence of what is truly African. There is need to go beyond the impression that has been created about a continent that holds a wealth of knowledge, carefully embedded in its culture and people. African Literature should be described holistically and not in parts. Many attempts have been made at defining African Literature. The definition that stands out is that it is written or unwritten forms of valuable literature that has incorporated cultures, languages, norms and practices of people and societies that hail from Africa. It is work of the African continent. African Literature has been written in what has been referred to as colonial languages, such as English, Portuguese and French, (Mbagwu, 2011). 

African literature has undergone a lot of change since the pre-colonial era. In discussing the changes, it is important to recognise what have been the major influences. For example, what have been the major themes over the centuries? How have different writers handled the various literary forms? 

Pre-colonial literature comprised oral traditional forms for the most part. However, there were written literatures from all over Africa. In east Africa, Ethiopia to be precise, literature was written in Ge’ez as far back as the fourth century AD, the most renowned work being the Kebra Negast or the Book of kings. Folklores were also written among the Ashanti of Ghana, Yoruba of Nigeria, (Stephanie Newell, 2002). The popular hare stories can be traced back to central and southern Africa. More works came out of North Africa and from the Swahili coast. From the University of Timbuktu alone, 300,000 manuscripts tucked away in various libraries and private collections, mostly written in Arabic but some in the native languages (namely Fula and Songhai),  (Encarta., 2009).

In the 18^th century written works that marked the colonisation period and the slave trade included Olaudah Equiano’s ‘The interesting narratives of the life of Olaudah Equiano, written in 1789. Most the themes centred on the arrival of the Europeans and narratives about the slave trade. The major influence during this era, is the language, as most writers started to write in the language of the Europeans. During this period, African plays written in English began to emerge. Herbert Isaac Ernest Dhlomo of South Africa published the first English-language African play, The Girl Who Killed to Save: Nongqawuse the Liberator in 1935. In 1962, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o of Kenya wrote the first East African drama, The Black Hermit, a cautionary tale about "tribalism" (discrimination between African tribes). The most acclaimed novel, ‘Things Fall Apart’ is a product of the early colonial period, (Dashu, 2013). The themes bordered on the arrival of the Europeans and the conflicts that arose thereafter.

With the turn of the century, liberation struggles were strong influence on writing. Themes about independence and freedom became part of African literature. Writers faced either faced jail time or were killed because of their ideas. Among Africans in French-controlled territories) négritude. One of the leaders of the négritude movement, the poet and eventual President of Senegal, Léopold Sédar Senghor, published in 1948 the first anthology of French-language poetry written by Africans, (Mboya, 1970).

Modern African literature has significantly changed. There are a lot of literary productions in Africa, even though there are not as many readers and followers. Certain writings have appeared that have broken the academic style. There is a lot of pressure on the modern African writer. For example, the competition for readership, awards and so on.

There is a future for African literature. Africans are yet to tell their own story. For the modern writer, there is need to maintain balance between the demands of literary world in modern days and the need to maintain what is African in all literary forms.

REFERENCES

Gunner, H. S. (2018). Britannica . Retrieved from Britannica.com

Kenya LIterature Bureau . (1985). Literature for Children and Young People in Kenya . Nairobi: Kenya Literature Bureau.

Mbagwu, C. E. (2011). Promoting Access to African Research . Retrieved from African Journals online : https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ujah/article/view/71748

Mboya, T. (1970). The Challenge of Nationhood. Oxford : Heinemann Educational Books .

Scheub, E. A. (2018, December 31). Encoclopaedia Britannica . Retrieved from Britannica.com: https://www.britannica.com/art/African-literature

Sparknotes . (2018). Sparknotes. Retrieved from https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/things/themes/

Stephanie Newell. (2002). Stephanie Newell, Literary Culture in Colonial Ghana: 'How to Play the Game of Life' , BloominEthical Fiction. Indiana: Indian University Press.

Stokes, R. H. (1931, July 30). Amazon . Retrieved from www.complete-review.com/reviews/safrica/mofolot.htm

Williamson, J. (2007). The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. Written by Himself. Vol. I. Documenting the American South, 1-3. Retrieved from https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/equiano1/summary.html

The role of creative writing in preserving and promoting traditional values

Creative writing plays an important role in preserving histories and various forms of culture. Creative writing is defined as writing that goes outside the bounds of professional or technical forms of literature. The emphasis is on the narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary tropes or with various traditions of poetry and poetics, (English Oxford Living Dictionaries , 2019). It is this ‘freedom’ of expression within the creative writing forms that give impetus to include or adapt elements from the environment and society to include in the writing. A creative writer is at liberty to develop characters or underlying themes that not just entertain but also serve as learning points. Some examples include personal essays, descriptive essays, and persuasive essays. Storytelling: One of the most popular types of creative writing is storytelling. Storytelling lends itself to both fiction and nonfiction. Popular forms include flash fiction, short stories, novellas, and full-length novels, (Gunner, 2007).

During the pre-colonial era, African literature was preserved through oral forms. Through storytelling, dance, song, poetry and traditional ceremonies, cultural values were passed on from generation to generation. In some societies, the trend has continued, where only few privileged members are custodians of histories and cultural values of ethnic groups. Creative writing can bridge gaps and carry these almost extinct values forward to the next generations.

 In ‘Things Fall Apart’ and ‘Arrow of God’, Chinua Achebe depicted the environment in which the Ibo culture thrived. In showing the conflict between western and Ibo cultures, both Achebe explicitly proves the importance of traditions that had existed for centuries, (Achebe, 1952). ‘Arrow of God’ represents the struggle for power and authority between the African and the missionaries and within the Igbo clan. The identity issues are continued by Achebe as the sequel to the issues reflected in Things Fall Apart during the colonial era. He points out the continuity of African cultural disruption with the same insight and involvement in the 1920s after the arrival of the missionaries in Nigeria, (Chinua, 1964). These much acclaimed novels, together with Ngugi Wa Thiogo in ‘River Between’, (Ngugi, 1965), have significantly contributed to the preservation of culture and history.

Modern African writers have a responsibility to carry forward what the early writers started. By embedding traditional African values in modern writing, creative writing will play a pivotal role in ensuring the documentation of what is slowly being lost to the modernity and westernisation.

Works Cited

Achebe. (1952). Things Fall Apart; 50th Anniversary edition. Heinneman.

Chinua. (1964). Arrow of God. Heinemann.

Dashu, M. (2013). Suppressed Histories . Retrieved from http://www.suppressedhistories.net/purchase/prints2.html

English Oxford Living Dictionaries . (2019, January 31). Retrieved from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/writing-help/top-tips-for-creative-writing

Gunner, H. S. (2007). Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/art/African-literature#ref280660

Ngugi. (1965). River Between. Heinemann.

Thiogo, W. (n.d.). River Between . Heinneman.