African Literature PDF

African Literature Historical Development of African Literature Oral Literature Oral literature may be in prose or verse. The prose is often mythological or historical and often includes tales of the trickster character. Storytellers in Africa sometimes use call-and-response techni...

African Literature Historical Development of African Literature Oral Literature Oral literature may be in prose or verse. The prose is often mythological or historical and often includes tales of the trickster character. Storytellers in Africa sometimes use call-and-response techniques to tell their stories. Poetry describes a narrative poem based upon a short and a ribald anecdote and is often sung, through: narrative epic, occupational verse, ritual verse, praise poems of rulers and other prominent people. Historical Development of African Literature Precolonial Literature In Ethiopia, there is a substantial literature written in Ge'ez going back at least to the fourth century AD; the best-known work in this tradition is the Kebra Negast, or "Book of Kings.“ In North Africa,Timbuktu has an estimated 300,000 or more manuscripts tucked away in various libraries and private collections, mostly written in Arabic but some in the native languages (namely Fula and Songhai). The material covers a wide array of topics, including astronomy, poetry, law, history, faith, politics, and philosophy. Swahili literature draws inspiration from Islamic teachings but developed under indigenous circumstances. One of the most renowned and earliest pieces of Swahili literature is Utendi wa Tambuka or "The Story of Tambuka". Historical Development of African Literature Colonial African literature In the colonial period, Africans exposed to Western languages began to write in those tongues. In 1911, Joseph Ephraim Casely Hayford (also known as Ekra-Agiman) of the Gold Coast (now Ghana) published what is probably the first African novel written in English, Ethiopia Unbound: Studies in Race Emancipation. 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. Historical Development of African Literature Colonial African literature Among the first pieces of African literature to receive significant worldwide critical acclaim was the novel Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe. Postcolonial African literature In 1986, Nigeria's Wole Soyinka became the first post-independence African writer to win the Nobel Prize in literature. Previously, Algerian-born Albert Camus had been awarded the prize in 1957. Other African Nobel laureates in literature are Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt) in 1988, Nadine Gordimer (South Africa) in 1991, John Maxwell Coetzee (South Africa) in 2003, Doris Lessing (UK/Zimbabwe) in 2007, and Abdulrazak Gurnah (Tanzania) in 2021. Notable Novels of African Writers Chinua Achebe (Nigeria): Arrow of God (1964) Things Fall Apart (1958) Ama Ata Aidoo (Ghana): Our Sister Killjoy (1977), Changes: a Love Story (1991) J. M. Coetzee (South Africa): Disgrace (1999), Life & Times of Michael K (1983) Nadine Gordimer (South Africa): Burger's Daughter (1979), The Conservationist (1974) Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt): The Beginning and the End (1949), Cairo Trilogy, Children of Gebelawi Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (Kenya): A Grain of Wheat (1967), Matigari (1986), Petals of Blood (1977), Weep Not, Child (1964) Ben Okri (Nigeria): The Famished Road (1991), Songs of Enchantment (1993) Alan Paton (South Africa): Cry, The Beloved Country (1948) Wole Soyinka (Nigeria): The Interpreters (1965), Seasons of Anomy (1973) Amos Tutuola (Nigeria): The Palm Wine Drinkard (1952), My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1954) Movie links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czoiCcVRlAk&t=17s Cry, the Beloved Country based on the novel by Alan Paton https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jQ899-AA0I Things Fall Apart based on the novel by Chinua Achebe Notable African Poets Ama Ata Aidoo (Ghana) Jonathan Kariara (Kenya) Jared Angira (Kenya) Susan Kiguli (Uganda) Kofi Anyidoho (Ghana) Kofi Awoonor (Ghana) Ahmadou Kourouma (Ivory Coast) Fadhy Mtanga (Tanzania) Antjie Krog (South Africa) Breyten Breytenbach (South Africa) Mumbi Macharia (Kenya) Dennis Brutus (South Africa) Jack Mapanje (Malawi) Abena Busia (Ghana) Eugene Marais (South Africa) John Pepper Clark (Nigeria) José Craveirinha (Mozambique) Don Mattera (South Africa) Viriato Clemente da Cruz (Angola) Bai Tamia Moore (Liberia) Hadraawi (Somalia) Micere Githae Mugo (Kenya) Ingrid Jonker (South Africa) Togara Muzanenhamo (Zimbabwe) Notable African Poets Christopher Mwashinga (Tanzania) Ny Avana Ramanantoanina (Madagascar) Arthur Nortje (South Africa) Jean Verdi Salomon Razakandraina (Dox) (Madagascar) Gabriel Okara (Nigeria) David Rubadiri (Malawi, Uganda) Nii Parkes (Ghana) Tijan Sallah (Gambia) Christopher Okigbo (Nigeria) Dina Salústio (Cabo Verde) Ben Okri (Nigeria) Léopold Sédar Senghor (Senegal) Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye (Kenya) Bewketu Seyoum (Ethiopia) Okot p'Bitek (Uganda) Warsan Shire Adam Small (South Africa) Lenrie Peters (Gambia) Wole Soyinka (Nigeria) Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo (Madagascar) Véronique Tadjo (Ivory Coast) Jacques Rabemananjara (Madagascar) Arménio Vieira (Cape Verde) Elie Rajaonarison (Madagascar) Patricia Jabbeh Wesley (Liberia) https://englishsummary.com/lesson/africa-poem-summary-notes-and- line-by-line-explanation-in-english-class-9th/ Summary notes and line-by-line explanation of David Diop’s poem, “Africa” Once Upon a Time 1. What is ”Once Upon a Time” about? 2. What is the structure of the story? What is the purpose of the author in using such structure? 3. What is the bed time story all about? 4. There are allusions on apartheid? Can you site some details from the story? 5. What is the main theme of the story? 6. What is the significance of the boy’s death in the story? What the story is all about? The narrator has been asked to write a story for a children's anthology. She doesn't write that kind of story and doesn't feel obligated to. Last night, she was awakened by a sound—a creaking, possibly an intruder. Her house isn't well secured. She thinks of recent crimes in the area. She lies still and listens intently. It turns out there's no intruder. The creaking was from the weight of the house. It rests on a mine. When something comes loose in a channel or passage below, the house buckles a bit. The Bed Time story She can't fall asleep again, so she tells herself a bedtime story. A happy family—a husband, wife and little boy—live in a house with a cat and dog. They live well and have a housemaid and an itinerant gardener. They take the necessary precautions to protect their property. They can't insure themselves against riots, but the people who riot are another color and aren't allowed in their suburb. Even though there are police to keep them away, the wife is still afraid. They have electronically controlled gates installed with an intercom system to be sure no one can get in. Their son plays with the intercom.  There are burglaries in the neighborhood. A housemaid was put in a cupboard while thieves took everything. Their housemaid urges them to have bars and an alarm installed. They do so. The cat often sets off the alarm. The same thing happens in many other houses. The alarms sound so often that people stop paying attention. Thieves start using the noise to their advantage, using it as cover to break in and clear out the houses. Unemployed people start hanging around the suburb, some of them looking for jobs. Others drink and beg and sleep in the street.  The wife wants to send out some food to them but the housemaid objects and the husband agrees. There's too much risk. They realize someone could climb over the wall or the gates and get into the garden. The husband's mother makes a Christmas present of extra bricks to expand the wall. The boy gets a Space Man costume and a book of fairy tales. Every week they hear more reports of break-ins. They notice the cat gets over their wall easily. When they walk the dog, they check out how the other homeowners have secured the tops of their walls. After making a comparison of their appearance and functionality, they settle on the most effective addition. The Tragic Consequence It's a coil of metal full of jagged blades. They call the security firm. The next day a crew installs it. The wife hopes the cat won't be hurt on it. The husband says cats are cautious. It ends up staying inside. One evening, the wife reads a bedtime story to her son from his new book of fairy stories. The next day, he plays the Prince from the story, who braved a terrible thicket of thorns to reach Sleeping Beauty. He climbs into the new metal security coil. It hooks him immediately. He screams and struggles but gets entangled worse. The itinerant gardener tries to free the boy but only hurts himself. The boy's mangled body is cut out of the coil. The parents, housemaid, and gardener carry the body into the house.