African Literature

• Africa

  • 2nd largest Continent
  • One - Fifth of all the earth's surface
  • 46 countries and Territories
• Africa word comes from?

  • Latin word aprica (sunny)
  • Greek Word - Aphrike (without cold)
• Religion in Northern Africa

  • Islam - dominant religion
  • Replaced Christianity in 17th Century
• Education in Africa

  • Literary Rates for Men are higher than Women
  • Urban education are higher than rural education
  • Richest countries invest more than poorest countries in terms of education
• Literary Genres in African Literature

  • Poetry
  • Drama
  • Novel
  • Short Story
• Issues addressed in African Literature

  • Political Conflicts
  • Civil wars
  • Feminism
  • Gender Sensitivity
  • Human Rights
• Negritude (Blackness)

  • French Word "negre"
  • Racial Identity and cultural values and awareness of wide discrepancies which existed between the promise of the French system of assimilation and reality
  • Literary movement initiated by black intellectuals from French colonies living in Paris in the 1930's
• Africa

  • 2nd largest Continent
  • One-Fifth of all the earth's surface
  • 46 countries and Territories
• wW

  • Latin word aprica (sunny)
  • Greek Word - Aphrike (without cold)
• Religion in Northern Africa

  • Islam - dominant religion
  • Replaced Christianity in 17th Century
• Education in Africa

  • Literary Rates for Men are higher than Women
  • Urban education are higher than rural education
  • Richest countries invest more than poorest countries in terms of education
• Literary Genres in African Literature

  • Poetry
  • Drama
  • Novel
  • Short Story
• Issues African Literature is concerned about

  • Political Conflicts
  • Civil wars
  • Feminism
  • Gender Sensitivity
  • Human Rights
• Negritude (Blackness)

  • French Word "negre"
  • Racial Identity and cultural values and awareness of wide discrepancies which existed between the promise of the French system of assimilation and reality
  • In the 1930's, black intellectuals from French colonies living in Paris initiated a literary movement called Negritude
• Afro-Asian Literature


  • Indian Literature
  • Chinese Literature
  • Japanese Literature
  • African Literature
• Indian Literature


  • Brought by Aryans around 1500 BC
  • Nomads and highly poetic people
  • Worshipped the forces of nature
  • Extolled the hereditary deities
• Indian deities


  • Agni (fire)
  • Savitri (sun)
  • Usas (dawn)
  • Rudras (storms)
  • Indra (war and rain)
  • Mitra (honor)
  • Varuna (divine authority)
  • Indra, Vishnu (creation)
• Classical Period of Indian Literature

  6th century BC until about AD 1000
• Forms of Indian Literature

  • Epics
  • Court poems
  • Dramas
• Indian scriptures


  • Shruti literature
  • Smriti literature
• Shruti


  Concerned with 'the heard' or 'the revealed'
• Smriti


  Concerned with 'the remembered'
• Shruti literature


  • Vedas
  • Upanishads
• Smriti literature


  • Mahabharata
  • Ramayana
• Rigveda


  Hymns of supreme sacred knowledge, oldest of Vedas, contains energetic hymns comparable to psalms, regarded as divinely inspired or heard directly from the gods
• Dhammapada


  Anthology of basic Buddhist teaching in aphoristic style, contains 423 stanzas arranged in 26 chapters, compared with the Bible's Christ's Sermon the Mount
• Upanishads


  Commentary on the thoughts suggested by Rigveda, most important doctrine is the existence of single supreme being, the Brahman, and its union with the Atman or self
• Ved Vyasa's Mahabharata and Valmiki's Ramayana, written in Epic Sanskrit, are regarded as the greatest Sanskrit epics
• Kalidasa is often considered to be the greatest playwright in Sanskrit literature, occupying the same position in Sanskrit literature that Shakespeare occupies in English literature
• Indian Epics


  • Mahabharata
  • Ramayana
• Mahabharata


  Tells the story of the Great Wars between the Pandavas and the Kauravas sometime in 850 BC
• Ramayana


  Story of the wanderings of the banished king in exile, Rama, and the kidnapping of his wife, Sita, and his subsequent search for her
• The Bhagavad Gita (The Blessed Lord's Song) is part of the Mahabharata
• Characters in the Ramayana

  • Rama
  • Sita
  • Ravana
  • Laksmana
  • Hanuman
  • Valmiki
• Panchatantra


  Oldest extant collection of fables in Sanskrit literature, dating probably from the 3rd century BC to the 4th century AD, attributed to Indian writer Vishnusharman, originally intended to instruct a young prince in the conduct that would ensure his worldly success
• Books of the Panchatantra

  • Mitra-bheda: The Separation of Friends
  • Mitra-lābha or Mitra-samprāpti: The Gaining of Friends
  • Kākolūkīyam: War and Peace
  • Labdhapraṇāśam: Loss Of Gains
  • Aparīkṣitakārakaṃ: Rash deeds
• Sakuntala by Kalidasa is an Indian literary work
• The Little Clay Cart (Mrcchakatka), attributed to Shudraka, is an Indian literary work
• Gitanjali (Song Offerings) is a work by Rabindranath Tagore
• Rabindranath Tagore wrote the national anthems of India and Bangladesh