21st Literature

• Types of African Literature

  • Pre-Colonial African Literature
  • Colonial African Literature
  • Post-Colonial African Literature
• Pre-Colonial African Literature


  • Primarily existed in oral forms, passed down through generations via storytelling, songs, poetry, proverbs, myths, legends, and epics
• Colonial African Literature


  • European powers imposed their political, economic, and cultural dominance over African societies, leading to significant social upheaval and cultural transformation
• Post-Colonial African Literature


  • Emerged in the aftermath of African independence movements, as newly independent nations grappled with the legacies of colonialism and the challenges of nation-building
• Major Characteristics of African Literature

  • Slave narratives
  • Protests against colonization
  • Calls for independence
  • African pride
  • Hope for the future
  • Dissent
• Chinua Achebe


  Nigerian novelist, poet, critic, and professor, honored as Grand Prix de la Memoir of the 2019 edition of the Grand Prix of Literary Associations, wrote "Things Fall Apart"
• Wole Soyinka


  First black African to be awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize for Literature, wrote "A Dance of the Forests"
• Kofi Awoonor


  Ghanaian novelist and poet who wrote "This Earth, My Brother", a cross between a novel and a poem
• Ngugi wa Thiong'o


  Wrote the first major novel in English by an East African, East Africa's leading novelist, a Kenyan writer who wrote the famous novel "Weep Not, Child"
• Okot p' Bitek


  Achieved international recognition for Song of Lawino, Ugandan poet, novelist, and social anthropologist who wrote the three verse collections Song of Lawino (1066), Song of Ocol (1970), and Two Songs (1971)
• Nadine Gordimer


  South African writer and the recipient of the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature, wrote the joint winner of the Booker - McConnell Prize novel "The Conservationist"
• Jacques Rabemananjara


  Malagasy playwright and poet and one of Madagascar's most prominent writers, wrote and published his play "Les dieux malgaches", the first modern Malagasy play in French
• Es'kia Mphahlele


  Wrote the South African classic autobiography "Down Second Avenue"
• Thomas Mofolo


  Greatest writer from the Sotho people in Africa, created the first Western-style novels in the Basotho language, his novel "Chaka" became a classic
• George Moses Horton (1798 1884)


  African American poet who wrote sentimental love poems and antislavery protests, one of the first professional black writers in America
• European Literature is a broad term covering the literary works produced in Europe, spanning many centuries, languages, and genres
• Periods of European Literature


  • Old English or Anglo-Saxon (c. 450-1066)
  • Middle English Literature (1066–1500)
  • English Renaissance (1500–1660)
  • Elizabethan Period (1558–1603)
  • Jacobean Period (1603-1625)
  • Late Renaissance (1625–1660)
  • Restoration Age (1660–1700)
  • Age of Romanticism (1798 - 1837)
  • Victorian literature (1837–1901)
  • Modernism (1901 –2000)
• Genres of Old English or Anglo-Saxon Literature

  • Epic poetry
  • Hagiography
  • Sermons
  • Bible translations
  • Chronicles
  • Riddles
• Genres of Middle English Literature

  • Drama
  • Liturgy
  • Folktales
  • Hagiographies
  • Historiography
  • Bible translations
  • Romance
• Genres of English Renaissance Literature

  • Romances
  • Allegorical narrative poem
  • Drama
  • Folk tales
  • Vernacular literature
  • Vernacular liturgy
  • Sonnet
  • Bible translations
• Genres of Elizabethan Period Literature

  • Poetry
  • Epic poem
  • Songs
  • Tragedy
  • Romances
  • Tragic comedies
• Genres of Jacobean Period Literature

  • Problem play
  • Tragedies
  • Revenge play
  • Romance
  • English sonnet
  • Metaphysical poem
• Genres of Late Renaissance Literature

  • Metaphysical poem
  • Allegory and classical allusions
  • Epic
• Genres of Restoration Age Literature

  • Sexual comedy play
  • Moral wisdom prose
  • Literary criticism narratives
  • Epic poem
  • Satirical verse
  • Fiction and journalism
  • Political and economic writing
  • Philosophical themes
  • Allegory
  • Novel
  • Long fiction
  • Fictional biographies
  • Romance fiction
  • Drama
  • Comedy
• Genres of Age of Romanticism Literature

  • Elegy
  • Metrical romance
  • Dramatic monologue
  • Romantic novel
  • Historical novel
  • Nature poem
  • Romantic poem
  • Poetry and visual arts
  • Sonnet
  • Lyrical ballad
• Genres of Victorian Literature

  • Vampire literature
  • Horror fiction
  • Invasion literature
  • Short stories
  • Literature for children
  • Poetry
  • Dramatic monologue
  • Musical burlesques
  • Comic operas
  • Novel
• Genres of Modernist Literature


  • Radio drama
  • Genre fiction
  • Fantasy
  • Science fiction
  • Detective novels
  • Comic science fiction
  • Darkly comic fantasy
  • Childrens' novels
  • Modernist poetry in English
  • Conservatism
  • Impressionism
  • Television plays