African

• The continent of Africa

  • Considered by scientists to be "The Cradle of Humankind"
  • Has a captivating oral tradition
  • Has a body of written literature shaped by colonial and postcolonial experiences
• Linguistic flavors of African literature

  • Local languages
  • English
  • Portuguese
  • French
• Genres of oral tradition

  • Myths
  • Stories
  • Riddles
  • Proverbs
  • Dramas
• Emergence of the slave trade shaped the collective African psyche indelibly

  1400s
• European countries competing for the acquisition of colonies in Africa in order to gain political and economic edge

  19th century
• Psychological and social impact of colonization

  Strongly manifested in literature
• Example of the psychological and social impact of colonization

  • The Interesting Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African
• Poetry used to convey the horrors of slavery

  • On Liberty and Slavery by George Moses Horton
• Newspaper became a vehicle of expression for the voices of audacious African writers

  1800s
• Negritude movement


  • Came into prominence in the 1930s
  • With French speaking poets like Leopold Senghor, Aime Cesaire, and Leon Damas
• Narrative of Thomas Mofolo's Chaka

  • Drew inspiration from local figures to express reactions against colonial repression
• African writers who gained worldwide acclaim

  • Chinua Achebe
  • Wole Soyinka
  • Kofi Awoonor
  • Ngugi wa Thiong'o
  • Okot p'Bitek
  • Es'kia Mphahlele
  • Nadine Gordimer
  • Jacques Rabemananjara
  • Dennis Crutus
• Aftermath of colonial experience

  • African writers have since chronicled new challenges that have emerged in their respective societies
• Challenges reflected in African literature

  • Ngugi wa Thiong'o was imprisoned for a play considered to have subversive messages against the Kenyan administration of the time
  • Corruption in society reflected in V.Y. Mudimbe's Before the Birth of the Moon (1989)
• Must-reads of contemporary African literature

  • The Cardinals by Bessie Head
  • Striving for the Wind by Meja Mwangi
  • The Famished Road by Ben Okri
  • Season of Migration to the North by Tayed Salih
  • To Every Birth its Blood by Mongane Serote
  • The Palm-Wine Drinkard by Amos Tutuola
  • Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga
  • Mission to Kala by Mango Beti
• Local traditions in Africa

  • Were already flourishing in terms of cultural wealth even before the colonizers arrived and shaped the continent's identity
• Selections 1 and 2

  • The Clever Young Man and The Monster
  • Rawera (the Comforter) and the Monster
• Plot


  A causally related sequence of actions and events in the story
• Stages of plot development

  • Introduction (Exposition)
  • Beginning of the Action (Complication)
  • Middle of the Action (Continuation of the Complication)
  • End of the action (Resolution or Denouement)
  • Conclusion (aftermath)
• Characters


  Any make-believe persons encountered in the story, may sometimes be animals or even objects
• Types of characters


  • Protagonist (hero)
  • Antagonist (villain)
  • Confidant or confidante (sidekick)
  • Background character (minor)
• Setting


  The time, physical and social locality in which the story occurs
• Theme


  The meaning of the story as projected by the characters, or the central or dominating idea in the story; a generalization about life or human character that a story explicitly or implicitly embodies; a writer's philosophy that does not necessarily have to be agreeable
• Ways to identify the theme

  • The title of the story may directly lead to a generalization
  • The resolution of the conflict may lead to a generalization
  • The theme is not always explicit, the reader is left to arrive at it
  • Symbolic elements may point towards the theme
  • The theme should be stated in a complete sentence
• Ogre


  A man eating giant, monster
• Chaff


  The husks of a corn or other seed separated by threshing
• Rejoice


  Show great joy or delight
• Gazelle


  A small slender antelope with curved horns and a yellowish brown coat with white underparts found in open country in Africa and Asia
• Antelope


  A swift running deerlike ruminant with smooth hair and upward-pointing horns
• Characters in The Clever Young Man and The Monster

  • Masala Kulangwa
  • Mother
  • Shing'weng'we
• Comparing the two African myths

  To the narratives of the writers listed
• Analyzing the story-telling evolution

  From the myths of ancient times to the short stories of the modern scene
• Analyzing the structure, plot, and underlying purpose

  Of the narratives