African literature
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African literature refers to the literature of and for the African peoples. As George Joseph notes on the first page of his chapter on African literature in Understanding Contemporary Africa, while the European perception of literature generally refers to written letters, the African concept includes oral literature.
As George Joseph continues, while European views of literature often stressed a separation of art and content, African awareness is inclusive:
- "Literature" can also imply an artistic use of words for the sake of art alone. Without denying the important role of aesthetics in Africa, we should keep in mind that, traditionally, Africans do not radically separate art from teaching. Rather than write or sing for beauty in itself, African writers, taking their cue from oral literature, use beauty to help communicate important truths and information to society. Indeed, an object is considered beautiful because of the truths it reveals and the communities it helps to build.'
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Major novels from African writers
- Chinua Achebe(Nigeria): Things Fall Apart, No Longer At Ease, Arrow of God
- Ousmane Sembène(Senegal): Xala, The Black Docker(Le Docker Noir), God's Bits of Wood(Les Bouts de Bois de Dieu), The last of the Empire(Le dernier de l'Empire), Tribal scars(Voltaïque)
- Naguib Mahfouz(Egypt): Chitchat on the Nile, The Day the Leader was Killed, The Beggar, Adrift O The Nile
- Ngugi wa Thiong'o(Kenya): Weep Not, Child, The River Between, Devil on the Cross, A Grain of Wheat
- Peter Abrahams (South Africa): Mine Boy, A Wreath for udom, This Island Now
- Mongo Beti (Cameroon): The Poor Christ of Bomba
- Wole Soyinka (Nigeria): The Intepreters
- Moses Isegawa (Uganda) Abysssinian Chronicles
- Nuruddin Farah(Somalia): From a Crooked Rib, Sweet and Sour Milk
- Mariama Bâ(Senegal): Une si longue lettre (So Long a Letter)
- Alex La Guma(South Africa): A walk in the Night, In The Fog of The season's End, The Stone Country, Time of the Butcherbird
- Elechi amadi(Nigeria): The Concubine, Sunset in Biafra, The Great Ponds
- Meja Mwanji (Kenya): Carcase for Hounds, Going Down river Road, Kill me Quick
- Yasmina Khadra(Algeria): The Swallows of Kabul
- Birhanu Zerihun(Ethiopia): Ye'imba debdabbéwoch "Yearful Letters"
- Assia Djebar(Algeria): Les Enfants du Nouveau Monde
- Alan Paton(South Africa): Cry, The Beloved Country
- Gracy Ukala(Nigeria): Dizzy Angel
- Arthur Gakwandi (Uganda): Kosiya Kifefe
- Daniel Olorunfemi Fagunwa(Nigeria): Ogboju odẹ ninu igbo irunmalẹ (The Forest of a Thousand Demons)
- Dalene Matthee(South Africa): Kringe in 'n bos (Circles in a forest)
- Benjamin Sehene(Rwanda): Le Feu sous la Soutane (Fire under the Cassock)
- Thomas Mofolo(South Africa/Lesotho): Chaka
- Tsitsi Dangarembga(Zimbabwe): Nervous Conditions
- Dambudzo Marechera(Zimbabwe): The House of Hunger
- Yvonne Vera(Zimbabwe): Butterfly Burning (Zimbabwe)
- Mia Couto(Mozambique): Terra Sonâmbula (A Sleepwalking Land)
- Ayi Kwei Armah(Ghana): The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born
- Ben Okri(Nigeria): The Famished Road
- J.M. Coetzee(South Africa): Disgrace
- Bessie Head(Botswana): When Rain Clouds Gather
- Sarah Ladipo Manyika(Nigeria): In Dependence
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie(Nigeria): Half of a Yellow Sun
- Charles Mangua(Kenya): A Tail in the Mouth
- Camara Laye(Guinea): The Radiance of the King
- Nnedi Okorafor(Nigeria): Zahrah the Windseeker
- Monenembo Tierno(Guinea): King of Kahel
- Sefi Atta (Nigeria): Everything Good Will Come
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Major African poets
- Dennis Brutus (South Africa)
- Gabriel Okara (Nigeria)
- Okot P'Bitek (Uganda)
- Wole Soyinka (Nigeria)
- Christopher Okigbo (Nigeria)
- Léopold Sédar Senghor (Senegal)
- Arthur Nortje (South Africa)
- David Rubadiri (Malawi, Uganda)
- Kofi Awoonor (Ghana)
- Lenrie Peters (Gambia)
- Jared Angira (Kenya)
- John Pepper Clark (Nigeria)
- Chinua Achebe (Nigeria)
- Ama Ata Aidoo (Ghana)
- Kofi Anyidoho (Ghana)
- Joseph kariuki (Kenya)
- Jonathan Kariara (Kenya)
- Glynn Burridge (Seychelles)
- Susan Kiguli (Uganda)
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Secondary literature
- Encyclopedia of African Literature, ed Simon Gikandi, London: Routledge, 2003.
- The Cambridge History of African and Caribbean Literature, ed Abiola Irele and Simon Gikandi, 2 vls, Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Table of contents
- Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writing by Women of African Descent", ed Margaret Busby (Random House, 1992).
- General History of Africa vol. VIII, ed. Ali A. Mazrui, UNESCO, 1993, ch. 19 "The development of modern literature since 1935," Ali A. Mazrui et al.
- Understanding Contemporary Africa, ed. April A. Gordon and Donald L. Gordon, Lynne Rienner, London, 1996, ch. 12 "African Literature", George Joseph
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See also
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