LITTERATURE AFRICAINE/AFRICAN LITERATURE

Courtesy: Heinemann.co.uk

Do you know African literature ?

African Literatures(By R. Luzolo Mbemba)

African literature is very little or not known at all to the American people. It is, however, very rich. It is an enormous pleasure to talk a little bit about it, especially francophone Africa.

As we know it, African literature may be divided in:

1. African literature written by Westerners in western languages

2. African literatures written by African in western languages

3. African literatures written by Africans in African languages

4. African Oral traditions

1. African literature written by Westerners This is the literature we all know. It talks about Africa as seen by Westerners. It often shows the negative images of Africa or the Africans. Its authors are usually non-Africans who have lived or spent some time visiting Africa. They have written their view points in any issues that caught their attention.

2. African literature written by Africans in Western languages.

African authors in this group are mostly those that received a traditional African education, and then, later, a western or colonial education. The waves of this literature started during pre- or post independence wars of Africa. This period is made possible by the “l’Eveil Africain” (African awakening) movement. It is a period during which Africans came to understand that Western nations should not continue to govern them (at least politically). During that period, “l’Eveil Africain” manifested itself with

students like Leopold Sedar Senghor (of Senegal), Aime Cesaire (of Martinique) and Leon Damas (of French Guyana) with their “La Negritude” philosophy. Many more authors followed the”eveil”. We note authors like Camara Laye, Ousmane Soce, Bernard Dadie, Ousmane Sembene, V.Y. Mudimbe, Ake Loba, Cheick Hamidou Kane, Olympe Bhely-Quenum, Ferdinand Oyono, Tchicaya U’Tamsi, Mongo Beti, Birago Diop and Zamenga Batukezanga.

Leopold Sedar Senghor (Photo: courtesy: www.jeriko.fr)

Also in this group, we note

African literature in Portuguese by authors such as Agostino Neto (First Angolan President), Pepetela, Jose Craveirinha, Luis Honwana, Jose Luandino Vieira from Angola. Also, this lusophone literature counts authors like Baltasar Lopes of Cape Verde.

African literature is also present

in the English language with many authors like Wole Soyinka, Cyprian Ekwensi, Chinua Achebe, Amos Tutuola, Gabriel Okara, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Flora Nwapa, Buchi Emecheta. We knowledge major contributions from authors like Grace Ogot, Okot P’Bitek, Nruddin

Farah, Ngugi wa Thiong’O etc… We note the Southern African Region with the presence of authors like Alex LaGuma, Dennis Brutus, Matsemela Manaka, Sipho Sepamla, Thomas Mfolo and so on.

3. African literature written in African languages by African authors. African authors like Ngugi wa Thiong’O, Thomas Mfolo, Fagunwa, Mazisi Kunene, Ousmane Sembene, Cheikh Anta Diop have long encouraged African literatures in African languages. That is why we have texts in languages like Wolof, Swahili, Lingala, Kikongo, Hausa, Sesuto, Xhosa, Zulu, Umbundu, Kikuyu and many others. African literature in African languages will certainly help Africa in its development.

Photo courtesy: www.bookworld.cz 4. African Oral literature or African Oral tradition This is the true African literature. Here, every African is a contributor in his/her native or national language. Griots sing music, sculptors sculpt, painters paint and the elderlies store every bit of their traditions through this oral literature. Every African born on the African land has benefited of these oral traditions. African oral tradition is usually presented in stories, myths, songs and the like. It is in oral traditions that African elderlies play the roles of libraries, libraries of knowledge, wisdom, traditions and cultures.

God’s Bits of Wood (Ousmane Sembene)

(Photo courtesy: www.English.und.ac.za)

Ousmane Sembene

(Photo courtesy: Newyorkfilms.com)

Writer, author, film-maker and director, Ousmane Sembene was born in 1923 in Senegal. He is a self-taught and hard worker. So young, he started working as a fisherman. He then moved to Dakar during World War II and was drafted into the French army. He went to Italy and Germany. After the war, he returned to Senegal. He liked politics and literature that he went back to France where he found a job as a docker in the Port city of Marseille. He went to become the leader of the dockers’union. He has also studied cinema at the Moscow Film School. Sembene is an advocate of African literatures in African languages.

God’s Bits of Wood (of Ousmane Sembene)

Sembene talks about the discontentment of the railroad workers of the Bamako Dakar railroad. The indigenous people manifest it in form of strike. They are claiming a better treatment, better wages because they are the ones who do the job. They feel neglected and poorly paid by their white (French) employers. God’s Bits of Wood by Ousmane Sembene: Chapter One Download and Chapter One of God’s Bit of Wood from the Francophone Identities website. Read it carefully and answer the following questions. Reading Comprehension

1. What is this story about and where is it happening? 2. What is the name of the governor’s residence? 3. How did the youth behave in the era of Old lady Niakoro? 4. What is she complaining about nowadays? 5. Who does she (Niakoro) call slaves? Why? 6. How did Old lady Niakoro react when Ad’jibid’ji addressed her with “alors”? 7. What was the reaction of Assitan, Ad’jibid’ji’s mother when she learned her

daughter used the word “alors”? 8. Tiemoko had interrupted Mamadou Keita, the Elder. What did he say then? 9. Who is Diara?

Additional information on African literature from following sites: www.cec-ong/Mediathequewww.litaf.cean.orgwww.smallpanda.comwww.lexpress.mu For more on “God’s Bits of Wood” visit: http://courses.wcupa.edu/jones/his311/archives/sec/sembnote.htm www.english.und.ac.za/English1B/who.htm For additional photos of Ousmane Sembene, please visit: http://www.newyorkfilms.com

Ferdinand Oyono

Courtesy: Biblithecagodella

Ferdinand Leopold Oyono is born in N’Goulemakong near Ebolowa, in Cameroon in 1929. He started his elementary school in 1939. Later he works as a houseboy with some missionaries in order to help his mother. He obtains his elementary school certificate. This brings a lot of joys to his father who learns the news in a newspaper. He is admitted at Ebolowa High school and then went on to continue his studies in France at the “Lycee de Provins” where he graduated in 1950. He goes to Paris to pursue studies at the school of law and at “l’Ecole Nationale d’Administration”. During that time, he uses his free leisure time to write. He writes his first novel “House Boy” and, a second one which appears one month later: The Old Man and the Medal. He continues to write until he prepares himself for a law career and plays a bit of theater for “l’Alliance francaise”. He returnes to his native Cameroon where he is appointed to head the “Bureau d’Etudes” in Yaounde. He will become delegate to the United Nations and continued his diplomatic career. Like Senghor and Birago Diop, Ferdinand Oyono is also a politician.

Road To Europe (Ferdinand Oyono)

Courtesy: Agencetropiques

Road to Europe is a narrative about an African, Barnabas, who understands the rules of the game in a colonial society and decides to apply them. He decides to become somebody by playing the same rules of the game. He becomes victim. Toundi and Meka refrain from following his example. They decide not to play the game because of their pride. In the end, Barnabas looses contact with Europeans and his African compatriots as well. Road to Europe shows us the nature of this corrupted mentality. Reading comprehension on “Road to Europe”: Chapter One Download and Chapter One of Road to Europe from the Francophone Identities website. Read it carefully and answer the following questions.

1. What country does Ferdinand Oyono come from? 2. Why does he have a disdain against his father? 3. Explain, in few sentences the importance of working with missionaries during that

time. 4. What is the author’s attitude toward Catholic missionaries? Why? 5. Describe Oyono’s relation with his father. 6. Why was Oyono dismissed from seminary? 7. What image does the society have of him? 8. What is the only thing that seems to free him from humiliation? 9. Do you believe Administration, the biggest employer of the country, would have

employed him? Why? 10. Why is Oyono turning to private sector for employment?