Efuru

Efuru is a novel by Flora Nwapa which was published in 1966 as

number 26 in Heinemann's African Writers Series, making it the first book
written by a Nigerian woman to be published. The book is about Efuru,
an Igbo woman who lives in a small village in colonial West Africa.
Throughout the story, Efuru wishes to be a mother, though she is an
independent-minded woman and respected for her trading ability. The
book is rich in portrayals of the Igbo culture and of different scenarios
.which have led to its current status as a feminist and cultural work
Plot summary
The story is set in West African Igbo rural community. The
protagonist, Efuru, is a strong and beautiful woman. She is the daughter of
Nwashike Ogene, a hero and leader of his tribe. She falls in love with a
poor farmer called Adizua and runs away with him, upsetting her people
as he did not even perform the traditional wine carrying and pay her bride
price. She supports her husband financially and is very loyal to him, which
makes her mother-in-law and aunt by marriage very fond of her. At this
point, she accepts to be helped around her house by a young girl named
Ogea in order to help [Ogea's] parents who are in financial difficulty.
However, Adizua soon abandons Efuru and their daughter Ogonim as his
own father has done in past. After her daughter dies, Efuru discovers that
he has married another woman and had a child with her. Her in-laws try to
convince her to stay with him, i.e. remain in waiting in their marital house.

Efuru then tries to look for him, but after failing, she leaves his house and
goes back to the house of her father who receives her happily as she can
care for him better than others. Efuru then meets Gilbert, an educated
man in her age group. He asks to marry her and follows traditions by
visiting her father, and she accepts. The first year of their marriage is a
happy one. However, Efuru is not able to conceive any children, so this
begins to cause trouble. She is later chosen by the goddess of the lake,
Uhamiri, to be one of her worshipers, Uhamiri being known to offer her
worshipers wealth and beauty but few children. Efurus second marriage
eventually also fails as her husband mistreats her in favor of his second
.and third wives
Characters in Efuru

Efuru - The protagonist. Born into the highly respected Nwashike

Family, Efuru is raised solely by her father, Nwashike Ogene. The novel
portrays her as a beautiful, kind-hearted, strong-willed, understanding,
clever, and relatively more free-spirited female character compared to the
other female characters. In certain scenarios, Efuru does not follow the
traditions of her people, for example, she marries Adizua although he
cannot pay her dowry. However, she undergoes the customary
circumcision although it is unsafe and painful. Overall, Efuru does not
completely try to rebel against her societys constructs and mentality but
slowly breaks away from what a reader of this century would deem as
anti-feminist ideas.

Nwashike Ogene - Efuru's father. He is a highly respected member of

their society because of his own father, who fought against the Aros
people, and also due to the fact that he was an excellent fisher and
farmer, abilities valued among his people, when he was younger. He is
praised for being wise and understanding but surprises people with how
lenient he is with his daughter when she does not follow traditions. He
gives up on trying to bring Efuru [back] home after he is told that she is
happy with Adizua [yet] after the marriage falls apart, Nwashike Ogene ...
lets his daughter return home.

Adizua - Efuru's first husband. He is portrayed as a lazy,

irresponsible character unlike Efuru who is willing to continue her trade
after only one month of feasting, i.e. eating in order to heal after her
circumcision, because of the little money they had. He is deemed
unworthy to marry Efuru because of his unknown father who did not
achieve anything to bring honor to the family. Within this context, he
becomes even less worthy when he eventually elopes with another
woman. He does not even return for their daughters funeral. Efuru
eventually leaves him although it is customary to wait for the return of the
wrong-doing husband.

Ajanapu - Adizua's aunt and Efurus aunt-in-law. A sensitive, strong,

and talkative mother of seven who acts as a mother-figure to Efuru.
Throughout the story, Ajanupu does not hesitate to give advice and a
majority of the time her advice is helpful to Efuru. The author comments
on how she could be a midwife, which is convincing, because of the clear
expertise she shows when it is Efurus time to deliver her baby.

Ossai - Adizuas mother and Efurus mother-in-law. Her quiet and

reserved persona is most noticeable when she is with her sister, Ajanupu,
showing readers the contrast between the two. Although her son does not
follow pre-marital customs, she treats Efuru well.

Nwosu - Ossais cousin. He is known as a great farmer but the flood

ruins his harvest, causing him to fall into debt and to beg Efuru to take his
daughter, Ogea as a maid and borrow ten pounds. He and his wife have
trouble paying back the ten pounds but Efuru's patient character prevents
any tension to form among them.

Nwabata - Ogeas mother. She is an uneducated, hardworking

farmer who works with her husband on their rented plot of land. Her love
for her husband ... become apparent when she cried after she heard that
her husband needed surgery.

Ogea - Efurus maid, Nwabata and Nwosus daughter. She started

living and working at Efurus house at the age of ten. Ogea helps Efuru
take care of Ogonimy, resulting in a deep bond between the characters,
which is why Ogeas reaction to Ogonims passing is justified despite how
[others] present ... at the funeral told her to stop [crying].

Ogonim - Efurus firstborn daughter. A healthy baby girl until the age
of two when she becomes ill and dies.

Gilbert - He is Efurus childhood friend and later on her second

husband. His Igbo name is Enerberi but it changed to Gilbert after he was
baptized. He is one of the few characters to receive an education,
although he had to stop at standard five due to a lack of funds .

Amede - Gilberts mother. A neutral and quiet character that happily

accepts Efuru as her daughter-in-law.

Omirima - One of the women who criticizes Gilbert and Efurus

public displays of affection and points them out to Amede. In fact, she
seems to be the main source of gossip in the novel.

Dr Uzaru - Efuru lived with Dr. Uzaru and his mother until the age of
fifteen. He treats Nwosu and Nnona under Efurus request.

Nkoyeni - She is Gilbert friends sister whom he knows since

childhood. She later becomes his second wife and has a baby boy.

Nnona - The gate-woman with an infected leg. Efuru helps her by

arranging an appointment with Dr.Uzaru. Later, she receives surgery and
made a full recovery.
Major themes and motifs

Importance of children and Love in Igbo marriage - the main

requirement of marriage presented in the book is productivity. A woman is
considered either adulterous or cursed if she fails to conceive, and even
her femininity is questioned. This is why the number of children in a
marriage is a measure of its success or failure, as well as a guarantee that
the wife will have a say in family matters. However, this does not mean
that Igbo marriages are not also partnerships involving mutual love,
intimacy and help.

Enterprising nature of women - Efuru is portrayed as a highly

industrious woman, as she not only helps her first husband pay her bride
price as well as quit his menial farm job, but is also able to support herself
after he leaves her, and throughout the rest of the story. In addition,

Nwosus wife is shown to be wise when she advises her husband to use
their earnings to pay off some of their debt, which he disregards by buying
a title and later regrets doing so.

Spirituality and superstition - The Igbo are shown as a very spiritual

people. Everything is explained as the work of the gods; Efurus
barrenness is a curse, as is the infertility of crops, etc. Moreover, any
problem, such as the aforementioned cases, can be fixed by a trip to
the dibia, who advises his gift-bearing guests accordingly. Thirdly, when
Efuru is chosen by Uhamiri, the goddess of the Lake, as one of her
worshipers, her status increases among the villagers as it validates her
saintly profile. Similarly superstition governs the behavior of the Igbo as
demonstrated by the fear of pregnant women crossing their legs or
getting into contact with snails (so that children are not born with
excessive saliva), of mothers counting their children

Sacrifice - this is a common motif in the story because it seems to

be the generator of all movement in the plot. In fact, it is through
instructing Efuru to perform sacrifices that the dibia helps her. She then
sacrifices all her energy and possessions in order to try to make her
marriages work, and later makes many sacrifices to Uhamiri, including her
chance to have more children, in order to become one of her worshipers.[1]

Igbo traditions - The novel is often criticized as being more a

representation of Igbo traditions than an actual story being told. Indeed,
many aspects of their practices and beliefs are represented informatively.
For instance, usually older women (if they are widows or have been
abandoned) reside with the family of their son. In addition, polygamy is

very common and even necessary if the other wife (or wives) cannot bear
children or if she is difficult to handle as Nkoyeni turns out to be. We also
learn about the usual occupations of the people such as commerce and
fishing, not to mention ceremonies that are considered very important,
especially taking ones bath which is a euphemism for female
circumcision considered important before pregnancy in order to make a
safe birth more likely, and burial, which is shown after the death of
Ogonim.

Gossip - Gossip is very common among Igbo women and seems to

be the main method of transmitting information, as it is the way in which
Efuru finds out what probably happened to her first husband after he
didnt return. It is also a method of manipulation as Omirima exemplifies
by talking about Efuru to her mother-in-law in an attempt to get Adizua a
second wife.

Western influence on traditions - the West is reflected firstly through

Christianity in the story, which is seen by some as the root of all problems
since it tells the Ibo that their gods have no power and so they commit
crimes without fear of punishment. Education also shows the impact of
Western influence as villagers, even women, are shown to increasingly
attend school. Finally, medicine is shown to be replacing dibias as a
method of healing, or at least complimenting it as several characters are
sent throughout the plot to a hospital by Efuru.[2]

Feminism - although saying this novel is feminist raises some

controversy, feminism is arguably found in this novel. In fact, not only is
Efuru allowed to choose her own husbands, rebel against some traditions,

such as bringing wine to her father before she marries, and even leave her
husbands when they mistreat her, but she is also represented as an
industrious and productive woman who becomes a pillar in society
through her good deeds. Efuru does not break with tradition but refuses
for it to be used as a method of subordinating women.
Important Quotes

Two men do not live together: Adizuas family members use this
as an argument when they try to convince him to take a second wife. They
are saying that Efuru cannot be considered a woman since she has been
unable to give him children.

I want to keep my position as his first wife, for it is my right - this

shows how Efuru is very lenient in her marital life and does not mind her
husband taking as many wives as he pleases. However, she asserts
herself in her right to remain the first wife since it her rightful place by
principle and tradition.[3]
Reception and Controversy
The novel Efuru is recognized as a substantial stepping stone
in Nigerian literature and in the feminist movement in Nigeria, for it was
the first novel published by a Nigerian woman in English.[4] As a result,
Nwapa was awarded the title Ogbuefi, which translates into killer of
cow. This title is of high importance, for it is usually acquired by men.
Furthermore, Nwapa gained even more recognition for her work, as the
Nigerian government granted her several prestigious awards after Efuru
was released.[5]

After Efurus first publication, it received mixed reviews. For

instance, Kenyan author Grace Ogot spoke positively of the novel in a
review which appeared in the East Africa Journal in 1966, stating that of
the many novels that are coming out of Nigeria, Efuru is one of the few
that portrays vividly the womans world, giving only peripheral treatment
to the affairs of men.[6] Nwapas male counterparts, however, were not as
fond of the book. Literary critic Eldred Jones and author Eustace Palmer
both represent the opinion of some Nigerian male writers at the time,
most of whom criticize Nwapa for focusing on the affairs of women. Later
critics of Efuru, however, commend Nwapa for creating an image of
female protagonists which is unlike that created by Nigerian male writers.
Author Rose Acholonu describes Nwapa and certain other African female
writers as pathfinders, who were able to break the seals of silence and
invisibility on the female protagonist by the early traditionalist male
writers.

[7]

Christine N. Ohale a professor at the department of English,

Communications, Media Arts and Theater in Chicago State University

mentions that Nwapas efforts to present brand-new, assertive and
individualistic females have helped to salvage the lop-sided image that
.male writers have created,[8] which is mainly one of passiveness
Furthermore, critics such as Naana Banyiwe praise the use of
dialogue as a stylistic element of the novel; in her discussion of Efuru,
Naana Banyiwe-Horne states, The constant banter of women reveals
character as much as it paints a comprehensive, credible, social canvas
against which Efuru's life can be assessed.[9] Many reviewers of the novel

agree that the dialogic style established in Efuru is even more central to
the novels thematic concerns Through the dialogue that Nwapa uses,
she is able to paint an accurate picture of what life for Igbo women is like.
Critics such as Christine Loflin point out that the use of dialogue in Efuru
allows a sense of African feminism to emerge, free of Western imposed
values.[10] Other critics however, reprimand the excessive use of dialogue,
considering the novel too gossipy.[11]
References
1.

Jump up^ "Themes and Motifs". Salvation Press.

2.

Jump up^ Githaiga, Anna. Notes on Flora Nwapa's Efuru.

Retrieved 2 December 2014.

3.

Jump up^ Flora Nwapa (21 October 2013). Efuru. Waveland

Press. ISBN 978-1-4786-1327-5.

4.

Jump up^ "Flora Nwapa". Zaccheus Onumba Dibiaezue

Memorial Libraries.

5.

Jump up^ Mears, Mary. "Choice and Discovery: An Analysis of

Women and Culture in Flora Nwapas Fiction". Scholar Commons.

6.

Jump up^ Stratton, Florence (1994). Contemporary African

Literature and the Politics of Gender. New York: Routledge.
p. 80. ISBN 978-0415097710.

7.

Jump up^ Ohale, Christine. "The Dea(R)Th Of Female

Presence In Early African Literature: The Depth Of Writers
Responsibility" (PDF). Forum on Public Policy.

8.

Jump up^ Ohale, Christine (2010). "The Dea(r)th of Female

Presence in Early African Literature: The Depth of Writers'
Responsibility". Forum on Public Policy: A Journal of the Oxford Round
Table (Summer).

9.

Jump up^ "Flora Nwapa". Enotes.

10.

Jump up^ Jagne, Sigha and Parekh, Pushpa

(2014). Postcolonial African Writers: A Bio-bibliographical Sourcebook.

London: Routledge. p. 338. ISBN 978-1138012134.
11.

Jump up^ Owomyela, Oyekan. The Columbia Guide to West

African Literature in English Since 1945. New York: Columbia University

Press. p. 106. ISBN 978-0231126861
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efuru

Efuru
Efuru, the title character in Flora Nwapa's 1966 novel, is a beautiful
young woman who unfortunately, always seems to have bad luck with
men. Efuru is a strong and successful woman in her West African village.
The whole village knows Efuru, "she was a remarkable woman. It was not
only that she came from a distinguished family. She was distinguished
herself" (Nwapa 1). When Efuru elopes with the unknown Adizua, her
family and friends are upset, but Efuru manages to keep the bond she has
with her father as well as create a special relationship with her inlaws.
After a few years, Efuru has a child, but at about the same time, her
husband begins disappearing for days at a time. When the child takes ill
and dies, Adizua cannot be found [to attend] the funeral and is said to
have married another woman. Efuru, rather than face what she sees as
shame, leaves Adizua's home and returns to her father.
Not long after she has returned to her father, a suitor, Eneberi,
appears. They marry and have a blissful marriage, until he disappears in
the same upsetting way and does not attend the funeral of Efuru's father.
Efuru is left alone, childless, husbandless, and without family. She
puts faith into the goddess of the lake, Utuoso, who she feels she was
chosen to worship. Yet, she questions this worship when she remembers
that Utuoso had no children, and cannot return the people she has lost in
her life.
About the Author

Flora Nwapa was born in 1931, and raised in Eastern Nigeria. She
attended school at Ibadan and Edinburgh, later to return and teach in
Nigeria.

Dialogues
Marriage in Efuru's Village
Efuru's village is a polygamous village. However, Efuru, as a woman,
has more rights than that of other women in such novels as Xala, by
Ousmane Sembne, and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. When
Efuru's husbands are unfaithful to her, she also, unlike in other
polygamous villages, is able to leave her husbands. Efuru is independent
and thinks of herself as well as her husbands.
Importance of Children
Like in novels such as Agatha Moudio's Son, Joys of Motherhood,
and Things Fall Apart, children are central to the lives of villagers. When
Efuru is unable to bear children, she is devastated. However, she shows
that unlike many woman in her community, she can survive without
children and still find strength in her businees and her religious faith.
Efuru's Ablities in Business
Efuru, like Nnu Ego in Buuchi Emecheta's Joys of Motherhood, is a
business woman. She is able to bring in the highest prices, and pay the
lowest. At the same time she remains a respectable woman in her
village's society. She aids the sick and poor. Although she is successful,
she still gives back to those who give her so much. She is unlike El Hadji,
in Sembene's Xala, who lives by the hands of those he swindles.
Efuru and Her Husbands
Though she loves both men she marries, Efuru does not forget about
her own rights. Efuru thinks of her husbands and although she is not able
to bear more than one child, she is willing to bring a second wife into her

home in order to give her husbands more children, much like Fanny
in Agatha Moudio's Son. However, she keeps her dignity and leaves her
husbands when they abandon her illustrating her strength to care for
herself.

Notes
Efuru, not able to depend on her husbands, turns her faithfulness to
the goddess of the lake, Uhamiri. Efuru begins by dreaming about this
"elegant woman, very beautiful, combing her long black hair with a golden
comb" (Nwapa 183). This dream signifies the beginning of her worship of
Uhamiri. Efuru is chosen to be one of Uhamiri's worshipers, and the
goddess "assumes the role in Efuru's life that is equivalent of the Igbo chi"
(Phillips 91) as described in Achebe's Things Fall Apart.
Sadly, the lake goddess in unable to grant Efuru her one desire,
children, causing her to wonder, "why then did women worship her"
(Nwapa 281)? Rather than give women children, Uhamiri instead grants
what she has: "Her beauty, her long hair and her riches she was happy,
she was wealthy. She was beautiful. She gave women beauty and wealth
but she had no child" (Nwapa 281). Uhamiri is rather, "a symbol of hope
for all women so that her devotees such as Efuru can taste of her kind of
freedom and happiness with or without children. Efuru has the ability to be
happy without a child because she is so similar to Uhamiri. Her
independence becomes desirable and blessed.
Efuru sets not only a feminist example through her independence,
but she is also a symbol of survival and independence from a Colonial

empire. Efuru is successful, happy, and free from her oppressive and
abusive first husband, Adizua, and from her equally disappointing second
husband Gilbert. Both men symbolize Colonial power, Adizua by his abuse
after having profited by marrying Efuru without having paid a dowry, and
Gilbert, by his Christian name and ideals after having attended a Colonial
school.
In addition to Efuru's independence, she clearly accepts her
culture's "traditional practices such as circumcision and polygamy,
traditional beliefs and traditional attitudes towards wifehood and
infertility" (Nnaemeka 141). Within this culture she finds strength in her
kitchen, and the "symbols of empowerment" and "weapon in the truest
sense of the word" (Nnaemeka 142) harbored there.
Links
** Kabalarian Philosophy
This site offers a description of the name Efuru and its meaning.
**Flora Nwapa
This site provides biographical information on Flora Nwapa as well
as a number of links to other pages. It is available in both French and
English.
*** Flora Flora Nwapa
This site is part of a larger site concerning Postcolonial Studies. It is
published by Emory University and contains biographical information on
Flora Nwapa as well as notes on Nwapa, and a list of major publications.
Teaching

Have students examine their own personal beliefs concerning

religion. Then have them write an essay comparing their religion to the
goddess worship of Uhamiri in the novel.
Have a class discussion on the male/female relationships in the
novel. Discuss whether or not Efuru is a feminist novel.
Read Efuru in addition to other African women's literature. Consider
using Buchi Emecheta's The Joys of Motherhood.
Many African authors have turned their novels into screenplays.
Have students work in groups to create a screenplay for Efuru. Ask them
to pay attention not only to the script, but to setting, costumes, customs,
and culture that will create the background of their story. Use this exercise
to note any Colonial images in the text.

Citations
Nnaemeka, Obioma. "From Orality to Writing: African Women Writers
and the (Re)Inscription of Womanhood." Research in African Literatures 25
(Winter 1994): 137-157.
Nwapa, Flora. Efuru. London: Cox & Wyman Ltd., 1966
Philips, Maggi. "Engaging Dreams: Alternative Perspectives on Flora
Nwapa, Buchi Emecheta, Ama Ata Aidoo, Bessie Head and Tsitsi
Dangarebga's Writing." Research in African Literatures 25 (Winter 1994):
89-103
Colonial & Postcolonial Literary Dialogues
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Africa Resources
Literary
A Book Review of Flora Nwapa's Efuru
Sunday, 17 April 2011 05:50 Africa
By Ahmad Ghashmari
Flora Nwapa is the first Nigerian female novelist to be published. Her
first novel, Efuru, was published by Heinemann in London in 1966.
Although [Efuru] came out to be a well written book with a profound
message, the novel did not receive the attention it deserves; unlike novels
written at that time by African male writers like Chinua Achebe and Ngugi
wa Thiong'o, who both were also published by Heinemann. Efuru is a
portrayal of life in the Igbo culture, especially women's life. Set in the
village of Oguta, where Nwapa herself lived, the novel tells the story of an
independent-minded woman named Efuru. She is a woman who becomes
a role model and a catalyst for change in her own society. Despite her
success, brightness and wealth, she is unable to have a lasting marriage
or give birth to children like other women in her village. She marries twice,
but both marriages failed. She gives birth to one daughter who died. Yet,
despite all this, Efuru remains firm and strong, maintaining very successful
and prosperous business and standing as a perfect example of generosity,
.intelligence, and care among her peers

The novel has at its core fundamental feminist concepts like

women's agency, women's empowerment, sisterhood and gender equality.
However, in an interview by Marie Umeh in 1993, Flora Nwapa refused to
be called a feminist; she said, "I don't even accept that I'm a feminist. I
accept that I'm an ordinary woman who is writing about what she knows. I
try to project the image of women positively." (Umeh 27). By looking at
her novel , one can see that Nwapa is a writer dedicated to
discuss[ing] women's issues of struggle, quest for independence and
success in their native patriarchal Igbo culture. However, she did not call
herself a feminist writer because her writings do not qualify in the
Western criteria of feminism to be called feminist. The concept of
feminism as a movement and a school of thought seemed to exclude the
black woman from its agenda. Thus, in order for a work of art to be
considered feminist, it must, according to the Western criteria, abide by a
set of rules, and to mention some, these can be like showing the rebellion
of women towards their own cultures and traditions and showing how they
refuse to succumb to patriarchal practices and attempt to overthrow the
whole hierarchy. Efuru, the heroine, is a different woman. She is different
in the sense that she stands out as being very generous, caring, loving,
brave, and successful at the same time. She strives for change and
prosperity in her community, but she is not rebellious against her culture.
On the contrary, she shows reverence to the traditions of her people, and
she never wishes to overlook or discredit them. For example, although she
believes in romantic love and rejects to have an arranged marriage, she,
on the other hand, insists that her marriage with Adizua, her first husband,

will not be complete until he pays the dowry and fulfills her people's
marriage customs; only then that Efuru and Adizua "felt really married."
(24) She also never resists going through the painful circumcision, and
she acknowledges man's right to polygamy, saying, "Only a bad woman
.would like to be married alone by her husband" (57)
When reading Efuru as a feminist text, one important thing we must
bear in mind is the sense of location and cultural centrality. We need to
consider the culture difference and the importance of traditions in shaping
the identity of the individual, and we need to admit that what applies to
the women of Paris and Boston does not necessarily apply to the women
of Oguta. The cultural context is crucial to understanding the message of
the novel. Nwapa does not consider herself a feminist because she felt
that the feminist movement at her time is by and for white women only
and it does not include the black, the Caribbean, the Arab, or the Indian
women. The problem is that texts written by women from these regions
(The Third World) are usually misread, rejected, or neglected (In rare
cases, they might be canopied with white "imperialist" feminism). As
Barbara Smith points out in her 1977 essay "Toward a Black Feminist
Criticism": "The mishandling of Black women writers by Whites is
paralleled more often by not being handled at all, particularly by feminist
criticism." (2305)
In her quest for success and change, Efuru believes in the idea of
compromise and negotiation as a way of getting ahead in life in her
culture. She believes in freedom but she also believes that freedom has

limits, and that every culture is different and to be able to live you need to
adapt. What helps women succeed in the Igbo culture is the elasticity of
the rules. You do not have to break the rules to be a reformer, all you have
to do is to bend, expand, or reshape them. One critic of Nwapa, Obioma
Nnaemeka, argues that Efuru is an example of what she calls
"negofeminism" or the feminism of negotiation which is that the African
woman can adapt herself by means of negotiation and compromise
between tradition and modernity. If we return to the example of Efuru's
first nuptials in the novel, Efuru knows the traditions of her culture and
she never trespasses against them but in the meantime she marries the
man she wants even without her father's consent. So Efuru is a feminist
manifestation as it talks about the ability of a woman to be a leader and a
reformist in her community. Efuru appears superior even to men,
especially her two husbands Adizua and Eneberi, with respect to her
intelligence, success in business, social life. Her failure in her first
marriage does not shatter her as in the case of her mother-in-law Ossai
who lives in endless pain and loneliness since being abandoned by
Adizua's father ( Nwapa uses Ossai's story as a contrastive case to
Efuru's). On the contrary, Efuru was able to pull through and resume her
life and success. Ossai does not admit her weakness first and she tells
Efuru, "I can only solicit patienceI am proud that I was and still am true
to the only man I loved," (61) but she later faces reality and admits that
"Efuru's patience couldn't be triedLife for her meant living it fully. She
did not want merely to exist. She wanted to live and use the world to her
advantage." (78) This shows how different Efuru is from other women in

her society. Whereas Adizua who runs away with another woman and
never comes back to Efuru is fickle and weak and after being deserted by
the woman he elopes with he exiles himself and his life seems shattered.
Eneberi is also not that different from Adizua and has even wronged Efuru
.in a way that she could not forgive him when he accuses her of adultery
Efuru's insisting to "Live life fully" resonates with Nwapa's goal of
"Projecting positive image of women." Efuru does not live for herself only;
she commits herself to the mission of helping others live right. This is the
real meaning of sisterhood and woman empowerment which Western
scholars fail to see in the Third World womanhood. She excels in saving
other people's lives and having an influence on their personalities. She
changes Ogea from a useless girl into a good useful and obedient woman.
She keeps helping and lending money to Ogea's parents, Nwosu and
Nwabata, despite their repeated misfortunes and inability to pay back.
Through her connections with doctor Uzaru, she arranges to help sick
people who cannot otherwise afford being treated like Nnona, the old
. woman who has a bad leg and Nwosu
The character of Efuru is very familiar in the Igbo culture which
worships Mammy Water deities. Efuru appropriates the myth of the
water goddesses and the strong rootedness of this tradition in the Igbo
culture. Efuru's personal traits resemble the goddess of the lake, Uhamiri.
Uhamiri chooses her followers (the majority are female followers) and
favors them with success in trade, bestow on them wealth and prosperity
and shower them with her blessings. But Uhamiri denies her followers one

thing; children. The myth, and the novel itself, say that Uhamiri "had
never experienced the joys of motherhood." (221) Efuru starts to have
dreams about the woman of the lake right after she loses her first and
only child as if the death of her child was an early sign that she is chosen
to be a disciple by Uhamiri. When she narrates her dream to her father, he
assures her that she "has been chosen to be one of [Uhamiri's]
worshippers." (147) It seems that the dream is kind of a religious calling.
But there is a sign in the story that one becomes a follower only if s/he
responds to the call because Efuru's father, Nwashike Ogene, also says
that Efuru's mother had similar dreams, but obviously she was not a
follower since she had a daughter. The idea of Uhamiri is very crucial to
the concept of the feminism of negotiation and compromise . Nwapa
leaves the novel open-ended and concludes it with a question: since
Uhamiri had never experienced the joys of motherhood "Why then did the
women worship her?" (221) [A]t least part of the answer lies in the
policy of give-and-take that the women in Igbo culture live by. It says that
to be successful you must compromise and sacrifice something, and this
is true if we apply it to any other culture, not only the Igbo culture. Being a
follower of Uhamiri is not obligatory as it appears through the example of
Efuru's mother, so if a woman chooses, she can still experience the joys of
motherhood and live her life like any other ordinary woman and not follow
the call of the woman of the lake. And that does not mean that if she is
not a follower she also cannot be successful and wealthy. If we look at the
example of Aajanupu, Efuru's aunt-in-law, we will find that she was

successful, fairly wealthy, has a strong leading personality and has a lot of
.children
:Works Cited
Nnaemeka, Obioma. Feminism, Rebellious Women, and Cultural
Boundaries: Rereading Flora Nwapa and Her Compatriots. From Research
in African Literatures, Vol. 26, No. 2. (summer, 1995), pp. 80- 113. Indiana
University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3820273. Accessed:
25/10/2009 15:56
Nwapa, Flora. Efuru. London: Heinemann, 1966
Smith, Barbara. Towards a Black Feminist Criticism. From The Norton
.Anthology of Theory and Criticism
Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2001.
Pp. 2299-2315
Umeh, Marie and Flora Nwapa. The Poetics of Economic
Independence for Female Empowerment: An Interview with Flora Nwapa.
Research in African Literatures, Vol. 26, No. 2, Flora Nwapa (Summer,
1995), pp. 22-29. Indiana University Press. URL:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3820268 Accessed: 01/12/2009 18:46
Ahmad Ghashmari is a Jordanian human rights activist, leading an
initiative for women's rights and against honor killings in the Middle East.
In 2007, he started a campaign called LAHA to mobilize grassroots action

against honor killings in Jordan. He also worked as a fellow with various

international organizations such as Amnesty International, Freedom
House, and the American Islamic Congress. Ahmad was a winner of the
2007 Dream Deferred Essay Contest and also won the Naji Namaan
Creativity Prize for Literature in 2008. He is a columnist for
AltMuslimah.com and Mideastyouth.com. Ghashmari is a Ph.D student of
.English Literature at Kent State University, Ohio
Sources: http://www.africaresource.com/essays-areviews/literary/894-flora-nwapas-efuru-a-book-review

Synopsis
Efuru explores Nigerian village life and values, a world where spirits
are a part of everyday life - as accepted, respected, and feared as one's
own relatives. Efuru, a highly respected woman of her village, carries on
the family tradition of treating others well and is successful as a trader. Yet
her personal life is mired with tragedy: she has two unsuccessful
marriages and her only child dies. In her village, a single, childless woman
is a cause for fear, and the villagers begin to gossip, a favorite and
powerful pastime. They question her good deeds and wonder what she
has done to upset the spirits, whose influence and power are at the center
of their lives. In her struggle to understand all that has happened to her
Efuru seeks the advice of the dibias, village doctors, and finds her spiritual
guide and the path she must follow.
Source: https://books.google.com.eg/books/about/Efuru.html?
id=_X5Y90o8b7QC&redir_esc=y

Comments on GoodRead
Published in 1966, this apparently was the first book written by a
Nigerian woman to be published (this is from Wiki so take with a pinch of
salt). It is set in the same area and tradition as Things Fall Apart by Chinua
;Achebe. The blurb with the book sums it up
Efuru, beautiful and respected, is loved and deserted by two ordinary
.undistinguished husbands
The setting is rural and Efuru is a woman who is independent and
competent and trades for herself. The writing style is very similar to
Things Fall Apart and if you enjoyed that you would certainly enjoy this.
Like Achebe, Nwapa commentates rather than judges, but the messages
are clear and this book is about the society of women in the same way
Things Fall Apart is about the society of men. In my judgement this novel
is every bit as good as Things Fall Apart and yet it is hardly known. Just
look at the difference in ratings; Things Fall Apart has 141 386 ratings and
5993 reviews and Efuru has 193 ratings and 17 reviews. This is not
because of a difference in quality; they are both great books and in my
opinion Efuru is marginally better. Perhaps because it is written by a
?woman? Surely not
The story opens a window onto customs and traditions going back
centuries which are beginning to die out with younger generations and the
encroachment of white culture and medicine. There is a not too graphic
but very powerful description of genital mutilation. Efuru is a wonderfully

strong and vibrant character; apart from her father the men in her life are
pretty useless and she concludes she is better off without them. She
appears to be unable to [have] children and this is a source of sadness
for her but she finds a role model in the form of the goddess of the lake
.who is beautiful, powerful, and independent and without children
This beautiful novel describes the youth, marriage, motherhood and
eventual personal ephiphany of a young woman of contemporary Nigeria.
Efuru's eventual tragedy is that she is not able to marry or raise children
successfully. (Efurus' only daughter dies while she is still a small child, and
a son never arrives). The book also describes quite matter-of-factly the
horrific ritual of female circumcision--a painful clitorectomy--that all young
women in this society are expected to undergo before marriage. Efuru
calls it her "bath," and willingly submits to the cutting and agony.
(Although feminist groups are exposing this awful practice more and more
to the world at large and trying to get it outlawed in Africa, the Middle
East and other areas of the world where it is routinely practiced, the ritual
still goes on today). Finally, Efuru realizes that she surely must have a
higher calling, and perceives that a goddess of her tribe, "the lady of the
lake" has chosen her for another role. Efusu muses at the story's end that
the lady of the lake has never married nor had children, but still, the
women of the community worship her.
I'm currently reading Efuru - it's the first work of Flora Nwapa's that I
am reading and I found the first line of the book riveting; although she has
been a hovering presence in my literary awareness for a long-time I've

never till now actually engaged with her work. That said, I'm aware as a
pioneer, and she's one of the writers that Chimamanda Adichie
namechecks often, and mentioned at our literature festival last year.
African women writer's have definitely been under-rated and under
celebrated, and that's one of the great things about the emergence of
writers like Adichie, Chibundo Onuzo and Chika Unigwe - all great igbo
writers for whom Flora Nwapa is definitely a forerunner.
Efuru is a well respected woman in the community who marries an
undistinguished man that no one knows. Even though no one understands
her choice they still hold her in high esteem. Efuru's life isn't as society
expects, but through her challenges she carries herself superbly. The last
paragraph of the book, her musing on the worship of the Lady of the Lake,
rounded off the story perfectly. "And yet we worship her." This last line
[seems to] allude to change in the society, is the only purpose of
womanhood to be a wife and have children?

I read this as part of a week-long book discussion on Female African

writers. This was the first book written by an African woman writer and
ultimately inspired Buchi Emecheta's "The Joy of Motherhood", with its last
line. The protagonist is a Nigerian girl who must submit to the traditinal
female genital mutilation which was the standard in the early 20th century
as well as currently in some African countries. Her inability to get pregnant
dooms her first marriage and reveals the importance of having children in
Nigerian life. Although stylistically this was not a well written work, Nwapa

was emulating the storytelling nature of her people and the way people
talk.
Flora Nwapa's text is a pioneering example of female African
literature. Not only does Efuru capture female life so vividly, it also
contrasts with the male dominated African literature of the period in which
Nwapa writes. The reader is taken through the everyday life experiences
of women in an African setting. Pregnancy, marriage and female
circumcision are all discussed, alongside subtle nods to the presence of
colonialism. The narrative is written in a style which is almost cinema-like,
as it is able to capture and display circumstances the way film does.

Encyclopaedia Britannica
Written by: Harold Scheub
Introduction
African literature, the body of traditional oral and written
literatures in Afro-Asiatic and African languages together with works
written by Africans in European languages. Traditional written literature,
which is limited to a smaller geographic area than is oral literature, is
most characteristic of those sub-Saharan cultures that have participated
in the cultures of the Mediterranean. In particular, there are written
literatures in both Hausa and Arabic, created by the scholars of what is
now northern Nigeria, and the Somali people have produced a traditional
written literature. There are also works written in Geez (Ethiopic) and
Amharic, two of the languages of Ethiopia, which is the one part of Africa
where Christianity has been practiced long enough to be considered
traditional. Works written in European languages date primarily from the
20th century onward. The literature of South Africa in English and
Afrikaans is also covered in a separate article, South African
.literature. See also African theatre
The relationship between oral and written traditions and in
particular between oral and modern written literatures is one of great
complexity and not a matter of simple evolution. Modern African
literatures were born in the educational systems imposed by colonialism,
with models drawn from Europe rather than existing African traditions. But
.the African oral traditions exerted their own influence on these literatures

Oral traditions
The nature of storytelling
The storyteller speaks, time collapses, and the members of the
audience are in the presence of history. It is a time of masks. Reality, the
present, is here, but with explosive emotional images giving it a context.
This is the storytellers art: to mask the past, making it mysterious,
seemingly inaccessible. But it is inaccessible only to ones present
intellect; it is always available to ones heart and soul, ones emotions.
The storyteller combines the audiences present waking state and its past
condition of semiconsciousness, and so the audience walks again in
history, joining its forebears. And history, always more than an academic
subject, becomes for the audience a collapsing of time. History becomes
the audiences memory and a means of reliving of an indeterminate and
.deeply obscure past
Storytelling is a sensory union of image and idea, a process of recreating the past in terms of the present; the storyteller uses realistic
images to describe the present and fantasy images to evoke and embody
the substance of a cultures experience of the past. These ancient fantasy
images are the cultures heritage and the storytellers bounty: they
contain the emotional history of the culture, its most deeply felt yearnings
and fears, and they therefore have the capacity to elicit strong emotional
responses from members of audiences. During a performance, these
envelop contemporary imagesthe most unstable parts of the oral

tradition, because they are by their nature always in a state of fluxand

.thereby visit the past on the present
It is the task of the storyteller to forge the fantasy images of the
past into masks of the realistic images of the present, enabling the
performer to pitch the present to the past, to visualize the present within
a context ofand therefore in terms ofthe past. Flowing through this
potent emotional grid is a variety of ideas that have the look of antiquity
and ancestral sanction. Story occurs under the mesmerizing influence of
performancethe body of the performer, the music of her voice, the
complex relationship between her and her audience. It is a world unto
itself, whole, with its own set of laws. Images that are unlike are
juxtaposed, and then the storyteller revealsto the delight and instruction
of the members of the audiencethe linkages between them that render
them homologous. In this way the past and the present are blended; ideas
are thereby generated, forming a conception of the present. Performance
gives the images their context and ensures the audience a ritual
.experience that bridges past and present and shapes contemporary life
Storytelling is alive, ever in transition, never hardened in time.
Stories are not meant to be temporally frozen; they are always responding
to contemporary realities, but in a timeless fashion. Storytelling is
therefore not a memorized art. The necessity for this continual
transformation of the story has to do with the regular fusing of fantasy
and images of the real, contemporary world. Performers take images from
the present and wed them to the past, and in that way the past regularly

shapes an audiences experience of the present. Storytellers reveal

connections between humanswithin the world, within a society, within a
familyemphasizing an interdependence and the disaster that occurs
when obligations to ones fellows are forsaken. The artist makes the
linkages, the storyteller forges the bonds, tying past and present, joining
humans to their gods, to their leaders, to their families, to those they love,
to their deepest fears and hopes, and to the essential core of their
.societies and beliefs
The language of storytelling includes, on the one hand, image, the
patterning of image, and the manipulation of the body and voice of the
storyteller and, on the other, the memory and present state of the
audience. A storytelling performance involves memory: the recollection of
each member of the audience of his experiences with respect to the story
being performed, the memory of his real-life experiences, and the similar
memories of the storyteller. It is the rhythm of storytelling that welds
these disparate experiences, yearnings, and thoughts into the images of
the story. And the images are known, familiar to the audience. That
familiarity is a crucial part of storytelling. The storyteller does not craft a
story out of whole cloth: she re-creates the ancient story within the
context of the real, contemporary, known world. It is the metaphorical
relationship between these memories of the past and the known images
of the world of the present that constitutes the essence of storytelling.
The story is never history; it is built of the shards of history. Images are
removed from historical contexts, then reconstituted within the

demanding and authoritative frame of the story. And it is always a sensory

experience, an experience of the emotions. Storytellers know that the way
to the mind is by way of the heart. The interpretative effects of the
storytelling experience give the members of the audience a refreshed
sense of reality, a context for their experiences that has no existence in
reality. It is only when images of contemporary life are woven into the
ancient familiar images that metaphor is born and experience becomes
.meaningful

Stories deal with change: mythic transformations of the

cosmos, heroic transformations of the culture, transformations of
the lives of everyman. The storytelling experience is always
ritual, always a rite of passage; one relives the past and, by so
doing, comes to insight about present life. Myth is both a story
and a fundamental structural device used by storytellers. As a
story, it reveals change at the beginning of time, with gods as the
central characters. As a storytelling tool for the creation of
metaphor, it is both material and method. The heroic epic unfolds
within the context of myth, as does the tale. At the heart of each
of these genres is metaphor, and at the core of metaphor is riddle
with its associate, proverb. Each of these oral forms is
characterized by a metaphorical process, the result of patterned
imagery. These universal art forms are rooted in the specificities
of the African experience.
The riddle
A pot without an opening. (An egg.)
The silly man who drags his intestines. (A needle and thread.)
In the riddle, two unlike, and sometimes unlikely, things are
compared. The obvious thing that happens during this comparison is that
a problem is set, then solved. But there is something more important
here, involving the riddle as a figurative form: the riddle is composed of
two sets, and, during the process of riddling, the aspects of each of the
sets are transferred to the other. On the surface it appears that the riddle

is largely an intellectual rather than a poetic activity. But through its

imagery and the tension between the two sets, the imagination of the
audience is also engaged. As they seek the solution to the riddle, the
audience itself becomes a part of the images and thereforeand most
.significantlyof the metaphorical transformation
This may not seem a very complex activity on the level of the riddle,
but in this deceptively simple activity can be found the essential core of
all storytelling, including the interaction of imagery in lyric poetry, the
tale, and the epic. In the same way as those oral forms, the riddle works in
a literal and in a figurative mode. During the process of riddling, the literal
mode interacts with the figurative in a vigorous and creative way. It is that
play between the literal and the figurative, between reality and fantasy,
that characterizes the riddle: in that relationship can be found metaphor,
which explains why it is that the riddle underlies other oral forms. The
images in metaphor by their nature evoke emotion; the dynamics of
metaphor trap those emotions in the images, and meaning is caught up in
that activity. So meaning, even in such seemingly simple operations as
.riddling, is more complex than it may appear
The lyric
People were those who
Broke for me the string.
Therefore,
The place became like this to me,
On account of it,

Because the string was that which broke for me.

Therefore,
The place does not feel to me,
As the place used to feel to me,
On account of it.
For,
The place feels as if it stood open before me,
Because the string has broken for me.
Therefore,
The place does not feel pleasant to me,
On account of it.
(a San poem, from W.H.I. Bleek and L.C. Lloyd, Specimens of
Bushman Folklore [1911])
The images in African lyric interact in dynamic fashion, establishing
metaphorical relationships within the poem, and so it is that riddling is the
motor of the lyric. And, as in riddles, so also in lyric: metaphor frequently
involves and invokes paradox. In the lyric, it is as if the singer were
stitching a set of riddles into a single richly textured poem, the series of
riddling connections responsible for the ultimate experience of the poem.
The singer organizes and controls the emotions of the audience as he
systematically works his way through the levels of the poem, carefully
establishing the connective threads that bring the separate metaphorical
sets into the poems totality. None of the separate riddling relationships
exists divorced from those others that compose the poem. As these

riddling relationships interact and interweave, the poet brings the

audience to a close, intense sense of the meaning of the poem. Each
riddling relationship provides an emotional clue to the overall design of
the poem. Further clues to meaning are discovered by the audience in the
rhythmical aspects of the poem, the way the poet organizes the images,
the riddling organization itself, and the sound of the singers voice as well
as the movement of the singers body. As in the riddle, everything in the
.lyric is directed to the revelation of metaphor
The proverb
Work the clay while it is fresh.
Wisdom killed the wise man.
The African proverb seems initially to be a hackneyed expression, a
trite leftover repeated until it loses all force. But proverb is also
performance, it is also metaphor, and it is in its performance and
metaphorical aspects that it achieves its power. In one sense, the
experience of a proverb is similar to that of a riddle and a lyric poem:
different images are brought into a relationship that is novel, that provides
insight. When one experiences proverbs in appropriate contexts, rather
than in isolation, they come to life. In the riddle the poser provides the two
sides of the metaphor. In lyric poetry the two sides are present in the
poem but in a complex way; the members of the audience derive their
aesthetic experience from comprehending that complexity. The words of
the proverb are by themselves only one part of [a] metaphorical
experience. The other side of the riddle is not to be found in the same way

it is in the riddle and the lyric. The proverb establishes ties with its
metaphorical equivalent in the real life of the members of the audience or
with the wisdom of the past. The words of the proverb are a riddle waiting
to happen. And when it happens, the African proverb ceases to be a
.grouping of tired words
The tale
The riddle, lyric, and proverb are the materials that are at the
dynamic centre of the tale. The riddle contains within it the possibilities of
metaphor; and the proverb elaborates the metaphorical possibilities when
the images of the tale are made lyricalthat is, when they are
rhythmically organized. Such images are drawn chiefly from two
repertories: from the contemporary world (these are the realistic images)
and from the ancient tradition (these are the fantasy images). These
diverse images are brought together during a storytelling performance by
their rhythmic organization. Because the fantasy images have the
capacity to elicit strong emotional reactions from members of the
audience, these emotions are the raw material that is woven into the
image organization by the patterning. The audience thereby becomes an
integral part of the story by becoming a part of the metaphorical process
that moves to meaning. And meaning, therefore, is much more complex
than an obvious homily that may be readily available on the surface of the
.tale

This patterning of imagery is the main instrument that shapes a

tale. In the simplest of tales, a model is established, and then it is
repeated in an almost identical way. In a Xhosa story an ogre chases a
woman and her two children. With each part of the story, as the ogre
moves closer and as the woman and her children are more intensely
imperiled, a song organizes the emotions of helplessness, of menace, and
:of terror, even as it moves the story on its linear path
Qwebethe, Qwebethe, what do you want?
Im leaving my food behind on the prairie,
Im leaving it behind,
Im leaving it behind.
With little more than a brief introduction and a quick close, the
storyteller develops this tale. There is an uninterrupted linear movement
of a realistic single character fleeing from a fantasy ogrefrom a conflict
to a resolution. But that fantasy and that reality are controlled by the
lyrical centre of the tale, and that seemingly simple mechanism provides
the core for complexity. That linear movement, even in the simplest
stories, is subverted by a cyclical movementin this case, the songand
that is the engine of metaphor. It is the cyclical movement of the tale that
makes it possible to experience linear details and images in such a way
that they become equated one with the other. So it is that the simplest
tale becomes a model for more-complex narratives. That lyrical centre
.gives the tale a potential for development

In a more complex tale, the storyteller moves two characters

through three worlds, each of those worlds seemingly different. But by
means of that lyrical pulse, the rhythmical ordering of those worlds brings
them into such alignment that the members of the audience experience
them as the same. It is this discernment of different images as identical
that results in complex structures, characters, events, and meanings. And
what brings those different images into this alignment is poetrymore
specifically, the metaphorical character of the lyrical poem. The very
composition of tales makes it possible to link them and to order them
metaphorically. The possibilities of epic are visible in the simplest of tales,
.and so also are the possibilities of the novel
The trickster tale, as it does with so much of the oral tradition,
provides insights into this matter of the construction of stories. Masks are
the weapons of the trickster: he creates illusions, bringing the real world
and the world of illusion into temporary, shimmering proximity, convincing
his dupe of the reality of metaphor. That trickster and his antic activities
.are another way of describing the metaphorical motor of storytelling
Heroic poetry
Hero who surpasses other heroes!
Swallow that disappears in the clouds,
Others disappearing into the heavens!
Son of Menzi!
Viper of Ndaba!
Erect, ready to strike,

It strikes the shields of men!

Father of the cock!
Why did it disappear over the mountains?
It annihilated men!
That is Shaka,
Son of Senzangakhona,
Of whom it is said, Bayede!
You are an elephant!
(from a heroic poem dedicated to the Zulu chief Shaka)
It is in heroic poetry, or panegyric, that lyric and image come into
their most obvious union. As in the tale and as in the lyric, riddle, and
proverb, the essence of panegyric is metaphor, although the metaphorical
connections are sometimes somewhat obscure. History is more clearly
evident in panegyric, but it remains fragmented history, rejoined
according to the poetic intentions of the bard. Obvious metaphorical
connections are frequently made between historical personages or events
and images of animals, for example. The fantasy aspects of this kind of
poetry are to be found in its construction, in the merging of the real and
the animal in metaphorical ways. It is within this metaphorical context
that the hero is described and assessed. As in other forms of oral tradition,
emotions associated with both historical and nonhistorical images are at
the heart of meaning in panegyric. It is the lyrical rhythm of panegyric
that works such emotions into form. In the process, history is reprocessed
and given new meaning within the context of contemporary experience. It

is a dual activity: history is thereby redefined at the same time that it

.shapes experiences of the present
Among the Tuareg of western Africa, a stringed instrument often
accompanies the creation of such poetry, and the main composers are
women. The Songhai havemabe, the professional bards; they are present
at all rites of passage, celebrating, accompanying, and cushioning the
transformation being experienced. In Mauritania it ishe iggiw (plural
iggawen) who creates heroic poetry and who plays the lute while singing
the songs of the warriors. The diare (plural diarou) is the bard among
the Soninke. He goes to battle with the soldiers, urging them, placing their
martial activities within the context of history, building their acts within
the genealogies of their family. Drums and trumpets sometimes
accompany the maroka among theHausa. When a king is praised, the
accompaniment becomes orchestral. Yorubabards chant the ijala, singing
of lineage, and, with the oriki, saluting the notable. Among the Hima
of Uganda, the bard is the omwevugi. In the evenings, he sings of
the omugabe, the king, and of men in battle and of the cattle. The mbongi
wa ku pfusha is the bard among the Tonga of Mozambique. He too sings of
.the glories of the past, creating poetry about chiefs and kings
The images vary, their main organizing implement being the subject
of the poem. It is the metrical ordering of images, including sound and
.motion, that holds the poem together, not the narrative of history

The epic
In the epic can be found the merging of various frequently unrelated
tales, the metaphorical apparatus, the controlling mechanism found in the
riddle and lyric, the proverb, and heroic poetry to form a larger narrative.
All of this centres on the character of the hero and a gradual revelation of
his frailty, uncertainties, and torments; he often dies, or is deeply
troubled, in the process of bringing the culture into a new dispensation
often prefigured in his resurrection or his coming into knowledge. The
mythical transformation caused by the creator gods and culture heroes is
reproduced precisely in the acts and the cyclical, tortured movements of
.the hero
An epic may be built around a genealogical system, with parts of it
developed and embellished into a story. The epic, like the heroic poem,
contains historical references such as place-names and events; in the
heroic poem these are not greatly developed. When they are developed in
an epic, they are built not around history but around a fictional tale. The
fictional tale ties the historical episode, person, or place-name to the
cultural history of the people. In an oral society, oral genres include
history (the heroic poem) and imaginative story (the tale). The epic
combines the two, link[s] [a] historical episode to [an] imaginative tale.
Sometimes, myth is also a part of epic, with emphasis on origins. The tale,
the heroic poem, history, and myth are combined in the epic. In an echo of
the talewhere the emphasis is commonly on a central but always
nonhistorical charactera single historical or nonhistorical character is

the centre of the epic. And at the core of the epic is that same engine
.composed of the riddle, the lyric, and the proverb
Much is frequently made of the psychology of this central character
when he appears in the epic. He is given greater detail [and] deeper
dimension. The epic [tells of] the great events and turning points of
cultural history. These events change the culture. In the epic these
elements are tied to the ancient images of the culture (in the form of tale
and myth), an act that thereby gives these events cultural sanction. The
tale and myth lend to the epic (and, by inference, to history) a magical,
supernatural atmosphere: all of nature is touched in the Malagasy
epic Ibonia; in the West African epic Sunjata, magic keeps Sumanguru in
charge and enables Sunjata to take over. It is a time of momentous
change in the society. In Ibonia there are major alterations in the
relationship between men and women; in Sunjata and in the
epic Mwindo of the Nyanga people of Congo there are major political
.changes
But, in Mwindo, why was Mwindo such a trickster? He was, after all,
a great hero. And why must he be taught by the gods after he has
established his heroic credentials? Central to this question is the notion of
the transitional phaseof the betwixt and between, of the someone or
something that crosses yet exists between boundaries. There is a paradox
in Mwindos vulnerabilityhow, after all, can a herobe vulnerable?but
more important is his nonmoral energy during a period of change. Mwindo
is a liminal hero-trickster: he is liminal while he seeks his father, and then

he becomes liminal again at the hands of the gods. Out there is where
the learning, the transformation, occurs. The trickster energy befits and
mirrors this in-between period, as no laws are in existence. There is
change and transformation, but it is guided by a vision: in the myths, it is
gods vision for the cosmos; in the tales, it is the societys vision for
completeness; in the epics, it is the heros vision for a new social
.dispensation
The heroic epic is a grand blending of tale and myth, heroic poetry
and history. These separate genres are combined in the epic, and separate
epics contain a greater or lesser degree of eachhistory (and, to a lesser
extent, poetry) is dominant in Sunjata, heroic poetry and tale in Ibonia,
and tale and myth (and, to a lesser extent, poetry) in Mwindo. Oral
societies have these separate categories: history, the imaginative tale,
heroic poetry, myth, and epic. Epic, therefore, is not simply history. History
exists as a separate genre. The essential characteristic of epic is not that
it is history but that it combines history and tale, fact and fancy, and
worlds of reality and fantasy. The epic becomes the grand summation of
the culture because it takes major turning points in history (always with
towering historical or nonhistorical figures who symbolize these turning
points) and links them to tradition, giving the changes their sanction. The
epic hero may be revolutionary, but he does not signal a total break with
the past. Continuity is stressed in epicin fact, it is as if the shift in the
direction of the society is a return to the paradigm envisioned by ancient
cultural wisdom. The effect of the epic is to mythologize history, to bring

history to the essence of the culture, to give history the resonance of the
ancient roots of the culture as these are expressed in myth, imaginative
tale (and motif), and metaphor. In heroic poetry, history is fragmented,
made discontinuous. In epic these discontinuous images are given a new
form, that of the imaginative tale. And the etiological aspects of history
(that is, the historical alteration of the society) are tied to the etiology of
mythologyin other words, the acts of the mortal hero are tied to the acts
.of the immortals
History is not the significant genre involved in the epic. It is instead
tale and myth that organize the images of history and give those images
their meaning. History by itself has no significance: it achieves
significance when it is juxtaposed to the images of a tradition grounded in
tales and myths. This suggests the great value that oral societies place on
the imaginative traditions: they are entertaining, certainly, but they are
also major organizing devices. As the tales take routine, everyday
experiences of reality andby placing them in the fanciful context of
conflict and resolution with the emotion-evoking motifs of the pastgive
them a meaning and a completeness that they do not actually have, so in
epic is history given a form and a meaning that it does not possess. This
imaginative environment revises history, takes historical experiences and
places them into the context of the culture giv[ing] them cultural
meaning. The epic is a blending, then, of the ancient culture as it is
represented through imaginative tradition with historical events and
personages. The divine trickster links heaven and earth, god and human;

the epic hero does the same but also links fancy and reality, myth and
.history, and cultural continuity and historical disjunction
What is graphically clear in the epics Ibonia and Sunjata is that
heroic poetry, in the form of the praise name, provides a context for the
evolution of a heroic story. In both of those epics, the panegyric forms a
pattern, the effect of which is to tie the epic hero decisively and at the
same time to history and to the gods. Those epics, as well as Mwindo,
dramatize the rite of passage of a society or a culture: the heros
movement through the familiar stages of the ritual becomes a poetic
metaphor for a like movement of the society itself. The tale at the centre
of the epic may be as straightforward as any tale in the oral tradition. But
that tale is linked to a complex of other tales, the whole given an illusion
of poetic unity by the heroic poetry, which in turn provides a lyrical
.rhythm
Storytelling is the mythos of a society: at the same time that it is
conservative, at the heart of nationalism, it is the propelling mechanism
for change. The struggle between the individual and the group, between
the traditions that support and defend the rights of the group and the
sense of freedom that argues for undefined horizons of the individualthis
is the contest that characterizes the heros dilemma, and the hero in turn
is the personification of the quandary of the society itself and of its
.individual members

Oral traditions and the written word

Written by: Elizabeth Ann Wynne Gunner
Oral and written storytelling traditions have had a parallel
development, and in many ways they have influenced each other. Ancient
Egyptian scribes, early Hausa and Swahili copyists and memorizers, and
contemporary writers of popular novellas have been the obvious and
crucial transitional figures in the movement from oral to literary traditions.
What happened among the Hausa and Swahili was occurring elsewhere in
Africaamong the Fulani, in northern Ghana among the Guang, in
.Senegal among the Tukulor and Wolof, and in Madagascar and Somalia
The linkage between oral tradition and the written word is most
obviously seen in pulp literature: the Onitsha market literature of Nigeria;
the popular fiction of Accra, Ghana; the popular love and detective
literature of Nairobi; the visualizing of story in the complex comic strips
sold in shops in Cape Town. But the linkage is also a crucial characteristic
of more-serious and more-complex fiction. One cannot fully appreciate the
works of Chinua Achebe or Ousmane Sembene without placing them into
the context of Africas classical period, its oral tradition. To be sure, the
Arabic, English, French, and Portuguese literary traditions along with
Christianity and Islam and other effects of colonialism in Africa also had a
dynamic impact on African literature, but African writers adapted those
alien traditions and made them their own by placing them into these
.African classical frames

History and myth

As is the case with the oral tradition, written literature is a
combination of the real and the fantastic. It combines, on the one hand,
the real (the contemporary world) and history (the realistic world of the
past) and, on the other, myth and hero, with metaphor being the agent of
transformation. This is the alchemy of the literary experience. Literature is
atomized, fragmented history. Transformation is the crucial activity of the
story, its dynamic movement. The writer is examining the relationship of
the reader with the world and with history. In the process of this
examination, the writer invents characters and events that correspond to
history but are not history. At the centre of the story is myth, the fantasy
element, a character or event that moves beyond reality, though it is
always rooted in the real. In the oral tale this is clearly the fantasy
.character; so it is, in a complex, refracted way, in written literature
Myth, which is deeply, intensely emotional, has to do with the gods
and creation, with the essence of a belief system; it is the imaged
embodiment of a philosophical system, the giving of form to thought and
emotion. It is the driving force of a people, that emotional force that
defines a people; it is the everlasting form of a culture, hence its link to
the gods, to the heavens, to the forever. In mythic imagery is the
embodiment of significant emotionsthe hopes, fears, dreams, and
nightmaresof a people. Historythe story of a people, their institutions,
and their communityis the way one likes to think things happened, in
the real world. The hero is everyman, moving through a change, a

transformation, and so moving into the myth, the essence, of his history.
He thereby becomes a part of it, representative of it, embodying the
culture. The hero is everyman with myth inside him. He has been
mythicized; story does that. Metaphor is the transformational process, the
movement from the real to the mythic and back again to the real
changed forever, because one has become mythicized, because one has
.moved into history and returned with the elixir
In serious literary works, the mythic fantasy characters are often
derived from the oral tradition; such characters include the Fool in Sheikh
Hamidou Kanes Ambiguous Adventure (1961), Kihika (and the mythicized
Mugo) in Ngugi wa Thiongos A Grain of Wheat (1967), Michael K in J.M.
Coetzees Life and Times of Michael K (1983), Dan and Sello in Bessie
Heads A Question of Power (1973), Mustapha in al-ayyib lis Season
of Migration to the North (1966), and Nedjma in Kateb
Yacines Nedjma (1956). These are the ambiguous, charismatic shapers,
those with connections to the essence of history. In each case, a real-life
character moves into a relationship with a mythic character, and that
movement is the movement of the heros becoming a part of history, of
culture. The real-life character is the hero who is in the process of being
created: Samba Diallo, Mugo, the doctor, Elizabeth, the narrator, or the
four pilgrims. Myth is the stuff of which the hero is being created. History
is the real, the past, the world against which this transformation is
occurring and within which the hero will move. The real contemporary

world is the place from which the hero comes and to which the hero will
.return. Metaphor is the heros transformation
The image of Africa, then, is that rich combination of myth and
history, with the hero embodying the essence of the history, or battling it,
or somehow having a relationship with it by means of the fantasy mythic
character. It is in this relationship between reality and fantasy, the shaped
and the shaper, that the story has its power: Samba Diallo with the Fool,
Mugo with Kihika (and the mythicized Mugo), the doctor with Michael K,
Elizabeth with Dan and Sello, the narrator with Mustapha, the four pilgrims
with Nedjma. This relationship, which is a harbinger of change, occurs
against a historical backdrop of some kind, but that backdrop is not the
image of Africa: that image is the relationship between the mythical
.character and African/European history
The fantasy character provides access to history, to the essence of
history. It is the explanation of the historical background of the novels. The
hero is the person who is being brought into a new relationship with that
history, be it the history of a certain areaKenya or South Africa
or Algeria, for exampleor of a wider areaof Africa generally or, in the
case of A Question of Power, the history of the world. These are the keys,
then: the hero who is being shaped, the fantasy character who is the
ideological and spiritual material being shaped and who is also the artist
or shaper, and the larger issues, the historical panorama. The fantasy
character is crucial: he is the artists palette, the mythic element of the
story. This character is the heart and the spiritual essence of history. This

is the Fool, Kihika, Michael K, Dan and Sello, Mustapha, Nedjma. Here is
where reality and fantasy, history and fiction blend, the confluence that is
at the heart of story. The real-life character, the hero, comes into a
relationship with that mythic figure, and so the transformation begins, as
the hero moves through an intermediary period into history. It is the heros
identification with history that makes it possible for us to speak of the
hero as a hero. This movement of a realistic character into myth is
metaphor, the blending of two seemingly unlike images. It is the power of
the story, the centre of the story, as Samba Diallo moves into the Fool, as
Mugo moves into Kihika, as the doctor moves into Michael K, as Elizabeth
moves into Dan and Sello, as the narrator moves into Mustapha, as the
four pilgrims move into Nedjma. In this movement the oral tradition is
revealed as alive and well in literary works. The kinds of imagery used by
literary storytellers and the patterned way those reality and fantasy
images are organized in their written works are not new. The materials of
storytelling, whether in the oral or written tradition, are essentially the
.same
The influence of oral traditions on modern writers
Themes in the literary traditions of contemporary Africa are worked
out frequently within the strictures laid down by the imported religions
Christianity and Islam and within the struggle between traditional and
modern, between rural and newly urban, between genders, and between
generations. The oral tradition is clearly evident in the popular literature
of the marketplace and the major urban centres, created by literary

storytellers who are manipulating the original materials much as oral

storytellers do, at the same time remaining faithful to the tradition. Some
of the early writers sharpened their writing abilities by translating works
into African languages; others collected oral tradition; most experienced
their apprenticeships in one way or another within the contexts of living
.oral traditions
There was a clear interaction between the deeply rooted oral
tradition and the developing literary traditions of the 20th century. That
interaction is revealed in the placing of literary works into the forms of the
oral tradition. The impact of the epic on the novel, for instance, continues
to influence writers today. The oral tradition in the work of some of the
early writers of the 20th centuryAmos Tutuola of Nigeria,D.O.
Fagunwa in Yoruba, Violet Dube in Zulu, S.E.K. Mqhayi in Xhosa, and Mario
Antnio in Portugueseis readily evident. Some of these writings were
merely imitations of the oral tradition and were therefore not influential.
Such antiquarians did little more than retell, recast, or transcribe materials
from the oral tradition. But the work of writers such as Tutuola had a
dynamic effect on the developing literary tradition; such works went
.beyond mere imitation
The most successful of the early African writers knew what could be
done with the oral tradition; they understood how its structures and
images could be transposed to a literary mode, and they were able to
distinguish mimicry from organic growth. Guybon Sinxo explored the
relationship between oral tradition and writing in his popular Xhosa

novels, and A.C. Jordan (in Xhosa), O.K. Matsepe (in Sotho), and R.R.R.
Dhlomo (in Zulu) built on that kind of writing, establishing new
relationships not only between oral and written materials but between the
written and the writtenthat is, between the writers of popular fiction and
those writers who wished to create a more serious form of literature. The
threads that connect these three categories of artistic activity are many,
they are reciprocal, and they are essentially African, though there is no
doubt that there was also interaction with European traditions. Writers in
Africa today owe much to African oral tradition and to those authors who
have occupied the space between the two traditions, in an area of
.creative interaction
Literatures in African languages
Ethiopian
Ethiopian literatures are composed in several languages: Geez,
Amharic, Tigrinya, Tigr, Oromo, and Harari. Most of the literature in
Ethiopia has been in Geez andAmharic. The classical language is Geez,
but over time Geez literature became the domain of a small portion of the
population. The more common spoken language, Amharic, became
widespread when it was used for political and religious purposes to reach
.a larger part of the population
Geez was the literary language in Ethiopia from a very early period,
most importantly from the 13th century. The Kebra nagast (Glory of
Kings), written from 1314 to 1322, relates the birth of Menelikthe son of

Solomon and Makada, the queen of Shebawho became the king of

Ethiopia. The work became a crucial part of the literature and culture of
Ethiopia. Royal chronicles were written, and there was some secular
poetry. But most of the writing was religious in nature and tone. Many
translations of religious works were produced, as were works having to do
with the lives of Zagwe kings. In the 15th century, Taamra Maryam (The
Miracles of Mary) was written, and this was to become a major work in
.Ethiopia. There were also translations from Arabic
At the end of the 19th century, missionaries brought the printing
press to Ethiopia, and books were published in Amharic. Early Amharic
works such as Mistire Sillase(191011; The Mystery of the Trinity) were
rooted in traditional literary works. Newspapers in Amharic began to
appear in 1924 and 1925, and there were translations of European literary
works, including an Amharic translation of John Bunyans The Pilgrims
Progress, by Gabra Giyorgis Terfe, that was to influence later Amharic
.literary work
Two writers created the foundation for the Amharic literary tradition.
The first novel written in Amharic was Libb-waled tarik (1908; An
Imagined Story), by Afawark Gabra Iyasus. The oral storytelling tradition
is clearly in evidence in this novel, in which a girl disguised as a boy
becomes the centre of complex love involvements, the climax of which
includes the conversion of a love-smitten king to Christianity. Heruy Walda
Sellasse, an Ethiopian foreign minister who became the countrys first
major writer, wrote two novels that are critical of child marriage and that

extol Christianity and Western technology. But he was also critical of the
Christian church and proposed in one of his novels its reform. In his
second novel, Haddis alem(1924; The New World), he wrote of a youth
who is educated in Europe and who, when he returns to Ethiopia,
experiences clashes between his European education and the traditions of
his past. Drama was also developed at this time. Playwrights included
Tekle Hawaryat Tekle Maryam, who wrote a comedy in 1911, Yoftahe
Niguse, and Menghistu Lemma, who wrote plays that satirized the conflict
between tradition and the West. Poetry included works in praise of the
Ethiopian emperor. Gabra Egziabeher frequently took an acerbic view of
.traditional life and attitudes in his poetry
After World War II, important writers continued to compose works in
Amharic. Mekonnin Indalkachew wrote Silsawi Dawit (194950; David
III), Ye-dem zemen(19541955; Era of Blood), and Taytu Bitul (1957
58), all historical novels. Girmachew Tekle Hawaryat wrote the
novel Araya (194849), about the journeying of the peasant Araya to
Europe to be educated and his struggle to decide whether to remain there
or return to Africa. One of Ethiopias most popular novels, it explores
generational conflict as well as the conflict between tradition and
modernism. Kabbada Mikael became a significant playwright, biographer,
and historian. Other writers also dealt with the conflict between the old
and the new, with issues of social justice, and with political problems.
Central themes in post-World War II Amharic literature are the relationship
between humans and God, the difficulties of life, and the importance of

humility and acceptance. Kabbada Mikael wrote drama reinforcing

Christian values, attacking materialism, and exploring historical
events. Taddasa Liban wrote short stories that examine the relationship
between the old and the new in Ethiopian society. Asras Asfa Wasan wrote
poetry and historical novels about political events, including the military
coup attempted against Emperor Haile Selassie I in December 1960.
Writers such as Mengistu Gedamu and Pawlos Nyonyo became more and
more concerned in their works with social issues, and the widespread
struggle between tradition and modernism was debated. Novelists looked
further afield and wrote about apartheid in South Africa and the African
nationalist leader Patrice Lumumba. At the turn of the 21st century there
.was also a concern with preserving traditional materials in Amharic
Hausa
The first novels written in Hausa were the result of a competition
launched in 1933 by the Translation Bureau in northern Nigeria. One year
later the bureau publishedMuhammadu Bellos Gandoki, in which its hero,
Gandoki, struggles against the British colonial regime. Bello does
in Gandoki what many writers were doing in other parts of Africa during
this period: he experiments with form and content. His novel blends the
Hausa oral tradition and the novel, resulting in a story patterned on the
heroic cycle; it also introduces a strong thread of Islamic history. Didactic
elements, however, are awkwardly interposed and severely
dilute Gandokis aesthetic content (as often happened in other similarly
experimental African novels). But Bellos efforts would eventually give rise

to a more sophisticated tradition of novel writing in Hausa. His

experimentation would also find its most successful expression in Amos
.Tutolas English-language novel The Palm-Wine Drinkard (1952)
It is possible that written Hausa goes back as far as the 14th or 15th
century. Arabic writing among the Hausa dates from the end of the 15th
century. Early poets included Ibn al-abbgh and Muhammad al-Barnw.
Other early writers in Arabic were Abdullahi Sikka and Sheikh Jibrl ibn
Umar. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Hausa language was
written in an Arabic script called ajami. In 1903, under the influence of the
British, the Latin alphabet was added. Nana Asmau wrote poetry,
.primarily religious, in Arabic, Hausa, and Fula in Arabic ajami script
Islamic Hausa poetry was a continuation of Arabic classical poetry.
There was also secular poetry, including the war song of Abdullahi dan
Fodio. Usman dan Fodio, Abdullahis older brother and the founder of
the Fulani empire in the first decade of the 19th century, wrote Wallahi
Wallahi (By God, By God), which dealt with the clash between religion
and contemporary political reality. Social problems were also considered
by Alhaji Umaru in his poem Wakar talauci da wadata (1903; Song of
Poverty and of Wealth). There was poetic reaction to the presence of
British colonial forces: Malam Shiitus Bakandamiya (Hippo-Hide Whip)
and Alhaji Umarus Zuwan nasara (Arrival of the Christians). Much poetry
dealt with the Prophet Muhammad and other Islamic leaders. There was
mystical poetry as well, especially among the Sufi. Religious and secular
poetry continued through the 20th century and included the work of

Garba Affa, Saadu Zungur, Mudi Sipikin, Naibi Sulaimanu Wali, and Aliyu
Na Mangi, a blind poet from Zaria. Salihu Kontagora and Garba Gwandu
emphasized the need for an accumulation of knowledge in the
contemporary world. Muazu Hadeja wrote didactic poetry. Religious and
.didactic poetry continue to be written among the Hausa
The novel Shaihu Umar, by Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, a prime
minister of the Federation of Nigeria, is set in a Hausa village
and Egypt. Jiki magayi (1955; You Will Pay for the Injustice You Caused),
also a Translation Bureau prizewinner, was written by Rupert East and J.
Tafida Wusasa. It is a novel of love, and it moves from realism to
fantasy. Idon matambayi (The Eye of the Inquirer), by Muhammadu
Gwarzo, and Ruwan bagaja (1957; The Water of Cure), by Alhaji Abubakar
Imam, mingle African and Western oral tradition with realism. Nagari na
kowa (1959; Good to Everyone), by Jabiru Abdullahi, is the story of
Salihi, who comes to represent traditional Islamic virtues in a world in
which such virtues are endangered. Nuhu Bamalis Bala da Babiya (1954;
Bala and Babiya) deals with conflicts in an urban dwelling. Ahmadu
Ingawas Iliya dam Maikarf (1959; The Story of Iliya Dam Maikarf) has to
do with Iliya, a sickly boy who is cured by angels and then embarks on a
crusade of peace. Saidu Ahmed Dauras Tauraruwar hamada (1959; Star
of the Desert) centres on Zulkaratu, who is kidnapped and taken to a
ruler; it is a story with folkloric elements. Dau fataken dare (Dau, the
Nocturnal Merchants), by Tanko Zango, deals with robbers who live in a
forest; the story is told with much fantasy imagery. In Umaru

Dembos Tauraruwa mai wutsiya(1969; The Comet), Kilba, a boy, travels

.into space
Hausa drama has been influenced by the oral tradition. Dramatists
include Aminu Kano, Abubakar Tunau, Alhaji Muhammed Sada, Adamu dan
Goggo, and Dauda Kano. In the 1980s there began to appear littattafan
soyayya (books of love), popular romances by such writers as Bilkisu
Ahmed Funtuwa (Allura cikin ruwa[1994; Needle in a Haystack], Wa ya
san gobe? [1996; Who Knows What Tomorrow Will Bring?], and Ki yarda
da ni [1997; Agree with Me]) and Balaraba Ramat Yakubu (Budurwar
zuciya [1987; Young at Heart], Alhaki kuykuyo ne [1990; Retribution Is
Inescapable], and Wa zai auri jahila? [1990; Who Will Marry the Ignorant
Woman?]). These works deal with the experiences of Hausa women and
address such subjects as polygamy, women and education, and forced
.marriages
Shona
Feso (1956), a historical novel, was the first literary work to be
published in Shona. An account of the invasion of the Rozwi kingdom and
an expression of longing for the traditional past, it was written by Solomon
M. Mutswairo. Another early novel, Nzvengamutsvairo (1957; Dodge the
Broom), by Bernard T.G. Chidzero, has to do with themes that
dominate prose writing in Shona: the attempt to remain true to Shona
tradition, the breaking down of Shona culture, the ugly aspects of Western
ideas, and the Christian who attempts to blend past and present. In 1959

Mutswairos novel Murambiwa Goredema (Murambiwa, the Son of

Goredema; Eng. trans. Murambiwa Goredema) was published; it depicts
the conflict between the African past and the urbanized, Westernized, and
Christianized contemporary world, with an emphasis on the need to
establish roots within the reality of the world as it is. Also in 1959 John
Marangwanda published a novel, Kumazivandadzoka (Who Goes There
Never Comes Back), which describes the effects of Western-style
education and the consequent alienation from traditional society: Saraoga,
a boy, is attracted to the city, becomes corrupted, changes his name, and
is arrested and jailed. He again changes his name, having renounced his
mother, who nevertheless continues to seek him. Education is also a
danger in Xavier S. Marimazhiras Ndakaziva haitungamiri (1962; If I Had
Known): Kufakunesu is a wicked teacher, but in the end Christianity
brings him to a new life. The loss of traditional values is treated in
Kenneth S. Bepswas Ndakamuda dakara afa (1960; I Loved Her unto
Death), with its emphasis on love and a desire to cultivate Christian
ideals of love: Rujeko and Taremba embody Christian love, but evil in the
form of the jealous Shingirai assaults that relationship. The conflict
between Christianity and tradition is also the subject of L. Washington
Chapavadzas Wechitatu muzvinaguhwa (1963; Two Is Company, Three Is
None), an attack on polygamy: Mazarandanda, married to two women,
becomes angered as his wives compete with each other. Giles
Kuimbas Gehena harina moto (1965; Hell Has No Fire) depicts a woman
who is wholly evil; the forces of good and evil struggle, revealing inner
conflicts in other characters in the novel. Emmanuel F.

Ribeiros Muchadura (1967; You Shall Confess) is a reassessment of

.traditional Shona views of the ancestral spirits
The major Shona writer of novels during the 20th century
was Patrick Chakaipa. HisKarikoga gumiremiseve (1958; Karikoga and His
Ten Arrows) is a blend of fantasy (it is based on a tale from the Shona
oral tradition) and history, a love story focusing on conflicts between
Shona and Ndebele peoples. Pfumo reropa (1961; The Spear of Blood)
depicts the dangers of the misuse of power in traditional times: a chief,
Ndyire, manipulates the traditional system to his own selfish advantage.
This novel resembles the Nyanga epic Mwindo: a son of the chief,
Tanganeropa, escapes his fathers murderous wrath to return later and
overcome the tyrant. Christianity becomes a theme in Chakaipas third
novel, Rudo ibofu (1962; Love Is Blind), having to do with the conflict
between tradition and Christianity: Rowesai is beaten by her father when
she decides to become a nun. She is later mauled by a leopard. At a
dramatic and climactic movement, she returns home as a nun, and her
father converts to Christianity. Garandichauya (1963; I Shall Return)
and Dzasukwa mwana-asina-hembe (1967; Dzasukwa Beer-for-Sale)
focus on contemporary urban life and its vicissitudes. In the former,
Matamba, a boy from the country, falls into the clutches of a prostitute,
Muchaneta. When he returns to his rural home, having been rendered
moneyless by Muchaneta and blinded by her male friends, he finds his
wife awaiting him. In the latter, the corrosive effects of colonialism on
.Shona tradition are dramatized

In Nhoroondo dzokuwanana (1958; The Way to Get Married), Paul

Chidyausiku attempts to bring into union traditional Shona beliefs and
Christianity: using marriage as the focal point, it describes a modern
African couple, Tadzimirwa and Chiwoniso, moving into their married life
within the context of the two conflicting forces. Chidyausikus
novel Nyadzi dzinokunda rufu (1962; Dishonour Greater than Death;
Eng. trans. Nyadzi dzinokunda rufu) has its hero, Nyika, move from the
traditional world into an urban setting where he is debased and disgraced.
Chidyausiku wrote the first published Shona play, Ndakambokuyambira
(1968; I Warned You), which also deals with the contest resulting when
perceived notions of traditionalism are placed within an urban context. His
novel Karumekangu (1970), which takes as its setting urban locales
in Zimbabwe and South Africa, is an effort to blend tradition and
.urbanism
The first published poetry in Shona was Soko risina musoro (1958;
The Tale Without a Head; Eng. trans. Soko risina musoro), by Herbert W.
Chitepo, a somewhat allegorical poem about a wandering African who
must make a decision whether to preserve custom or to move in new
directions. Wilson Chivaura wrote poetry as well, some of which was
published in Madetembedzo (1969). Shona poetry also appeared in such
.journals as Poet, Two Tone, and Chirimo

Somali
Hikmad Soomaali (Somali Wisdom), a collection of traditional
stories in the Somali language recorded by Muuse Xaaji Ismaaciil Galaal,
was published in 1956. Shire Jaamac Axmed published materials from the
Somali oral tradition as Gabayo, maahmaah, iyo sheekooyin yaryar (1965;
Poems, Proverbs, and Short Stories). He also edited a literary
journal, Iftiinka aqoonta (Light of Education), and published two short
novels in 1973: Halgankiii nolosha (Life Struggle), dealing with the
traditional past in negative terms, and Rooxaan (The Spirits). Further
stories from the oral tradition were written down and published in
Cabdulqaadir F. BootaansMurti iyo sheekooyin (1973; Traditional Wisdom
and Stories) and Muuse Cumar Islaams Sheekooyin Soomaaliyeed (1973;
.Somali Stories)
Poetry is a major form of expression in the Somali oral tradition. Its
different types include the gabay, usually chanted, the jiifto, also chanted
and usually moody, thegeeraar, short and dealing with war,
the buraambur, composed by women, theheello, or balwo, made up of
short love poems and popular on the radio, and thehees, popular
poetry. Maxamed Cabdulle Xasan (Mohammed Abdullah Hassan) created
poetry as a weapon, mainly in the oral tradition. Farah Nuur, Qamaan
Bulhan, and Salaan Arrabey were also well-known poets. Abdillahi Muuse
created didactic poems; Ismaaiil Mire and Sheikh Aqib Abdullah Jama
.composed religious poetry. Ilmi Bowndheri wrote love poetry

Drama has also flourished in the Somali language, and here, as in

the languages other written forms, the oral tradition continues to have a
dynamic influence. In 1968 Hassan Shekh Mumin wrote the
play Shabeelnaagood (Leopard Among the Women), which has to do with
marriage and the relations between men and women in contemporary
contexts. Verse influenced by Somali oral tradition plays a major role in
this drama. Ali Sugule, another playwright, wrote Kalahaab iyo
kalahaad(1966; Wide Apart and Flown Asunder), a play concerning
traditional and modern ideas about marriage and relations between the
.generations
A story by Axmed Cartan Xaange Qawdhan iyo Qoran published in
1967 in the journal Horseed examined the situation of women in
traditional society. He wrote the first play in Somali, Samawada (1968),
depicting womens role in the independence struggle after World War II.
Somalias daily newspaper serialized stories as well, including works by
.Axmed Faarax Cali Idaajaa and Yuusuf Axmed Hero
In his novel Aqoondarro waa u nacab jacayl (1974; Ignorance Is the
Enemy of Love)the first novel published in SomaliFaarax Maxamed
Jaamac Cawl criticized the traditional past. He made use of documentary
sources having to do with the struggle against colonialism in the early
20th century, when forces under the leadership of Maxamed Cabdulle
Xasan fought, among others, the British colonial powers. The two central
characters in the novel, Cali Maxamed Xasan and Cawrala Barre, were
based on historical characters. The author also brings the oral poetry

tradition into the novel, its characters speaking in poetic language. The
novel launches an assault on ignorance, as the title suggests, born of,
among other things, illiteracy. And it takes a positive view of Somali
women. Customs having to do with marriage play an important role in the
novel, especially the subverting of such customs for ones own ends.
Cawrala and Calimaax meet onboard a ship that has sailed from Aden,
and they fall in love. But Cawrala has been promised by her father to
another man. Because of a rough sea, the ship founders, and Calimaax
rescues Cawrala from the water. Cawralas love for Calimaax intensifies,
and her relations with her father are therefore strained. She sends a letter
to Calimaax, who, because he cannot read, has Sugulle, his new father-inlaw, read it to him, and this leads to difficulties with his wifes family.
When Cawrala learns of this, she is distressed. Then she learns that
Calimaax died while at war. When Cawrala laments his death, her mother
forces her to leave home. Then, at night, a voice comes to Cawrala, telling
her that a hero does not die. And in fact, Calimaax did not die; he was
wounded, but he survived. Alone and wounded, he must fight a leopard,
and the words of Cawralas letter sustain him. In the meantime, Cawrala is
miserable, and she debates with her parents and members of her
community whether she should marry the man her father has selected for
her. She is forced to marry the man, Geelbadane. But she becomes so ill
that he sends her back to her family. Calimaax, learning of this, sends a
message to her family, asking that she be allowed to marry him. Her
family agrees, but she dies before the marriage can take place. Two years
after that, still suffering from his wounds and his love for Cawrala,

Calimaax dies. A later novel by Cawl, Garbaduubkii gumeysiga (1978;

.The Shackles of Colonialism), has to do with contemporary history
Southern Sotho
The first writer in the Southern Sotho language was Azariele M.
Sekese, who gathered Sotho oral traditions and published them in Mekhoa
ea Basotho le maele le litsomo (1893; Customs and Stories of the
Sotho). He also wrote a popular animal story, Bukana ea tsomo tsa pitso
ea linonyana, le tseko ea Sefofu le Seritsa(1928; The Book of Stories of
the Meeting of the Birds, and the Lawsuit between Sefofu and Seritsa).
Historical events, a central focus in much early Sotho literature, are
depicted, for example, in J.J. Machobanes Mahaheng a mato (1946; In
the Dark Caves) and Senate, shoeshoe a Moshoeshoe (1954; Senate,
the Pride of Moshoeshoe), both of which treat events during the reign of
the Sotho chiefMoshoeshoe. M. Damane wrote the historical
novel Moorosi, morena oa Baphuthi(1948; Moorosi, the King of the
Baphuthi), the story of Moorosi and his dealings with the British. S.M.
Guma wrote historical novels about King Mohlomi (1960) and Queen
Mmanthathisis (1962). The prolific B. Makalo Khaketla published a play in
1947, Moshoeshoe le baruti (Moshoeshoe and the Missionaries), and
historical themes can be found in plays by E.A.S. Lesoro and B. Malefane,
both of whom wrote dramas about the Zulu chief Shaka. Much of Sotho
poetry is derived from the oral tradition; Zakea D. Mangoaelas
collection Lithoko tsa marena a Basotho (1921;Praise of the Sotho Kings)
.is the most outstanding example

The giant figure in Southern Sotho literature is Thomas Mokopu

Mofolo. His three novels were Moeti oa bochabela (1907; The Traveller of
the East), Pitseng (1910; In the Pot; Eng. trans. Pitseng),
and Chaka (1925; Eng. trans. Chaka: An Historical Romance). The
Traveller of the East is clearly influenced by Bunyans Pilgrims
Progress (which had been translated into Southern Sotho in 1872): it is an
allegorical work that views Christianity as light and Africa as
darkness. Pitseng has to do with conflicting views of marriage, Christian
and traditional. Chaka is a novel about Shaka; it is an effective blending of
Sotho oral tradition and contemporary historical reality and, from the point
of view of storytelling, a yoking of oral and literary forms. Mofolo depends
on the oral traditionmore specifically, the traditional heroic cyclefor
the formal structure of his work. But, like Chinua Achebes novel Things
Fall Apart (1958), Chaka uses a stark element of realism to break with the
romanticism and the circular ordering of oral tradition. By moving the
novels central character, Chaka, out of the purely oral realm and into a
more psychologically realistic mode, Mofolo is able to present his
interpretation of the Zulu chief. Mofolos work is significant not only as a
fictionalized historicalbiography but as a crucial work positioned
confidently on the boundaries ofand revealing the clear connection
betweenthe oral and the written. Mofolo effectively brings the historical
Shaka into the context of a psychological Shaka, and it is the oral tradition
that makes this complex layering process possible. In Mofolos novel the
mythic being Isanusi, who serves as both an actor in the narrative and a
commentator on it, enables Mofolo to generate this layering. The

importance ofChaka, then, is not that it is history; it is not. It is a comment

on history. Mofolos technique is derived from oral historians in Southern
Africa, who interlaced history with commentary. Mofolos inclusion of a
character such as Isanusi keeps the novel from becoming overly didactic
.and also sustains its status as a work of art
Sotho tradition is a central concern of B.M. Khaketla in his
novel Meokho ea thabo(1951; Tears of Joy). In it a young man, Moeketsi,
falls in love, but his beloveds parents want her to marry someone else.
He meets another young woman, but she is engaged to a man she does
not know, and by now Moeketsis parents have chosen a bride for him. It
turns out that he is the man selected for the young woman, and she is the
woman selected as his bride. Ramasoabi le Potso (1937; Ramasoabi and
Potso), by M.L. Maile, and Sekhona sa joala (A Mug of Beer), by T.M.
Mofokengboth didactic, moralizing storieswere among the earliest
.dramatic works in Southern Sotho
The conflict between Sotho tradition and the West, including
Christianity, can be found in a number of Sotho works. Everitt Lechesa
Segoete wrote the novel Monono ke moholi ke mouoane (1910; Riches
Are Like Mist and Fog), which in a heavily moralizing way treats the
conflict between Sotho tradition and the world of the whites: Khitane falls
in with a criminal, Malebaleba, goes to jail, and then is converted to
Christianity by Malebaleba, who has become an evangelist. Albert
Nqhekus novel Arola naheng ea Maburu (1942; Arola Among the Boers)
deals with the conflicts between blacks and whites, between the rural and

the urban, and between tradition and modernism. Playwrights such as

Maile and Khaketla wrote of polygamy; others examined marriage (J.G.
Mocoancoeng), love relationships (J.J. Moiloa, J.D. Koote, P.S. Motsieloa,
.V.G.L. Leutsoa, and J.S. Monare), and Christianity and tradition (Mofokeng)
Swahili
Swahili literature is usually divided into classical and contemporary
periods and genres. There were early historical works, such as Tarekhe ya
Pate (The Pate Chronicle); reassembled by the 19th-century scholar
Fumo Omar al-Nabhani, it describes events from the 13th to the 19th
century. Another chronicle, Khabari za Lamu (The Lamu Chronicle), takes
the 18th and 19th centuries as its subject. Both religious and secular
poetry, showing the influence of Muslim Arabic literature and of the East
African culture from which it arose, was a central vehicle of written literary
expression. Al Inkishaf (The Souls Awakening), by Sayyid Abdallah bin Ali
bin Nasir, has closer connections to historical reality, albeit still within an
Islamic context. The didactic Utendi wa Mwana Kupona (1858; Poem of
Mwana Kupona) was written by the first prominent Swahili female
poet, Mwana Kupona binti Msham. Love poetry, like other poetry, was
sung with or without musical accompaniment. The epic of the legendary
figure Fumo Liyongo wa Bauri, who likely lived during the 12th century,
was created by Muhammad Kijumwa (Utenzi wa Fumo Liyongo [1913;
The Epic of Fumo Liyongo). Muyaka bin Haji al-Ghassaniy wrote much
poetry, including works with nationalistic topics. There were also
contemporary epics, including Utenzi wa vita vya Wadachi kutamalaki

mrima, 1307 A.H. (1955; The German Conquest of the Swahili Coast, 1897
A.D.), by Hemedi bin Abdallah bin Said Masudi al-Buhriy, and Utenzi wa
vita vya Maji Maji (1933; The Epic of the Maji Maji Rebellion), by Abdul
Karim bin Jamaliddini. A novel, Habari za Wakilindi (The Story of the
Wakilindi Lineage; Eng. trans. The Kilindi), published in three volumes
between 1895 and 1907 by Abdallah bin Hemedi bin Ali Ajjemy, deals with
.the Kilindi, the rulers of the state of Usambara
It was Shaaban Robert who had the most dynamic and long-lasting
effect on contemporary Swahili literature. He wrote poetry, prose, and
proverbs. Almasi za Afrika (1960; African Diamonds) is one of his famous
books of poetry. Of his prose, his utopian novel trilogy is among his bestknown works: Kusadikika, nchi iliyo angani (1951; Kusadikika, a Country in
the Sky), Adili na nduguze (1952; Adili and His Brothers),
and Kufkirika (written in 1946, published posthumously in 1967). Adili and
His Brothers is told largely by means of flashbacks. In Kusadikika a fantasy
land is created. This largely didactic novel is heavy with morals, as
suggested by the allegorical names given to the characters. (In the
succeeding works of his trilogy, Robert moves away from the homiletic
somewhat.) By means of flashbacks and images of the
future, Kusadikika tells the story of Karama, which occurs mainly in a
courtroom. Like many other African authors of his time, he juxtaposes the
oral and the written in this novel; it is his experimentation with narrative
time that is unique. Robert also wrote essays and Utenzi wa vita vya

uhuru, 1939 hata 1945 (1967; The Epic of the Freedom War, 1939 to
.1945)
Significant poetry collections include Amri Abedis Sheria za kutunga
mashairi na diwani ya Amri (1954; The Principles of Poetics Together with
a Collection of Poems by Amri). Ahmad Nassir and Abdilatif Abdalla also
wrote poetry. AbdallasSauti ya dhiki (1973; The Voice of Agony)
contains poems composed between 1969 and 1972, when he was a
political prisoner. Euphrase Kezilahabi wrote poetry (as in Karibu
ndani [1988; Come In]) that led the way to the establishment of
freeverse in Swahili. Other experimenters with poetry included Mugyabuso
M. Mulokozi and Kulikoyela K. Kahigi, who together published Malenga wa
bara (1976). Ebrahim N. Hussein and Penina Muhando produced
innovative dramatic forms through a synthesis of Western drama and
traditional storytelling and verse. A play by Hussein, Kinjeketile (1969;
Eng. trans. Kinjeketile), deals with the Maji Maji uprising, and Muhando
wrote such plays as Hatia (1972; Guilt), Tambueni haki zetu (1973;
Reveal Our Rights), Heshima yangu (1974; My Honour),
and Pambo (1975; Decoration). The Paukwa Theatre Association of
Tanzania produced Ayubu, published in 1984. Henry Kuria experimented
with drama with such plays asNakupenda, lakini (1957; I Love You,
.But)
Muhammad Saleh Abdulla Farsy wrote the novel Kurwa and Doto:
maelezo ya makazi katika kijiji cha Unguja yaani Zanzibar (1960; Kurwa
and Doto: A Novel Depicting Community Life in a Zanzibari Village).

Another utopian novel was written by Paul O. Ugula, Ufunguo wenye

hazina (1969; The Key to the Treasure). There were also novels about
contemporary society, including Kuishi kwingi ni kuona mengi (1968;
Living Long Is to Experience Much) and Alipanda upepo kuvuna
tufani (1969; He Who Sows the Wind Reaps the Storm), by J.N. Somba.
Christianity is a strong influence in these novels. The Mau Mau uprising is
treated in a novel by P.M. Kareithi, Kaburi bila msalaba (1969; Grave
Without a Cross). Muhammad Said Abdulla wrote the first Swahili
detective novel, Mzimu wa watu wa kale (1960; Graveyard of the
Ancestors), and with the appearance of Faraji Katalambullas Simu ya
kifo (1965; Phone Call of Death), the genre hit its stride. G.C. Mkangis
novel Ukiwa (1975; Loneliness) and Ndyanao Balisidyas
.novel Shida(1975; Hardship) focus on contemporary social conflicts
Popular newspaper fiction was a major source of literary storytelling
during the 20th century. It appeared in such newspapers
as Baraza and Taifa Weekly and included writing by A.T. Banzi (Lazima
nimwoe nitulize moyo [1970; I Have to Marry Her to Calm My Heart])
and Bob N. Okoth (Rashidi akasikia busu kali lamvuta ulimi [1969;
Rashidi Felt a Wild Kiss Pulling His Tongue]). In the 1980s this genre
flourished with works by such authors as the prolific Ben R. Mtobwa and
.Rashidi Ali Akwilombe
In addition to pushing the boundaries of verse, Kezilahabi also
experimented with the novel form; Nagona (1990) is an example. He had
a major influence on the contemporary novel. In his Rosa Mistika (1971)

the effects of alien cultures on indigenous cultures are measured.

In Kichwamaji (1974; Waterhead) he treats the conflict between the
generations, and in Dunia uwanja wa fujo (1975; The World Is a Field of
Chaos) he emphasizes the effects of foreign cultures on indigenous
cultures. His critical stand on Tanzanias socialism is reflected in Gamba la
nyoka(1979; The Snakes Skin). In Kwaheri Iselamagazi (1992;
Goodbye, Iselamagazi), Bernard Mapalala explores critically the rule of
the Nyamwezi warlord Miramboduring the 19th century. The topic
of AIDS emerged in the 1980s in novels such asKifo cha AIDS (1988; An
.AIDS Death), by Clemence Merinyo
Xhosa
The first piece of Xhosa writing was a hymn written in the early 19th
century by Ntsikana. The Bible was translated between the 1820s and
1859. Lovedale Press was established in the 19th century by
the London Missionary Society. In 1837 the Wesleyans published a
journal, Umshumayeli Indaba (The Preachers News), which ran to 1841.
Lovedale, the Scots mission, was the centre of early Xhosa
writing. Ikhwezi was produced during the years 1844 and 1845. The
Wesleyan missionaries started a magazine in 1850, Isitunywa
Senyanga (The Monthly Messenger); its publication was interrupted by
one of the frontier wars. A monthly in both Xhosa and
English, Indaba (The News), edited by William Govan, ran from 1862
until 1865; it was succeeded by The Kaffir Express in 1876, to be replaced
byIsigidimi samaXhosa (The Xhosa Messenger), in Xhosa only. John

Tengo Jabavu and William Gqoba were its editors. It ceased publication
with Gqobas death in 1888. Imvo Zabantsundu (Opinions of the
Africans) was a newspaper edited by Jabavu, who was assisted by John
Knox Bokwe. Izwi Labantu (The Voice of the People) began publication in
1897 with Nathaniel Cyril Mhala as its editor; it was financially assisted
by Cecil Rhodes, who had resigned as prime minister of Cape Colony in
.1896. Much early Xhosa prose and poetry appeared in these periodicals
African protest, which was not allowed in works published by the
mission presses, was heard in the journals. In fact, Imvo Zabantsundu was
suppressed by military authorities during the South African War. Gqoba
and William Wawuchope Citashe published politically potent poetry in the
newspapers. Jonas Ntsiko (pseudonym uHadi Waseluhlangeni [Harp of the
Nation]) in 1877 urged Isigidimi samaXhosa to speak out on political
issues. Poets such as Henry Masila Ndawo and S.E.K. Mqhayiassailed white
South Africans for creating an increasingly repressive atmosphere for
blacks. James J.R. Jolobe attempted in his poetry to blend nostalgia for the
Xhosa past with an acceptance of the Christian present. (Indeed, many
early writers of prose and verse had Christian backgrounds that were the
result of their having attended missionary schools, and so shared Jolobes
thematic concerns.) Mqhayiwas called "the father of Xhosa poetry" by the
Zulu poet and novelist Benedict Wallet Vilakazi, but Jolobe was the
.innovator who experimented aggressively with form
Some of the first prose writers, such as Gqoba and W.B. Rubusana,
were concerned with putting into print materials from the Xhosa oral

traditions. Tiyo Soga and his son, John Henderson Soga, translated
Bunyans Pilgrims Progress into Xhosa asuHambo lomhambi (1866 and
1926). Henry Masila Ndawos first novel, uHambo lukaGqoboka (1909;
The Journey of a Convert), was heavily influenced by the first half of that
translation. The Xhosa oral tradition also had an effect on Ndawos work,
including the novel uNolishwa (1931), about a woman whose name means
"Misfortune." Brought up in an urban environment, she is the cause of
difficulties among her people and between the races.
In uNomathamsanqa noSigebenga(1937; Nomathamsanqa and
Sigebenga)the name Nomathamsanqa meaning "Good Fortune" and
the name Sigebenga meaning "Criminal" or "Ogre"the son of a
traditional chief provides sustenance for his people. Enoch S. Guma, in his
noveluNomalizo; okanye, izinto zalomhlaba
ngamajingiqiwu (1918; Nomalizo; or, The Things of This Life Are Sheer
Vanity), wrote a somewhat allegorical study of two boys, borrowing the
.structure of the story from the Xhosa oral tradition
Guybon Sinxos novels describe city life in a way similar to those
of Alex La Guma, a South African writer, and those of the Nigerian
author Cyprian Ekwensi. In Sinxos uNomsa (1922), the main character,
Nomsa, becomes aware of the dangers of urban living, learning "that the
very people who most pride themselves on their civilization" act against
those ideals. In the end, Nomsa marries the village drunk and reforms
him; she then returns with him to the country, where she creates a loving
home, albeit a Christian one. In Sinxos second novel, Umfundisi

waseMthuqwasi (1927; The Priest of Mthuqwasi), Thamsanqa, a

businessman, has a dream that inspires him to become a Christian
minister, but in so doing he severs his connections with his traditional past
and soon after dies, exhausted. His brother-in-law, however, combines
Christianity and Xhosa tradition in his life, and he survives. Sinxos third
novel, published in 1939, was Umzali wolahleko (The Prodigal Parent),
the story of a boy, Ndopho, and his brother, Ndimeni. Ndopho is spoiled;
Ndimeni does all the work in the household. Ndimenis labours bring him
success, while Ndophos self-involvement leads him steadily down. Sinxo
"!moralizes, "No Xhosa will flourish if he continues to drink
The greatest achievement in Xhosa writing, and one of Africas
finest novels, is Ingqumbo yeminyanya (1940; The Wrath of the
Ancestors), written by A.C. Jordan. In this novel Jordan explores the central
issue that concerned most of the writers who came before himthe
relationship between African tradition and the intrusion of the West into
African societiesand in the process he moves the novel form into greater
complexity and nuance. In an unsparingly realistic way, Zwelinzima, the
novels central character, is confronted with the demands of Mpondomise
tradition and Western Christianity, of past and present. What dooms
Zwelinzima is that he is unable to bring these warring sides into harmony.
Like Okonkwo in Achebes Things Fall Apart and Chaka in Mofolos Chaka,
Zwelinzima is given the opportunity to assume a heroic role, but, because
of an essential flaw, he is brought down in a starkly realistic manner by an

internal psychological struggle. That struggle is the conflict within his

.society writ small
Other novelists after Jordan continued in various ways and with
varied degrees of success to deal with these same issues, including P.M.
Lutshete in Unyana wolahleko (1965; The Prodigal Son) and Peter M.
Mtuze in uDingezweni (1966). In E.B. Ndovelas Sikondini (1966), the
character Zwilakhe cuts himself off from Xhosa customs and lives an
unhappy life, while Jongikhaya, who has steadily followed Xhosa customs,
is happily married and has become a successful businessman.
Westernized Africans and un-compromising Xhosa traditionalists are at
cross-purposes in Z.S. Qangules Izagweba (1972; Weapons). In K.S.
Bongelas Alitshoni lingenandaba (1971; The Sun Does Not Set Without
News), the reader is led to a revelation of the corruption that results
when traditional ties are broken. Christianity and urban corruption are at
the centre of Witness K. Tamsanqas Inzala kaMlungisi(1954; The Progeny
of Mlungisi). Tradition and modernism are a theme in D.Z.
Dyaftas Ikamva lethu (1953; Our Ancestry) and E.S.M. Dlovas Umvuzo
wesono(1954; The Wages of Sin). Other authorssuch as Aaron
Mazambana Mmango, Marcus A.P. Ngani, Bertrand Bomela, Godfrey
Mzamane, D.M. Lupuwana, and Minazana Danaconfronted very similar
issues. These writers tried to come to terms with the world that so
enthralled 19th-century Xhosa intellectuals but that lost its appeal as the
.marginalized role of the African in it became more and more evident

Yoruba
In a story from the Yoruba oral tradition, a boy moves farther and
farther away from home. With the assistance of a fantasy character, a fox,
the boy is able to meet the challenges set by ominous oba (kings) in three
kingdoms, each a greater distance from the boys home. The fox becomes
the storytellers means of revealing the developing wisdom of the boy,
who steadily loses his innocence and moves to manhood. This oral tale is
the framework for the best-known work in Yoruba and the most significant
contribution of the Yoruba language to fiction: D.O. Fagunwas Ogboju ode
ninu igbo irunmale (1938; The Forest of a Thousand Daemons), which
contains fantasy and realistic images along with religious didacticism and
Bunyanesque allegory, all placed within a frame story that echoes that
of The Thousand and One Nights. The novel very effectively combines the
literary and oral forces at work among Yoruba artists of the time. Its
central character is Akara-ogun. He moves into a forest three times, each
time confronting fantasy characters and each time involved in a difficult
task. In the end, he and his followers go to a wise man who reveals to
them the accumulated wisdom of their adventures. The work was
successful and was followed by others, all written in a similar way: Igbo
olodumare (1949; The Jungle of the Almighty), Ireke-Onibudo (1949),
and Irinkerindo ninu Igbo Elegbeje (1954; Irinkerindo the Hunter in the
Town of Igbo Elegbeje; Eng. trans. Expedition to the Mount of Thought),
all rich combinations of Yoruba and Western images and influences.
Fagunwas final novel, Adiitu olodumare (1961; Gods Mystery-Knot),

placed a more contemporary story into the familiar fantasy framework: so

as to help his poverty-stricken parents, the central character, Adiitu,
journeys into a forest, struggles with creatures of the forest, and finds his
parents dead when he returns home. He moves into heaven in a dream,
where he encounters his parents. He falls in love with Iyunade, and they
are marooned on an island, where he saves her. When they get to their
home, a friend of Adiitu attempts to destroy the relationship, but in the
end they are married. Realism is faced with fantasy in the structure of the
story, in the characters, and in the events. This combination of a folktale
.with a realistic frame revealed new possibilities to Yoruba writers
There are two competing strands in Yoruba literature, one influenced
by the rich Yoruba oral tradition, the other receiving its impetus from the
West. The history of Yoruba literature moves between these forces. The
earliest literary works were translations of Bunyans Pilgrims Progress,
published as Ilosiwaju ero-mimo in 1866, and of the Bible, published
as Bibeli mimo in 1900. There was an early series of Yoruba school
readers, Iwe kika Yoruba (190915), containing prose and poetry. The first
written poetry, by such poets as J. Sobowale Sowande and A. Kolawole
Ajisafe, dealt with personal and historical experiences. These poems
combined traditional poetic structures and contemporary events as well
as religious influences. At about the same time, Denrele Adetimkan Obasa
published, in 1927, a volume of materials from the Yoruba oral tradition
.(other volumes followed in 1934 and 1945)

A realistic treatment of the Yoruba past was attempted by Adekanmi

Oyedele, whose novel Aiye re! (1947; What People Do!) deals with
traditional Yoruba life. Isaac Oluwole Delanos Aiye daiye oyinbo (1955;
Changing Times: The White Man Among Us) is another novel in this
realistic vein; it deals with the coming of the Europeans. His second
novel, Lojo ojo un (1963; In Olden Times), is also a historical novel.
Joseph Folahan Odunjo also wrote two novels, Omo oku orun(1964; The
Deceased Womans Daughter) and Kuye (1964), the latter about
.aCinderella-type boy who moves from misery to happiness
Other works, perhaps influenced by Fagunwa, melded fantasy and
realism: Olorun esan (1952; Gods Vengeance), by Gabriel Ibitoye Ojo,
and Ogun Kiriji (1961; The Kiriji War), by Olaiya Fagbamigbe, also have
oral roots. J. Ogunsina Ogundele wrote novels, including Ibu-Olokun (1956;
The Deeps of Olokun) and Ejigbede lona isalu-orun (1956; Ejigbede
Going to Heaven), that move characters into realms of fantasy. D.J.
Fatanmi wrote Korimale ninu igbo Adimula (1967; Korimale in the Forest
of Adimula), which also shows the influence of Fagunwa. Femi Jeboda
wroteOlowolaiyemo (1964), a realistic novel having to do with life in a
Yoruba city. Adebayo Faletis works, such as the short novel Ogun
awitele (1965; A War Foreseen) and the narrative poem Eda ko
laropin (1956; Dont Underrate), display fantasy roots. Faleti also
published a historical novel, Omo olokun-esin (1970; Son of the Horses
Master). Afolabi Olabimtan wrote a realistic novel, Kekere ekun(1967;

Leopard Boy), a heavily Christian work. Akinwunmi Isola wrote O le

.ku(1974; Fearful Incidents), a realistic novel
Drama was also being developed in the middle of the 20th century.
Olanipekun Esans plays based on Greek tragedies were produced in 1965
and 1966. Other significant playwrights include Faleti, Olabimtan, Hubert
.Ogunde, and Duro Ladipo
Zulu
Like most other African literatures, Zulu literature of the 19th and
early 20th centuries falls into two distinct categories, one concerned with
traditional (Zulu) life and customs, the other with Christianity. These two
broad areas of early literary activity combined in the 1930s in an
imaginative literature that focused on a conflict that profoundly
preoccupied southern African writers for decadesthe conflict between
the urban, Christian, Westernized milieu and the traditional, largely rural
.African past
There were early translations of the Christian scriptures in the mid19th century. Bunyans Pilgrims Progress was also translated and
published in two parts (1868 and 1895). Magema kaMagwaza
Fuzes Abantu abamnyama lapha bavela ngakhona (Where the Black
People Came From) was published in 1922. Written works on Zulu
customs also appeared, including Petros Lamulas Isabelo sikaZulu(1936;
Zulu Heritage) and T.Z. Masondos Amasiko esiZulu (1940; Zulu
Customs). R.H. Thembus story uMamazane (1947) includes references to

Zulu tradition. Cyril Lincoln Sibusiso Nyembezi and Otty Ezrom Howard
Mandlakayise Nxumalo compiled Zulu customs, as did Leonhard L.J.
Mncwango, Moses John Ngcobo, and M.A. Xaba. Violet Dubes Woza
nazo (1935; Come with Stories), Alan Hamilton S. Mbata and Garland
Clement S. Mdhladhlas uChakijana bogcololo umphephethi wezinduku
zabafo (1927; Chakijana the Clever One, the Medicator of the Mens
Fighting Sticks), and F.L.A. Ntulis Izinganekwane nezindaba
ezindala (1939; Oral Narratives and Ancient Traditions) are compilations
of oral stories. Nyembezi gathered and annotated Zulu and Swati heroic
poems in Izibongo zamakhosi (1958; Heroic Poems of the Chiefs), and
E.I.S. Mdhladhlas uMgcogcoma (1947; Here and There) contains Zulu
.narratives
These early Zulu writers were amassing the raw materials with
which the modern Zulu novel would be built. Christian influence from
abroad would combine with the techniques of traditional Zulu oral
traditions to create this new form. There would also be one additional
ingredient: the events that constituted Zulu history. Two outstanding early
writers dealt with historical figures and events. One, John Langalibalele
Dube, became the first Zulu to write a novel in his native language
with Insila kaShaka (1933; Shakas Servant; Eng. trans. Jeqe, the
Bodyservant of King Shaka). The second, R.R.R. Dhlomo, published a
popular series of five novels on Zulu
kings: uDingane (1936), uShaka (1937), uMpande (1938), uCetshwayo (19
52), and uDinuzulu (1968). Other historical novels include Lamulas uZulu

kaMalandela(1924). S.B.L. Mbathas Nawe Mbopha kaSithayi (1971; You

Too, Mbopha, Son of Sithayi) is built on the drama of Shakas
assassination, as is Elliot Zondis dramaUkufa kukaShaka (1966; The
Death of Shaka); and Benedict Wallet VilakazisuDingiswayo
kaJobe (1939; Dingiswayo, Son of Jobe) is a study of Shakas mentor, the
Mtetwa leader Dingiswayo. Among other written works based on Zulu
history are Muntu s uSimpofu (1969); L.S. Luthangos uMohlomi (1938), a
biography of Mohlomi, the adviser of the Sotho chief Moshoeshoe;
and Imithi ephundliwe (1968; Barked Trees), an imaginative work by
Moses Hlela and Christopher Nkosi based on the Zulu War. The historical
trickster Chakijana, who became famous during the Bambatha Rebellion,
is depicted in A.Z. Zungus uSukabekhuluma (1933), and Bethuel Blose
Ndelu composed a drama, Mageba lazihlonza (1962; I Swear by Mageba,
the Dream Has Materialized), set during the reign of the Zulu
.kingCetshwayo
At the heart of Zulu literature of the 20th century is oral tradition.
The magical aura of the oral is present but disguised in the written
tradition of the Zulu people. The movement from the oral to the written
was achieved without difficulty: in the beginning, some Zulu authors
utilized written forms as venues for sermonizing; others simply
reproduced the oral in writing. But more adventurous and creative writers
quickly saw the connections between the two and fashioned written works
using the looms of the oral. Zulu literature owes something to influences
from the West, but the indigenous oral tradition is dominant. Stories of the

contemporary world are constructed over the old oral stories; the space of
the eternal, an aspect of the ancient tradition, gives way to the space of
the immediate, and the values expressed in the oral stories continue to
.influence the written ones
In a number of novels, Zulu writers contend with the conflict
between tradition and Christianity. In James N. Gumbis Baba
ngixolele (1966; Father, Forgive Me), a girl, Fikile, struggles with what
she perceives as a gap between those two worlds. S.V.H. Mdluli explores
the same theme in uBhekizwe namadodana akhe (1966; Bhekizwe and
His Young Sons): a good son retains his ties with his parents (i.e.,
tradition) and becomes a successful teacher. A bad son goes wrong and is
on the edge of destruction until he recovers his roots. J.M. Zamas
novel Nigabe ngani? (1948; On What Do You Pride Yourself?) is similarly
constructed around positive and negative characters. A stepmother,
Mamathunjwa, spoils her own children, Simangaliso and Nomacala, but
despises her two stepchildren, Msweli and Hluphekile. Christianity is not
the villain; instead it is the relaxation of Zulu values that is the problem.
Msweli and Hluphekile succeed, while the pampered children die in
shame. This insistence on retaining a connection with the African past
produced a literature interwoven with Negritude, or black consciousness, a
theme that would become a dominant one in South African politics in the
.1960s and 70s
Dhlomos novel Indlela yababi (1946; The Bad Path) investigates
the polarity between urbanized life and traditional practices and

concludes that the former is unstable. A similar theme is developed in a

novel by Jordan Kush Ngubane, Uvalo lwezinhlonzi (1956; Fear of
Authority). Gumbis novel Wayesezofka ekhaya (1966; He Was About to
Go Home) shows a country boy turning to crime as a result of
urbanization. There is much of the Zulu oral tradition and of Pilgrims
Progress in such novels, both in content and in form. The influence of
Jordans The Wrath of the Ancestors can be seen in Kenneth
Bhengus Umbuso weZembe nenkinga kaBhekifa(1959; The Government
of Zembe and Bhekifas Problem): a chief and his wife, both educated in
schools influenced by the West, come into conflict with Zulu tradition. A
city trickster cons country people out of their savings in
NyembezisInkinsela yaseMgungundlovu (1961; The Man from
Mgungundlovu). That theme persists in Nyembezis most successful
novel, Mntanami! Mntanami! (1950; My Child! My Child!; Eng.
trans. Mntanami! Mntanami!): the character Jabulani loves the city, but,
unprepared to deal with it, he becomes a criminal. In NxumalosNgisinga
empumalanga (1969; I Look to the East), a man loses his children when
Zulu tradition is compromised. In Ikusasa alaziwa (1961; Tomorrow Is Not
Known), Nxumalo shows that the urban environment need not be fatal
.and that Christianity and Zulu values can together act as guides
Zulu poetry varies widely, from imitating ancient Zulu poetic forms
to analyzing the system of apartheid that dominated life in South Africa
during the 20th century. Some of the finest Zulu poetry can be found in
two collections by Nxumalo, Ikhwezi(1965; The Morning Star)

and Umzwangedwa (1968; Self-Consciousness). In Hayani maZulu (1969;

Sing, Zulu People), P. Myeni sought to adapt ancient forms to modern
literary Zulu. Other Zulu poets who wrote during the second half of the
20th century include Deuteronomy Bhekinkosi Z. Ntuli
(Amangwevu [1969; Uppercuts]), J.C. Dlamini (Inzululwane [1957;
Giddiness; Eng. trans.Inzululwane]), N.J. Makhaye (Isoka
lakwaZulu [1972; The Young Man of kwaZulu]), M.T. Mazibuko
(Ithongwane [1969; Snuffbox]), and Elliot Alphas Nsizwane kaTimothy
.Mkize (Kuyokoma Amathe [1970; Until the Mouth Dries Up])
Literatures in European and European-derived languages
Afrikaans
Afrikaans literature in South Africa can be viewed in the context
of Dutch literary tradition or South African literary tradition. Within an
African context, Afrikaans literature will be forever on the outside. As is
the case with the language, it is caught in an identity crisis that was
created irrevocably by the fiercely defended political and cultural identity
of the Dutch settlers who arrived in South Africa in 1652 and whose
descendants, together with English-speaking whites, took over the
government in 1948, after which the notorious system of apartheid was
enshrined in laws that would be demolished only in the early 1990s. The
conservative branch of the Afrikaner people, always the most numerous
and the most powerful, was in conflict throughout the 20th century with a
talented and growing group of young poets and novelists, such as C. Louis
Leipoldt and Breyten Breytenbach, who sought to broaden the confines of

an increasingly limited people and literature. The history of Afrikaans

literature is the history of the Afrikaners, an alien people whose literature
.is a testimony to that state of alienation
Afrikaans, with its roots in Dutch, has been spoken in South Africa
mainly by whites since the 18th century. The First Afrikaans Language
Movement began in 1875, led by Stephanus Jacobus du Toit and others; it
represented an effort to make Afrikaans a language separate from Dutch.
The first newspaper in Afrikaans, Die Patriot (The Patriot), began
publication in 1876. The linguistic shift from Dutch to Afrikaans did not
occur without considerable dispute among the whites of Dutch descent. It
was after the South African War (18991902)which became a prominent
subject of early Afrikaans literaturethat Afrikaans became a significant
written language. Winternag (1905; Winters Night), a poem by
Eugne Marais, and Die vlakte (1906; The Plain), a poem by Jan
Celliers, dramatically ushered in this new literary language, along with
language organizations such as the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie (founded
1909). Die brandwag (The Outpost), a magazine, had a literary section
from 1910. The Hertzog Prize for poetry, prose, and drama in Afrikaans
was established in 1914. Publishing houses specializing in Afrikaans
publications began in 1914 and 1915. In 1914 Cornelius Jakob
Langenhoven fostered Afrikaans in schools, and the language was soon
after studied at universities and used as a medium of instruction.
Parliament recognized Afrikaans as an official language in 1925, six years
after it was named the language of the Dutch Reformed Church. Earlier

19th-century writing had been heavily didactic; by the 1920s this had
.begun to change
Poets became the most potent harbingers of the new language as
the Second Afrikaans Language Movement began; they included Leipoldt,
Marais, Celliers,Jakob Daniel du Toit (Totius), Daniel Franois Malherbe, and
Toon van den Heever.Leipoldt, who would one day be condemned as a
traitor to Afrikaners, was probably one of the greatest and most original
poets of the early 20th century, while Marais in his poetry linked European
tradition to the realities of life in South Africa. Prose also appeared during
this period, moving away from such melodramatic works asJohannes van
Wyk (1906), a novel by J.H.H. de Waal, to more rigorously realistic
historical works, such as those by Gustav Preller. Realism began to
dominate Afrikaans prose, especially in the work of Jochem van Bruggen,
who wrote a trilogy, the first part of which was Ampie, die
natuurkind (1931; Ampie, the Child of Nature), a study of a poor white in
South Africa. A.A. Pienaar (pseudonym Sangiro) wrote popular books about
animals. Drama also began to flourish through the writings of Leipoldt,
Langenhoven, and H.A. Fagan. Langenhoven was also a popular poet, as
.was A.G. Visser
Dramatic events in the 1930sincluding a drought that caused
many farmers to move to the cities, significant political changes, a
sharpening of racial conflict, and the deepening of the Afrikaans-English
conflictisolated Afrikaners more dramatically in South Africa, and fiercely
partisan organizations such as theAfrikaner-Broederbond and Federasie

van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniginge gained new adherents. The Afrikaner

poets known as the Dertigers (Thirtyers, or writers of the 1930s)
infuriated conservative Afrikaners with a new type of poetry. The poetry of
W.E.G. Louw, N.P. van Wyk Louw, and Elisabeth Eybers was at the heart of
this fertile activity, which centred on experimentation with form. Van Wyk
Louws Raka(1941) is a rhymed study of evil, with Raka as the incarnation
of this evil taking over a community. Uys Krige wrote romantic poetry but
is known for his war poetry and as a dramatist. There was prose written
during this period by Abraham H. Jonker, C.M. van den Heever, and
Johannes van Melle, whose Bart Nel (1936), dealing with the Afrikaner
rebellion of 191415, is considered by some to be the finest novel in
.Afrikaans
After World War II, literary magazines carried Afrikaans works. D.J.
Opperman continued the experimentation with the Afrikaans language in
his poetry, and he introduced decisively South African racial themes into
his work. In 1954 Arthur Fula became one of the first black Africans to
write a novel in Afrikaans. Audrey Blignault and Elise Muller wrote short
.stories and essays. Anna M. Louw wrote novels
The Sestigers (Sixtyers, or writers of the 1960s) attempted to do
for prose what the Dertigers had done for poetry. Jan Rabie, Etienne
Leroux, Dolf van Niekerk, Andr P. Brink, Abraham de Vries, and Chris
Barnard experimented with the novel and moved into areas largely
forbidden until that time, such as sex and atheism. Brinks Lobola vir die
lewe (1962; Pledge for Life) and Orgie (1965; Orgy) caused

sensations.Bartho Smit wrote Moeder Hanna (1959; Mother Hanna), an

acclaimed drama about the South African War. He also
wrote Putsonderwater (1962; Well-Without-Water), considered among
the finest plays produced in Afrikaans; it could not be performed because
of its political message. Elsa Joubert wrote a novel about a black
woman, Die swerfjare van Poppie Nongena (1978; The Long Journey of
Poppie Nongena, or Poppie). Karel Schoemans n Ander land (1984;
Another Country) moved into the sensitive political and social realities of
South Africa. Adam Small wrote works, such as Kanna hy k
hystoe (1965; KannaHe Is Coming Home), that revealed the realities of
the lives of nonwhites in South Africa. Ingrid Jonker wrote intensely
personal poetry. Breytenbach wrote surreal poetry, his work revealing his
struggle with the Afrikaners political situation in South Africa.
His Katastrofes (1964;Catastrophes) is a series of sketches that
.take racism, death, and madness as their subjects
These themes persisted through the end of the 20th century. Riana
Scheepers, in Die ding in die vuur (1990; The Thing in the Fire), a
collection of short stories, blended Zulu oral tradition with the world of
apartheid. Marlene van Niekerk wrote Triomf(1994; Triumph; Eng.
trans. Triomf), a novel based on Sophiatown, a black settlement near
Johannesburg that was replaced by the South African government in the
1950s and 60s by a white working-class suburb dubbed Triomf. In Lettie
Viljoens Klaaglied vir Koos (1984; Lament for Koos), a husband leaves
his family to join the fight against apartheid. In his

novels Toorberg (1986; Ancestral Voices) andKikoejoe (1996; Kikuyu),

Etienne van Heerden dealt with 20th-century South African history. (See
also treatment of literature in Afrikaans in South African literature.)
English
Early works in English in western Africa include a Liberian
novel, Love in Ebony: A West African Romance, published in 1932 by
Charles Cooper (pseudonym Varfelli Karlee), as well as such works of
Ghanaian pulp literature as J. Benibengor Blays Emelias Promise and
Fulflment (1944). R.E. Obeng, a Ghanaian, wrote Eighteen pence (1941),
an early work on the conflict between African and European cultures.
Other early popular writers in Ghana include Asare Konadu, Efua
Sutherland, and Kwesi Brew. The Nigerian Amos Tutuola wrote The PalmWine Drinkard and His Dead Palm-Wine Tapster in the Deads
Town (1952), its construction revealing a clear linkage between the oral
and literary traditions. In it the hero moves to Deads Town to bring his
tapster back to the land of the living; the elixir that the hero brings back
from the land of the dead, however, is an egg that is death-dealing as
surely as it is life-giving. Tutuola is faithful to oral tradition, but he places
.the traditional journeying tale into a very contemporary framework
Nigeria has been a font of creative writing in English, from the works
of Chinua Achebe to those of Ben Okri.Wole Soyinka, winner of the Nobel
Prize for Literature in 1986, is known for his drama, poetry, and prose. His
The Interpreters (1965) weaves stories from the contemporary world to

the mythic and historical past, manipulating time so that in the end the
very structure of the story is a comment on the lives of the several
protagonists. Soyinka was a contributor to and coeditor of the influential
journal Black Orpheus, founded in 1957 and containing the early works of
poets such as Christopher Okigbo of Nigeria, Dennis Brutus and Alex La
Guma of South Africa, and Tchicaya U Tamsi of Congo (Brazzaville).
Another literary journal, The Horn, launched in 1958 by John Pepper Clark,
provided additional opportunities for writers to have their works
published.Transition, a literary journal begun in Uganda in 1960 by Rajat
.Neogi, was also a valuable outlet for many African writers
Achebes Things Fall Apart (1958) is perhaps the best-known African
novel of the 20th century. Its main character is Okonkwo, whose tragic
and fatal flaw, his overweening ambition, wounds him. His frenzied desire
to be anything but what his father was causes him to develop a warped
view of his society, so that in the end that view becomes (thanks to seven
humiliating years in exile) reality to him. When he returns, he cannot
accept seeing his people in the throes of adapting to the intruding whites,
and things fall apart for him: it is not the society he envisioned, and he
takes his life. Things Fall Apart is a precolonial novel that ends with the
coming of colonialism, which triggers Okonkwos demise. Okonkwo is in
any case doomed because of his skewed vision. Flora Nwapa wrote the
novel Efuru (1966), the story of a talented, brilliant, and beautiful woman
who, living in a small community, is confined by tradition. A womans
fundamental role, childbearing, is prescribed for her, and if she does not

fulfill that role she suffers the negative criticism of members of her
society. Borrowing a technique from the oral tradition, Nwapa injects the
dimension of fantasy through the character of the goddess Uhamiri, who is
a mythic counterpart to the real-life Efuru. In The Slave Girl (1977) the
novelist Buchi Emecheta tells the story of Ojebeta, who, as she journeys
from childhood to adulthood, moves not to freedom and independence but
from one form of slavery to another. Okri blends fantasy and reality in his
novel The Famished Road (1991; part of a trilogy that also includes Songs
of Enchantment [1993] and Infnite Riches[1998]). In the novel, which
addresses the reality of postcolonial Nigeria, Okri uses myth, the
Yoruba abiku (spirit child), and other fantasy images to shift between
preindependence and postindependence settings. The spiritual and real
worlds are linked in the novel, the one a dimension of the other, in a
.narrative mode that African storytellers have been using for centuries
In other parts of western Africa, Lenrie Peters of The Gambia and Syl
Cheyney-Coker of Sierra Leone were among the most important 20thcentury writers. The novelist Ebou Dibba and the poet Tijan M. Sallah were
also from The Gambia. Cameroonian authors writing in English during the
second half of the 20th century include Babila Mutia, John S. Dinga, and
Jedida Asheri. Writers in Ghana during the same period include Amma
Darko, B. Kojo Laing, Kofi Awoonor, and Ayi Kwei Armah.
InFragments (1970) Armah tells of a youth, Baako, who returns from the
United States to his Ghanaian family and is torn between the new
demands of his home and the consequent subversion of a traditional past

represented by the mythic Naana, his blind grandmother, who establishes

.a context for the tragic story Baako is experiencing
The dominant writer to emerge from East Africa is the Kenyan Ngugi
wa Thiongo. In A Grain of Wheat (1967) he tells the story of Mugo, alone
and alienated, farming after having played a role in the Mau Mau
rebellion; though he has considered himself the Moses of his people, he
has a terrible secret. As Mugos story unfolds, the novelist works into his
narrative other stories, including those of Gikonyo, Mumbi, and Karanja,
each of whom has an unsavoury past as well. Ngugi constructs the story
around the proverb Kikulacho ki nguoni mwako (That which bites you is
in your own clothing). Later in his career Ngugi, who spent many years in
exile from Kenya, engaged many writers in a debate as to whether African
.writers should compose their works in European or African languages
Other East African novelists include Okello Oculi, Grace Ogot, Peter
K. Palangyo, and W.E. Mkufya. In Timothy Wangusas novel Upon This
Mountain (1989), the character Mwambu climbs a mountain and comes of
age. In two novels from Uganda a boy moves to manhood: Abyssinian
Chronicles (2000), by Moses Isegawa, and The Season of Thomas
Tebo (1986), by John Nagenda, the latter an allegorical novel in which a
boys loss of innocence is tied to politics in that country. One of Africas
greatest novelists is the Somali writer Nuruddin Farah, who wrote a trilogy
composed of the novels Maps (1986), Gifts (1992),
and Secrets (1998). Maps is the story of a youth, Askar, growing up in a
Somalia divided by Ethiopia. With the mythic Misra, who becomes his

surrogate mother, and by means of a geographical movement that occurs

within a rich mixture of politics and sex, the boy seeks his identity, a quest
.that becomes linked to the identity of the land across which he moves
From Malawi came such writers as Jack Mapanje, whose collection of
poems Skipping Without Ropes (1998) reflects on his four years as a
political prisoner, and David Rubadiri. Other writers from Southern Africa
include Fwanyanga M. Mulikita and Dominic Mulaisho from Zambia and
Berhane Mariam Sahle Sellassie,Daniachew Worku, and Tsegaye GabreMedhin from Ethiopia. Solomon M. Mutswairo, Dambudzo Marechera,
Shimmer Chinodya, Chenjerai Hove, Yvonne Vera, Alexander Kanengoni, J.
Nozipo Maraire, and Batisai Parwada are among Zimbabwes writers in
English. Tsitsi Dangarembga wrote Nervous Conditions(1988), a story of
two Shona girls, Tambudzai and Nyasha, both attempting to find their
place in contemporary Zimbabwe. Nyasha has been abroad and wonders
about the effect that Westernization has had on her and her family, while
Tambudzai is longing to break out of her traditional world. Looming in the
.background are mythic figures, including Lucia, Tambudzais aunt
Doris Lessing is a British writer who spent her early years in what is
today Zimbabwe. Her novel The Grass Is Singing (1950) centres on Dick
Turner and Mary Turner, a white couple attempting to become a part of
the rural African landscape. Lessing depicts a stereotyped African
character, Moses, a black servant, whose name gives him historical and
religious resonance. He becomes dominant over the European Mary,
manipulating her fears and love of him until in the end he destroys her.

Lessing finds mythic fantasy dimensions in the Europeans, much as

Mustafa Saeed does in the women of England in al-ayyib
.lis novel Season of Migration to the North (1966)
There is much writing in English by expatriates that is rooted in
South Africa, from the poetry of Thomas Pringle to E.A. Kendalls The
English Boy at the Cape (1835), the novels of H. Rider Haggard and John
Buchan, and Turning Wheels (1937), byStuart Cloete. Olive Schreiner was
the first major South African-born writer. Her novel The Story of an African
Farm (1883) continues to have an international resonance. Pauline Smith
wrote powerful short stories; her novel The Beadle (1926) deals largely
with the experiences of Afrikaners in the Eastern Cape region. Sarah
Gertrude Millin had an international audience with such works as Gods
Stepchildren (1924). The short-lived literary review Voorslag ("Whiplash"),
begun in 1926, published for wider audiences work by such poets as Roy
.Campbell, William Plomer, and Laurens van der Post
A common subject in the works of the many South African authors
writing in English during the 20th century is the racial segregation,
codified as apartheid in 1948, that dominated the country until the early
1990s. In two early novels, Mine Boy (1946), by Peter Abrahams, and Cry,
the Beloved Country (1948), by Alan Paton, black Africans go to
Johannesburg and experience the terror of apartheid. In To Every Birth Its
Blood (1981), Mongane Wally Serote tells the stories of Tsi Molope and
Oupa Molope. Tsi looks to his past and wonders, Where does a river begin
to take its journey to the sea? The world in which Oupathe son of Mary,

Tsis sisterlives postdates the Soweto uprising of 1976, a time when

resistance to apartheid took hold of a new generation and South Africa
witnessed attacks and bombings. Because of their experiences with the
police, the Molope family becomes more politicized. Serote wants the
reader to see the human side of his characterstheir vulnerabilities, their
uncertaintieswhile he also wants to demonstrate that it is not an easy
matter to make the revolutionary leap. A Ride on the Whirlwind (1981), by
Sydney Sipho Sepamla, which is set in Soweto, exposes the fearful effects
.of apartheid
The playwright Athol Fugard in 1982 produced his play Master
Haroldand the Boys, the story of a white boy, Hally, in a restaurant in
which two black African men, Willie Malopo and Sam Semela, are waiters.
It is a story of a boys coming of age within the realities of the racist
system of South Africa. As the story develops, Hally transfers his fear,
love, and hate of his father to Sam, and in the end he treats Sam as he
cannot treat his father. The result is to open anew the wounds
of apartheid. The novel Julys People (1981), by Nadine Gordimer, who
received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991, takes place in an imagined
postindependence South Africa. The story deals with the Smales, a white
couple, and their relationship with July, their black servant. By means of
flashbacks the Smales reconstruct their past, the world of a Johannesburg
suburb during the apartheid period. There is a war, and Maureen Smale
and Bamford Smale escape from their suburban home and go north,
where these erstwhile liberals come to Julys rural home and learn, by

their interactions with July and his family and friends, that they cannot
move past their former relationship with their servant and cannot see him
from any perspective but that of liberal, self-confident white overlords.
That hopelessly compromised position is the impasse that Gordimer
investigates in this novel. D.M. Zwelonke is the pseudonymous author
of Robben Island (1973), a novel dealing with the political prison
maintained by the South African government off the shores of Cape Town
from the mid-1960s. It is the story of Bekimpi, an African political leader
jailed at Robben Island, and it relates his dreams and fantasies, his
.despair and anger, and his torture and death
J.M. Coetzee, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003,
wrote Life and Times of Michael K (1983), a story with a blurred hero and
an indistinct historical and geographical background. It describes a war
that could be any war, a country that could be any country, a bureaucracy
that could be any bureaucracy. Through it all, Michael Ka frail,
nondescript, mute man of 30, born with a cleft lipsurvives, not betraying
his past, for he has no past, tied as he is to the unbroken continuity of
history. So does Coetzee link apartheid to the ages. The novel becomes, in
the end, an affirmation of humanity; the Earth is destroyed, a man is
incarcerated, but he will return, crawling out of the dust of ruin, re.creating the Earth, making it grow and fructify
Maru (1971), a novel by Bessie Head, tells a story about the
liberation of the San people from ethnic and racial oppression and about
the liberation of the Tswana people of Dilepe from their prejudices and

hatreds. It is a story of a flawed world and the attempts of two mythic

people, Maru and Margaret Cadmore, to restore it to its former perfection.
It is also a love storyMargaret, the loathed Masarwa, opens the hearts of
Moleka and Dikeledias well as a political storyMargaret animates
Marus political vision with love and art. In the end, Maru is a realistic
story with a mythic overlay in which oral and literary traditions are
.brought together
French
In the work of the earliest African writers in French can be found the
themes that run through this literature to the present day. These themes
have to do with African tradition, with French colonialism and the
displacement of Africans both physically and spiritually from their native
tradition, with attempts to blend the French and the African traditions, and
with postindependence efforts to piece the shards of African tradition and
.the French colonial experience into a new reality
In his novel Les Trois volonts de Malic (1920; The Three Wishes of
Malic), the Senegalese writer Ahmadou Mapat Diagne anticipates such
later writers as Sheikh Hamidou Kane, also of Senegal. In Diagnes novel,
Malic, a Wolof boy, is embroiled in a struggle between Muslim tradition
and the influence of the West. He goes to a French-run school to study;
then, instead of going to Qurnic school as his parents wish, he becomes
a blacksmith. Other early African works in French frequently deal with the
tensions between country and city, between African and French culture,

and between traditional religious practices and Islam. The novel Forcebont (1926; Much Good Will), by Bakary Diallo of Senegal, deals with a
youth caught in a conflict between his Muslim background and Western
values and culture. The Beninese writer Paul Hazoum
wrote Doguicimi (1938; Eng. trans. Doguicimi), a historical novel depicting
the time of the reign of the king Gezo in the ancient kingdom of Dahomey.
Some writers focused solely on African tradition, with its positive and
negative qualities; these writers include Flix Couchoro, whose
novelLEsclave (1929; The Slave) examines slavery in traditional
Dahomey. The Senegalese writer Ousmane Soc wrote Karim (1935), a
novel that depicts a young Wolof caught between traditional and Western
values. He leaves the countryside for the Senegalese cities of Saint-Louis
and Dakar but loses everything when he falls prey to the cities wiles; he
returns, in the end, to traditional ways of living. The novel depicts the new
society that was being born in early 20th-century Africa. Mirages de
Paris (1937; Mirages of Paris) has to do with a Senegalese student in
Paris who falls in love with a Frenchwoman. Abdoulaye Sadji of Senegal
wrote Mamouna(1958; Eng. trans. Mamouna), about an African girl who
leaves home and goes to Dakar, where she is seduced. She returns to her
home and bears a child who dies; she becomes ill but then recovers her
.traditional roots
Womens place in Cameroonian society is the subject of Joseph
Owonos Tante Bella (1959; Aunt Bella), the first novel to be published in
Cameroon. Paul Lomami-Tshibamba of Congo (Brazzaville) wrote Ngando

le crocodile (1948; Ngando the Crocodile; Eng. trans. Ngando), a story

rooted in African tradition. Faralako: roman dun petit village
africaine (1958; Faralako: Novel of a Little African Village), by Emile
Ciss, is an early Guinean novel that examines African tradition and
Western technology. Jean Malonga, born in Congo (Brazzaville),
wrote Coeur dAryenne(1954; Heart of Aryenne), an anticolonial novel.
Traditional African society is the primary concern of the novels Le Fils du
ftiche (1955; The Son of Charm), by David Ananou of Togo,
and Crpuscule des temps anciens (1962; Twilight of the Ancient Days),
.by Nazi Boni of Upper Volta (later Burkina Faso)
In Madagascar the journal La Revue de Madagascar (founded in
1933) encouraged writing by Malagasy writers and included the poetry
of Jean-Joseph Rabarivelo, whose La Coupe de cendres (1924; Cutting
the Ashes) and Sylves (1927; Forests) were collections of poetry that
sought to blend French and Malagasy cultural traditions and that shared
many of the themes later taken up by the Negritudemovement. Other
early poets writing in French in Madagascar include Elie-Charles Abraham,
E. Randriamarozaka, and Paul Razafimahazo. douard Bezoro produced
one of the first Malagasy novels: La Soeur inconnue (1932; The Unknown
Sister), a historical novel about the conflict between the French and the
Merina (Hova) state in Madagascar at the turn of the 20th century. MichelFrancis Robinary founded the newspaper Lclair de lEmyrne and wrote
.poetry collected in Les Fleurs dfuntes(1927; Dead Flowers)

After World War I, many of the Africans who had served in the French
army remained in France, bringing pressure on the country to end
colonialism and political assimilation. They met with blacks from the
United States, and the result was a new concern with and pride in African
cultural identity. This acknowledgement of blacknessof black roots, black
history, and black civilizationsbecame part of the struggle against
colonialism and evolved, under the tutelage of Lopold Senghor of
Senegal, Aim Csaire of Martinique, and Lon-Gontran Damas of French
Guiana, into the movement that became known asNegritude.
Csaires Cahier dun retour au pays natal (1939; Notebook of a Return to
the Native Land, or Return to My Native Land) and Senghors Anthologie
de la nouvelle posie ngre et malgache de langue franaise (1948;
Anthology of the New Black and Malagasy Poetry of the French
Language) are among the important works of this movement, as is
Senghors own poetry, including Chants dombre(1945; Songs of the
Shade) and thiopiques (1956). The struggle had earlier been waged in
such short-lived journals as Lgitime dfense (1932; Legitimate
Defense) and Ltudiant noir (1935; The Black Student). In 1947 the
journal Prsence africaine (African Presence) was inaugurated; it would
play a significant role in the encouragement and development of
.Francophone writing
Birago Diop of Senegal wrote poetry (e.g., Leurres et lueurs [1960;
Lures and Gleams]), some of which emphasizes its connections with the
ancestral African past. In Madagascar Jacques Rabemananjara wrote

verse, collected in such volumes as Sur les marches du soir (1942; On

the Edges of the Evening), and plays, including Les Dieux
malgaches (1947; The Malagasy Gods), that were part of the Negritude
movement. Bernard Binlin Dadi of Cte dIvoire wrote the
autobiographical Climbi (1956; Eng. trans. Climbi), a novel dealing with
traditional African society and the modern world, as well as drama and
lyrical poetry. Fily Dabo Sissoko of Mali emphasized African tradition in
such works as Harmakhis: pomes du terroir africain (1955; Harmakhis:
Poems of the African Land) andPomes de lAfrique noire (1963; Poems
from Black Africa). Lamine Diakhat of Senegal wrote Negritude poetry,
as did the Senegalese Lamine Niang in Ngristique(1968). David Diop of
Senegal was a poet of protest in his Coups de pilon (1956;Hammer Blows).
The Congolese poet Antoine-Roger Bolamba wrote Esanzo: Chants pour
mon pays (1955; Esanzo: Songs for My Country), a collection of Negritude
.poetry
In Cte dIvoire Anoma Kanie wrote love poetry (Les Eaux du
Como [1951; The Waters of the Como]), as did Maurice Kone (La
Guirlande des verbes [1961; A Garden of Words]). From Benin came
such poets as Richard G. Dogbeh-David and Paulin Joachim. In Cameroon,
Elolongu Epanya Yondo wrote Kamerun! Kamerun!(1960; Cameroon!
Cameroon!), Franois Sengat-Kuo wrote Collier de cauris (1970;
Necklace of Cowry Shells), and Jean-Paul Nyuna wrote La Nuit de ma
vie (1961; The Darkness of My Life). In Guinea prominent poets of the
20th century include Keita Fodeba, Mamadou Traor (Ray Autra), and

Condetto Nenekhaly-Camara. Other poets of the period include William J.F.

Syad of Somalia and Toussaint Viderot Mensah of Togo. The novelist and
poet Pierre Bambot is among the Central African Republics most
important writers of the 20th century. The Congolese writerTchicaya U
Tamsi published poetry dealing with colonialism (e.g., Epitom [1962;
.Epitome] and Le Ventre [1964; The Belly])
Sidiki Dembele of Mali wrote a novel, Les Inutiles (1960; The
Useless Ones), urging African intellectuals to return to their traditional
homes. Denis Oussou-Essui of Cte dIvoire published a novel in 1965 that
also dealt with the strains between African tradition and urban life.
Guinean Camara Laye wrote an autobiographical novel,LEnfant
noir (1953; The African Child). His most important publication was the
novelLe Regard du roi (1954; The Radiance of the King), the story of
Clarence, a white man, who, as he moves deeper and deeper into an
African forest, is progressively shorn of his Western ways and pride. At his
nadir, he begins anew, when, naked and alone, he embraces an
ambiguous African king. Mongo Beti (a pseudonym of Alexandre BiyidiAwala) of Cameroon wrote Le Pauvre Christ de Bomba (1956; The Poor
Christ of Bomba), a story that deals with the complex relationship
between Christianity and colonialism in Africa. His Mission termine (1957;
The Finished Mission; Eng. trans. Mission to Kala) treats the uneasy fit of
traditional Africa and Western colonialism, and Le Roi miracul (1958; Eng.
trans. King Lazarus) depicts a generational struggle within the context of a
quixotic view of African tradition. Another novelist from Cameroon,

Benjamin Matip, wrote Afrique, nous tignorons(1956; Africa, We Dont

Pay Attention to You), which shows young people caught between the
white mans world and the traditional African world. Ferdinand Lopold
Oyono, also a Cameroonian novelist, wrote Une Vie de boy (1956; A Life
of a Boy; Eng. trans. Houseboy), the story of a boy, Toundi, who leaves
his rural home and goes to the town of Dangan, where he becomes the
servant for a French commandant and his wife. Toundi undergoes a type of
puberty rite of passage as his experiences among the whites slowly reveal
to him the masks that cover their religion, their justice system, and their
family ideals. Oyono also wrote Le Vieux ngre et la mdaille (1956; The
Old Man and the Medal) and Chemin dEurope(1960; The Road to Europe).
The novels of Francis BebeyLe Fils dAgatha Moudio(1967; Agatha
Moudios Son), La Poupe ashanti (1973; The Ashanti Doll), and Le Roi
Albert dEffidi (1976; King Albert)show the influence of African oral
tradition in their style and themes. In the earliest of those novels, a man
falls in love, but his society clings to a tradition that will not allow him to
.marry the woman of his choice
Ousmane Sembne was a major film director and a significant
novelist. Les Bouts de bois de Dieu (1960; Gods Bits of Wood), his
greatest novel, describes the last gasp of colonialism through the story of
a railroad strike. In it Bakayoko is the spokesman for a future that will
combine African humanism and European technology. The characters Fa
Keta, Penda, and Ramatoulaye are all committed to change; each one is
involved in the strike, and each also demonstrates dignity and eloquence.

Fa Keta retains his nobility in the face of torture, Penda in the face of
ostracism, and Ramatoulaye in the face of enormous want and
deprivation. Through it all stands Bakayoko, who single-mindedly pursues
change, although he understands that change cannot be abrupt; it must
be anchored in the past. Hence his concern for tradition, of which the
novels women are symbols. Seydou Badian Kouyat of Mali wrote a play
about the Zulu leader Shaka: La Mort de Chaka (1962; The Death of
Shaka). Ak Loba of Cte dIvoire wrote Kocoumbo, ltudiant noir (1960;
Kocoumbo, the Black Student), which treats the negative efforts of
France on traditional African values. His Les Fils de Kouretcha (1970; The
Sons of Kouretcha) is a study of the effects of industrialization on
traditional societies. Olympe Bhly-Qunum of Benin wrote the novel Un
Pige sans fn (1960; Snares Without End), which focuses on the African
traditional past. The Senegalese writer Sheikh Hamidou
Kane wrote LAventure ambigu (1961; Ambiguous Adventure), a novel
that considers the African and Muslim identity of its main character,
Samba, within the context of Western philosophical thought. In his
novel Le Soleil noir point (1962; The Sun a Black Dot), Charles Nokan of
.Cte dIvoire deals with efforts to bring a nation to freedom
In Africas postindependence period, similar themes persisted but
were readjusted to conform to worlds in which new societies were being
forged. Many French-language novels of the last decades of the 20th
century deal with familial struggles within a traditional society that can
never again be the same. Maimouna Abdoulaye of Senegal wrote Un Cri

du coeur (1986; A Cry from the Heart), a novel dealing with women
living in an indifferent male society. Josette Abondio of Cte dIvoire is the
author of Kouassi Kokoma mre (1993; Kouassi KokoMy Mother), a
novel about a woman whose existence narrows with the death of her male
partner. Marie Thrse Assiga-Ahanda of Cameroon wrote the
novel Socits africaines et High Society (1978; African Societies and
High Society), a story about two people returning to their country after
colonialism, only to find a new kind of colonialisman internal kind. MarieGisle Aka of Cte dIvoire wrote Les Haillons de lamour(1994; The
Remnants of Love), a novel having to do with a girls difficulties with her
father. A novel written in 1990 by Philomne Bassek of Cameroon deals
with the plight of a mother of 11 children who has a harsh husband.
Poverty and the upper classes preoccupy Aminata Sow Fall of Senegal
in Le Jujubier du patriarche (1993; The Patriarchs Jujube). The Gabonese
writer Justine Mintsa writes of tragic life in a contemporary African village
.in a novel published in 2000
The relationship between Africa and Europe remained a theme
through the end of the 20th century. Assatou Cissokho, a Senegalese
writer, in Dakar, la touriste autochtone (1986; Dakar, the Native Tourist),
depicts a character returning from Europe and finding things much the
same in Dakar. In a 1999 novel, the Cameroonian novelist Nathalie Etok
tells the story of an African who is an illegal immigrant in Paris. A young
African woman in Paris is the focus of Gisle Hountondji in Une Citronnelle
dans la neige (1986; Lemongrass in the Snow). Henri Lopes is a

Congolese novelist, as is Maguy Kabamba, who wrote La Dette

coloniale (1995; The Colonial Debt), depicting Africa and Europe as seen
.through the eyes of a young African student
Portuguese
The literature in Portuguese of Cape Verde often focuses on the
affinities and the strains between Portugal and Cape Verde. Escapism is a
theme in some of the poetry. In the classical phase of Cape Verdean
literature, from the late 19th century to the first half of the 20th, poets
such as Jos Lopes da Silva (Saudades da ptria[1952; Homesickness])
emphasized Europe. Janurio Leite (Poesias [1952]) and Mrio Pinto
(Ensaios poticos [1911; Poetic Essays]) wrote nationalistic poetry. Other
early poets include Pedro Monteiro Cardoso, who published Jardim das
Hesprides in 1926, and Eugnio Tavares, who was among the first Cape
Verdean writers to publish in Crioulo, the Portuguese creole language
widely used on the islands. Antnio Pedro wrote a book of exotic poems
published in 1929. These early classical poets struggled with the tension
between Europe and Africa and between the Portuguese language and
Crioulo, the Portuguese creole used on the islands. Brazil was also to
.become a crucial theme
In 1936 there was a literary revolution when Claridade (Clarity), a
literary review, appeared. It was published nine times between 1936 and
1960 and had a considerable influence. A number of socalled Claridade poets emerged, deepening the tension between Africa

and Europe; Jorge Barbosa, who was among the founders of Claridade,
was one of them. His first collection of poetry, published in 1935, was
.nostalgic and romantic and placed its emphasis on the everyday person
Baltazar Lopes (pseudonym Oswaldo Alcntara) wrote of the
suffering of Cape Verdeans. His Chiquinho (1947) was a Portugueselanguage novel, and it fell into precisely the same pattern as works
composed elsewhere in Africa, such as Pita Nwanas Igbolanguage Omenuko (1935), Samuel Yosia Ntaras Nyanja
novelNthondo (1933), and Stephen Andrea Mpashis Bemba
story Cekesoni Aingila Ubusoja (1950); in typical heroic fashion, Chiquinho
leaves the home of his birth, journeys to the Brazilian city of So Vicente,
where he is educated, then returns to his home. While Lopes follows the
traditional movement of the oral tradition, he does so with grim realism.
When Chiquinho goes to So Vicente, his experience is anything but
glorious: he is out of work and alienated from his surroundings. And his
return home is not an improvement; there he finds poverty and suffering.
Lopes plays with the form of his story here. In the first part, Chiquinhos
home world is romanticized, which is a dynamic contrast with the second
part of the story: So Vicente and the experience of aloneness and
sadness. But, using irony as his device, Lopes brings those two worlds into
metaphorical union: the world of Chiquinhos past is actually revealed in
the world of So Vicente. In the third part of the novel, when he returns to
the world of his childhood, Chiquinho discovers that it is no different from
the alien world from which he has just departed. So it is that the child has

come of age and has moved through his puberty rite of passage: the
fantasy world of his childhood has been jarred into reality by his
experiences in So Vicente. Realism and fantasy thus come into union in
this story, the fantasy world of childhood juxtaposed with the real world of
adulthood, and the two are experienced now as the same. Materials from
the oral tradition are the stuff of Lopess literary storytelling: he makes
critical alterations as he moves from the romance of the tale to the
.realism of the novel
Another Claridade poet was Manuel Lopes, who was also among the
journals founders; he was a novelist and short-story writer as well. His
poetry is suffused with a personal lyricism and with social themes, which
reflect his concern with the problems and the cultural values of Cape
Verde. His novel Chuva braba (1956; Wild Rain) addresses some of the
same themes. Cape Verdean folklore is woven into his short stories,
including O galo que cantou na baa (1959; The Cock that Crowed in
.the Bay)
The literary magazine Presena (Presence), founded in 1927, was
a revolutionary Portuguese publication, urging a break with the
Portuguese past and encouraging ties to Cape Verde. Claridade led in
1944 to the founding of a new review, Certeza(Certainty), and with it
came a new generation of poets, including Antnio Aurlio Gonalves,
Aguinaldo Fonseca, Antnio Nunes, Srgio Frusoni, and Djunga, who
infused Cape Verdean literature with a new, youthful spirit that retained a

continued emphasis on life in the islands. This generation also

.represented a new political voice, demanding change and reform
So Tom and Prncipe also produced writing in Portuguese during
the first half of the 20th century. Caetano da Costa Alegre wrote poetry,
published posthumously asVersos in 1916, that deals with the tension
between Africa and Portugal. Joo Maria de Fonseca Viana de
Almeidas Mai Pon: contos africanos (1937; Mai Pon: African
Stories) centres on racial prejudice and self-awareness. Francisco Jos
Tenreiro, influenced by Aim Csaire, was an early Negritude poet; his
.poetry appears in Ilha de nome santo (1942; Island of the Holy Name)
African literature in Portuguese in Angola has its origins in a book of
poetry written by Jos da Silva Maia Ferreira, Espontaneidades da minha
alma (1849; My Souls Spontaneous Outpourings). But the most
significant early figure was Joaquim Dias Cordeiro da Matta, whose book of
poetry Delrios (Delirium) was published in 1887. A number of
newspapers and journals provided possibilities for authors to publish their
work in these early years, but this was not a cultivated practice. A novel
was serialized in 1929: Antnio de Assis Jniors O segredo da morte (The
Dead Girls Secret), a story of racial conflict and acculturation. scar
Ribas wrote novels and poetry; his novel Uango-feitio (1951; The Evil
Spell) incorporates local oral tradition. The poetry and prose of Geraldo
Bessa Victor reveal the struggle of a writer caught between Portuguese
and African traditions. Fernando Monteiro de Castro Soromenho wrote
novels, including Terra morta (1949; Dying Land) andViragem (1957; The

Turn), that depict the impact of colonialism on the Angolan people. Born
in Portugal, the poet Tomaz Vieira da Cruz both struggled with and
embraced a sense of exile during the decades he spent in Angola.
The Movimento dos Jovens Intelectuais (Movement of Young Intellectuals)
in 1947 and 1948 emphasized Angolan traditions and folklore, influencing
such writers as Agostinho Neto, Mrio Pinto de Andrade, and Viriato da
.Cruz
Angolan poets often dealt with relations between blacks and whites,
as Ernesto Lara Filho did in his Picada de Marimbondo (1961; The Sting of
Marimbondo). The publisher Imbondeiro encouraged the publication of
works by Angolan authors, who continued to struggle with racial conflicts
and the plight of the assimilado (those assimilated to Portuguese culture
and Roman Catholicism). Mrio Antnio wrote of the loss of the African
past, and Luandino Vieira (pseudonym of Jos Vieira Mateus da Graa)
described life in the Angolan city of Luanda (Luuanda [1963]). In 1961 he
was arrested and sentenced to 14 years imprisonment. From the middle
of the 20th century the writing of poetry was encouraged by the
.Sociedade Cultural de Angola (Angolan Cultural Society)
Pepetela (Artur Carlos Maurcio Pestana dos Santos) wrote novels,
such asMayombe (1980; Eng. trans. Mayombe), about the civil war that
followed Angolas independence in 1975. He also looked to the more
distant past: Yaka (1984; Eng. trans. Yaka) deals with 19th-century Angola,
and Lueji (1989) is a story of an African princess of the 17th century. His A
gerao da utopia (1992; A Generation of Utopia) takes the countrys

anticolonial struggle as its theme. In 1997 he won the Cames Prize, the
most important prize in Lusophone literature. Manuel Pedro Pacaviras
novel Nzinga Mbandi (1975) depicts an African queen, Nzinga, of the 16th
and 17th centuries and describes relations between Angolans and
Portuguese. History is also the context for Jos Eduardo Agualusas
novels A Conjura (1989), which focuses on the city of Luanda, with
fictional characters that espouse nationalistic views worked into a context
of historical figures, and Nao crioula(1997; Creole), a 19th-century
.adventure set in Angola, Brazil, and Portugal
In Mozambique, Joo Albasini was, in 1918, one of the founders of O
Brado Africano(The African Roar), a bilingual weekly in Portuguese and
Ronga in which many of Mozambiques writers had their work first
published. Albasinis collection of short stories O livro da dor (The Book of
Sorrow) was published in 1925. Rui de Noronhacomposed poetry,
collected in Sonetos (1943; Sonnets), addressed to his patria do
misterio (mysterious homeland). Caetano Campo, a Portuguese
journalist, wrote stories and poetry; one of his books of
poetry, Nyaka (1942), is a nostalgic view of Africa. Clima (1959; Climate)
is a collection of poetry by Orlando Mendes, a Portuguese born in
Mozambique. Joo Dias wrote Godido e outros contos (1952; Godido and
Other Stories); he was Mozambiques first African-born writer of modern
prose. The works of poet Augusto de Conrado include Fibras dum
corao(1931; Fibres of a Heart) and Divagaes (1938). In 1941 the

periodical Itinerriowas founded, and numerous new writers published

.their first works in this journal
Nationalist and political literature was important to writers in
Mozambique during the second half of the 20th century. In 1952 another
journal, Msaho, began publication; it included works by such poets as
Alberto Lacerda and Nomia de Sousa. Marcelino dos Santos (Kalungano)
wrote poetry steeped in African tradition, while Rui Nogars poetry
captured the atmosphere of Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. Jos
Craveirinha consciously evolved new poetic forms at a time when
attempts were being made to create a distinctively Mozambican literature
(Moambicanidade). He had a major role to play in these efforts. In his
poetry can be found realism, folklore, and Negritude. Another journal
appeared in 1957,Paralelo 20 (The 20th Parallel), that emphasized
Mozambican prose and verse. The newspaper Notcias (News) in 1958
and 1959 encouraged creative Mozambican writing. O amor diurno (1962;
Love Day by Day) is a collection of poetry by Fernando Couto. Important
poets during the second half of the 20th century include Virglio de Lemos,
whose work was banned (he was also imprisoned), and Rui Knopfli, whose
work includes O pas dos outros (1959; The Country Belonging to
Others). Heliodoro Baptistas poetry in A Filha de Thandi(1991) is poetry
of intensity, with its emphasis on form and image. Lus Carlos
Patraquims Vinte e tal novas formulaes e uma elegia carnvora (1991)
.is of the same quality. Vieira Simes and Ildio Rocha wrote short stories

Lus Bernardo Honwana, a Frelimo militant who was jailed for several
years in the 1960s, wrote short stories collected in Ns matmos o CoTinhoso (1964; We Killed Mangy-Dog & Other Stories). Mia Couto
wrote Terra sonmbula (1992; Sleepwalking Land); its publication was a
major event in prose writing in Mozambique. Couto moves between reality
and fantasy in his writing. In A varanda de frangipani (1996;Under the
Frangipani), for instance, a man returns from the dead to become a spirit
that moves into the mind of a Mozambican police inspector. Couto blends
folklore and historical events, such as Mozambiques civil war, into this
tale. Ungulani Ba Ka Khosa wrote the novel Ualalapi (1987), which deals
with an African king who struggled against Portuguese colonialism. Paulina
Chiziane wrote Balada de amor ao vento (1990), a novel that looks more
realistically and less romantically at the African past and that blends the
fantasy of folklore with realism. Short-story writers of the late 20th
century include Macelo Panguana (As vozes que falam de
verdade[1987], A balada dos deuses [1991]) and Suleiman Cassamo. Llia
Mompl published the short-story collection Ningum mataou
Suhura (1988; Nobody Killed Suhura) and the novels Neighbours (1995;
Eng. trans. Neighbours: The Story of Murder) andOs olhos da cobra
.verde (1997; The Eyes of the Green Cobra)
:Citation
African literature". Encyclopdia Britannica. Encyclopdia "

.Britannica Online

Encyclopdia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 06 Apr. 2016.

http://www.britannica.com/art/African-literature

Discover Nigeria

Florence Nwanzuruahu Nkiru Nwapa was a Nigerian writer, teacher

and administrator, as well as a forerunner of a generation of African
women writers best-known for broaching the topics of African life and
traditions from a womans viewpoint. With Efuru, Nwapa became Africas
.first internationally published female novelist in the English language
Early Life
Nwapa was born on January 13, 1931 in Oguta, Imo State into a
wealthy and influential family. She was the first daughter of six children.
Her parents, Christopher and Martha Nwapa, were both teachers. She
attended primary and secondary school in Oguta, Elelenwa in Rivers
State, and Lagos. She studied English, History and Geography at
University College, Ibadan (now the University of Ibadan) from 1953 to
1957. In 1958, Nwapa attended the University of Edinburgh where she
.obtained a Diploma in Education
After returning from Scotland, she became an education officer in Calabar.

In 1959, she became a Geography and English teacher at Queen's

School, Enugu. From 1962 to 1967, she held the position of assistant
registrar at the University of Lagos. When the Nigerian Civil War broke out
in 1967, she left Lagos with her family and, like many members of the
Igbo elite, returned to the Eastern Region. Nwapa was married to Chief
Gogo Nwakuche, a businessman with whom she had three children.
Although he took other wives, she remained Nwakuche's first wife. She did
not leave or divorce him because she wanted her children to be raised by
.their father
Writing and Publishing Career
Nwapa made her literary debut with the novel Efuru, which is based
on an old folktale about a woman chosen by the sea goddess to be her
worshipper. The book, which she began in 1962, was the first novel
published by a Nigerian woman in English and challenged traditional
portrayals of women. The central character, Efuru refuses to resign to fate
and tradition because of the challenges she faces from her two marriages,
demonstrating that a woman can survive with or without a man in her life.
The novel was published in 1966 by Heinemann Educational Books as part
of theAfrican Writers Series after consultation with her good friend Chinua
Achebe, who edited the series. A year earlier, she had been made the
secretary of the Society of Nigerian Authors (now the Association of
Nigerian Authors - ANA), of which Achebe was the president. Nwapa's
second novel, Idu (1970), is a story about a woman whose life is bound up
with that of her husband. When he dies, she chooses to seek him out in

the land of the dead rather than live without him. The war novel Never
Again (1975), which was her third book, drew its material from the
.Nigerian Civil War
Over the course of twenty-seven years, Nwapa published six novels,
nine children's books, three plays, two collections of short stories, a book
of poems and innumerable essays. Some of these works include One is
Enough (1981), This is Lagos and Other Stories (1971), Cassava Song and
Rice Song (1986), Wives at War and Other Stories (1980), Driver's Guard
(1972), Mammywater (1979), Journey to Space (1980), The Adventures of
.Deke (1980), and Women Are Different (1986)
At the time of her death, Nwapa had completed The Lake Goddess,
her final novel, and had entrusted the manuscript to a friend. It was
.published posthumously in 1995
Apart from writing books, Nwapa, with the help of her husband,
established herself as a publisher by launching Tana Press in 1976 after
becoming dissatisfied with her publisher. The company, which published
adult fiction, was the first indigenous publishing house owned by a black
African woman in West Africa. Between 1979 and 1981 she had published
eight volumes of adult fiction. Nwapa set up also another publishing
company, Flora Nwapa and Co., which specialised in childrens fiction.
With these books, she combined elements of Nigerian culture with general
.moral and ethical teachings

With regards to her political views, Nwapa considered herself

a womanist - a term coined by the American writer Alice Walker in her
collection of essays In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist
Prose (1983) - rather than a feminist in the Western sense. She
encouraged other women with her own example to break the traditional
female roles of wife and mother and to strive for equality in society
through entrepreneurship. She has often been called the mother of
.modern African literature
Public Service
Nwapa is also known for her governmental work in reconstruction
after the Nigerian Civil War. She served as Minister for Health and Social
Welfare for the East Central State (which now comprises Imo,
Enugu, Anambra, Ebonyi and Abiastates) from 1970 to 1971. In this role,
she found homes for two thousand war orphans. She also served as
Commissioner for Lands, Survey and Urban Development from 1971 to
.1974
Honours and Awards
In 1983, the Nigerian government bestowed on her the OON (Officer
of the Order of Niger), one of the countrys highest honours. She received
the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) Merit Award for
Authorship and Publishing at the 1985 Ife Book Fair. In 1989, she was
appointed Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at the University of
Maiduguri in Borno State, a position she held until her death. She was a

member of the PEN International committee in 1991 and

the Commonwealth Writers' Prizes committee in 1992. She was awarded
the highest chieftaincy title (Ogbuefi) by her hometown, an honour that is
.usually reserved for men of achievement
Death
On October 16, 1993, Nwapa died of pneumonia at the University of
Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu at the age of 62. She was laid to rest in
.her hometown of Oguta, the place which inspired much of her writing
Source: http://zodml.org/discover-nigeria/people/flora-nwapa#.VwWSDpx96t

Nwapa, Flora
Introduction
Flora Nwapa 1931-1993
Nigerian novelist, poet, short Full name Flora Nwapa-Nwakuche
.story writer, and children's author
The following entry presents an overview of Nwapa's career through
.1996
Flora Nwapa was the first Nigerian woman to publish a novel in
English, and hence gained international fame. Criticism of her work is
often influenced by feminist politics because of the woman-centered
nature of her fiction. Her work holds an important place in feminist
.discourse but has also garnered attention for its literary merits
Biographical Information
Nwapa was born in the East Central State of Nigeria in 1931. She
graduated from Ibadan University in Nigeria then Edinburgh University in
London. She taught English at the Queen's School in Enugu in the early
1960s, where she began writing her first novel Efuru 1966. She
returned to her home state during the Biafran War, which provided a
backdrop for her later fiction. After the war, Nwapa held ministerial posts
in the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare; the Ministry of Lands, Survey,
and Urban Development; and the Ministry of Establishment between 1970
and 1975. Nwapa also started her own publishing company, the Tana

Press Limited, which primarily published children's books, including

several of her own works. She was named Officer of the Niger by the
Nigerian government in 1982 and received the Merit Award for Authorship
and Publishing from the University of Ife in 1985. She served as president
of the Association of Nigerian Authors in 1989 and was a member of the
PEN International Awards Committee in 1991 and the Commonwealth
Writers Awards Committee in 1992. She died of pneumonia on October 16,
.1993, in Enuga, Nigeria
Major Works
Nwapa's work often focuses on the effect that African values have
on the lives of African women. Efuru tells the story of the title character
through the dialogue of the village women. The effect of the women's
gossip is to reveal both Efuru's character and the values of the society she
inhabits. Efuru stands out from her community for her beauty, her skills as
a businesswoman, and her inability to bear children. Nwapa subverts the
notion that childbearing is the only characteristic valued in African women
by making Efuru live her life as fully as possible and by showing the
reverence and esteem granted to her by other women. Through the title
character in Idu 1970, Nwapa portrays the pressure African women
feel to produce children. Idu frets over her infertility until finally she
produces a son. Nwapa's Never Again1975 concentrates on the
Nigerian Civil War and the trauma and paranoia experienced by the
refugees fleeing federal troops. The main character, Kate feels the tension
between her belief in an independent Biafran state and her belief that

defeat is inevitable. In addition, she feels pressure to repress these

feelings for fear of being labeled a traitor. Wives at War and Other
Stories 1975 also focuses on the displaced refugees of the Biafran
War. The title story surrounds Bisi, a Yoruban who has broken ethnic rules
by marrying an Ibo and the tension that results between the couple when
they must flee the war into Ibo territory. In One Is Enough 1981,
Amaka is an independent female character who stands up to her husband
when he tries to bring another woman and her two sons by him to live
with them. She eventually leaves their village for the city and becomes
pregnant during her relationship with a priest. When the priest wants to
leave the priesthood to marry her, she refuses, preferring to maintain her
.independence while still enjoying her sexuality
Critical Reception
Discussion of Nwapa's fiction as it relates to feminist politics
abounds in critical study of her work. Reviewers note her strong female
protagonists and her women-centered narratives. Critics often engage in
debate concerning the strength of the novelist's feminism based on her
characters' actions and their level of acceptance of or rebellion against
African patriarchal structures. Nwapa herself said that she was not a
feminist, but rather a womanist. Elleke Boehmer describes the thrust of
Nwapa's fiction by stating, she concentrates, and at length, on what was
incidental or simply contextual to male actiondomestic matters, politics
of intimacy. In terms of questions of style, critical discussion centers on
Nwapa' use of conversational style. Boehmer asserts, What also

distinguishes her writing from others in the Igbo school are the ways in
which she has used choric language to enable and to empower her
representation, creating the effect of a woman's verbal presence within
her text, while bringing home her subject matter by evoking the vocality
of women's everyday existence. Some critics complain about the lack of
traditional novelistic plot and structure in Nwapa's fiction, but other
reviewers enjoy the conversational narrative method. In her discussion of
Nwapa's Efuru,Naana Banyiwe-Horne claims, The constant banter of
women reveals character as much as it paints a comprehensive, credible,
social canvas against which Efuru's life can be assessed. Many reviewers
note the connection between Nwapa's narrative style and the Igbo oral
.tradition and praise Nwapa for her strong connection to her past
Principal Works
Efuru novel 1966
Idu novel 1970
This Is Lagos and Other Stories short stories 1971
Emeka: Driver's Guard [illustrated by Roslyn Isaacs] juvenilia
1972
Never Again novel 1975
Wives at War and Other Stories short stories 1975
My Animal Number Book juvenilia 1977

My Tana Colouring Book juvenilia 1978

MammyWater [illustrated by Obiora Udechukwu] juvenilia 1979
The Adventures of Deke juvenilia 1980
Journey to Space [illustrated by Chinwe Orieke] juvenilia 1980
The Miracle Kittens [illustrated by Emeka Onwudinjo] juvenilia
1980
One Is Enough novel 1981
Cassava Song and Rice Song poetry 1986
Women Are Different novel 1986

THE AFRICAN
Our Voices, Our Vision, Our Culture
WOMANISM THROUGH THE EYES OF FLORA NWAPA'S, EFURU
BY EBELE CHIZEA
Published on Wed, Jul 29 2009 by Ebele Chizea
Bronx, NY: I remember reading Flora Nwapa's novel, Efuru, at age 11
and being captivated by the beautiful, financially independent female
.protagonist who suffers many tragic events
Efuru is the story of a young woman in post colonial Eastern Nigeria
who wishes to be a wife, mother and a successful business woman. She is
able to become a successful trader, however, her personal life remains
bumpy. She loses two husbands and her only child. By the end of the
book, she visits the lake goddess Uhamiri after making some offerings. It
is then that she realizes that Uhamiri gives her followers wealth and
beauty but few children.
It wasn't so much the tragedy that seemed to surround her that
fascinated me, it was her strong spirit and her ability to take responsibility
for herself. She was the epitome of the modern woman. Efuru's cultural
background, the world surrounded by spirits and other mystical elements

was African. Her independence was a reflection of who she was as an

African woman.
Efuru is like the contemporary woman in the sense that she wants to
have it all; money, a husband and children. Though she does all she can to
satisfy all three, she learns the hard way that she in particular cant have
it all. Efurus story pushes us as women to ask ourselves how much we are
willing to be defined by our marital status and child bearing/raising
abilities. In the case of a woman who cant have it all, does that make her
a failure or make her life not worth something? I believe that Flora Nwapa
poses this question through this character.
Flora Nwapa's book which was published in 1966 and was the first
novel to come out of Nigeria by a woman allowed people to take a peak
into the authentic African woman, what she was, what she has the
potential to be and what she is once again becoming. Efurus story
inspires me as a woman that no matter the ups and downs in ones
professional and personal life, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
This is a Flora Nwapa quote I stumbled upon: "When I do write
about women in Nigeria, in Africa, I try to paint a positive picture about
women because there are many women who are very, very positive in
their thinking, who are very, very independent, and very, very
industrious." (from an interview with Marie Umeh, 1995)
Flora Nwapa who referred to herself as a womanist, was a novelist,
playwright, poet and the first woman in West Africa to own a publishing
house. Efuru was her debut novel. She went on to write other books

including Never Again and Wives at War and Other Stories. She died on
October 16, 1993 in Enugu, Nigeria.
Source: http://www.africanmag.com/FORUM-1247-design004Womanism_Through_The_Eyes_of_Flora_Nwapa_s_Efuru_br_br_by_Ebele_C
hizea_african_magazine_culture_fashion
Date of Access: 8 April, 2016

Me, You, And Books Blog

.Efuru, by Flora Nwapa
JANUARY 19, 2013
tags: Fiction, Nigeria, Village life
Efuru, by Flora Nwapa. London : Heinemann, [1970]
GLOBAL WOMEN OF COLOR REVIEW
A positive portrayal of a beautiful and strong woman and her life in a
.traditional Igbo village
Flora Nwapa was among the first women to join African men in
gaining international recognition in the 1960s. Efuru, her first novel, was
published in 1966. Nwapa is a Nigerian and an Igbo, and the book is
presumably set in a village there. In it, Nwapa focuses on village women,
often sharply restricted by their husbands and by their culture but strong
and capable in themselves. Her positive treatment of women and their
ability to survive appears most strongly in her main character, Efuru, a
beautiful and good young woman able to thrive despite major losses in
her life. The daughter of an important leader, she loses her only child and
neither of her husbands are faithful to her. She is generous to others, a
very successful trader and follower of the revered goddess of the lake.
Other women are her friends and from them we see a variety of villagers
viewpoints. Although contact with white colonizers is slight, they are

viewed as the cause of decline in obedience of the village children and of

.the village itself
My experience reading was Efuru was mixed. I certainly found the
book interesting and informative and was impressed by the ways in which
the women refused to be victims. The writing, however, was formal and
even ponderous. Ritual phrases and simple behaviors were repeated time
and time again. Even when tragic events occurred I was not drawn in
emotionally. Frequently characters hissed or laughed, but I couldnt
understand why. I am willing to assume that the problems are mine, not
Nwapas. I am simply unfamiliar with this style of writing. Perhaps Nwapa
writes in ways more related to her tradition. What was noteworthy is that
I have not had this problem with more recent books by global women of
color. Even when they make decisions that I would not make, their books
move me in ways that Nwapas did not. Many global women today have
more experience in international settings, where they share styles of
writing. They often protest western and globalized practices, but they
.write in styles that can be understood internationally
Source: https://mdbrady.wordpress.com/2013/01/19/efuru-by-flora/nwapa