What is contemporary African literature?

What is contemporary African literature?

Contemporary African Literature is a useful contribution to the ever-growing body of African literary criticism. At its hub is the regard for much of what is shaping contemporary African fiction, poetry, scholarship, politics, oral traditions, and the challenges and prospects affecting the continent’s literary ethos.

What are the four types of African literature?

There are 4 different types of African Literature: Oral Literature, Precolonial African Literature, Colonial African Literature, and Postcolonial Literature.

What are the three phases of African literature?

The African literature thrived in three periods, namely: the pre-colonial era, the colonial-era and the post-colonial era.

What influences African literature?

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 …

What is African literature according to different scholars?

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. The literature of South Africa in English and Afrikaans is also covered in a separate article, South African literature. See also African theatre.

Which events of contemporary African literature reveals disillusionment and dissent?

Much of contemporary African literature reveals disillusionment and dissent with current events. For example, V. Y. Mudimbe in Before the Birth of the Moon (1989) explores a doomed love affair played out within a society riddled by deceit and corruption.

What is a postcolonial text?

Postcolonial literature is the literature by people from formerly colonized countries. It addresses the role of literature in perpetuating and challenging what postcolonial critic Edward Said refers to as cultural imperialism.

Who are the notable authors of African literature what are their works?

The Top 10 Contemporary African Writers You Should Know

  • Chinua Achebe. One of the world’s most widely recognized and praised writers, Chinua Achebe wrote some of the most extraordinary works of the 20th century.
  • Ayi Kwei Armah.
  • Aminatta Forna.
  • Nadine Gordimer.
  • Alain Mabanckou.
  • Ben Okri.

What is the influence of oral literature on the contemporary written literature?

In modern-day society, oral tradition still impacts the written word. Storytelling is integral to community and culture building, and people often form a connection with stories before ever learning to read or write.

What is the role of contemporary African literature?

Contemporary African Literature is a useful contribution to the ever-growing body of African literary criticism. At its hub is the regard for much of what is shaping contemporary African fiction, poetry, scholarship, politics, oral traditions, and the challenges and prospects affecting the continent’s literary ethos.

Is there a canonization tradition in African literature?

The idea of the scholar-poet tradition and canonization in modern African literature are chiefly new areas of study that are yet to generate voluminous and critical scholarship. Contemporary African Literature is a useful contribution to the ever-growing body of African literary criticism.

When did the criticism of African literature begin?

The Criticism of African Literature. The criticism of African literature awakened and grew by means of controversy during the 1970s and 1980s, with some of the critics taking the view that African literature can only competently be addressed by African critics, as if being an African provided one a special key to these literary artefacts.

What kind of language do African writers write in?

Most African writers, however, write in English, French, and Portuguese. There is the Eurocentric temptation to see modern African literature written in these European languages as an extension of European literature.