African Literature

African literature
Introduction
the traditional oral and written literatures together with the mainly 20th-century literature written mostly in European languages but also to an increasing extent in the many languages of the sub-Saharan region. Traditional written literature is limited to a smaller geographic area than is oral literature; indeed, it is most characteristic of thosesub-Saharan cultures that have participated in the cultures of the Mediterranean. In particular, there is literature in both Hausa and Arabic from the scholars of what is now northern Nigeria; the literature of the likewise Muslim Somali people; and literature in Geʿez (or Ethiopic) and Amharic of Ethiopia, the one part of Africa where Christianity has been practiced long enough to be consideredtraditional. The literature of South Africa in English and Afrikaans is covered in a separate article, South African literature. See also African theatre (theatre, African).


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 inthe educational systems imposed by colonialism, with models drawn from Europe rather than existing African traditions. The modern African writer thus uses tradition as subject matter rather than as a means of effecting a continuity with past cultural practice.
Oral traditions
The poetic and narrative forms of oral tradition among those peoples living south of the Sahara are immensely richand varied. They include myths (in the sense of symbolic accounts of the origins of things, whether the world, particular cultures, lineages, political structures, or gods), praise songs, epic poetry, folktales, riddles, proverbs, and magical spells. The content of this material also varies considerably and includes children's rhymes and oral history, as well as symbolic texts of profoundintellectual significance.
An important feature of African oral traditions is their close link with music. Poetry exists almost exclusively in chanted form or as song, and, among West African peoples with tonal languages (for example, the Akan and the Yoruba), much poetry is recited in musical form rather than spoken or sung. See also African music.
Myths (myth)
African creation (creationmyth) stories are as varied and imaginative as elsewhere in the world. The Kono of Guinea believe that the original force in the world was Death, who existed before God; the Lozi of Zambia see God as retreating helplessly from the cruelty of man; and the Ijo peoples of the Niger River delta believe that God (there regarded as female) allows individuals to choose their own fate before birth. ThePangwa of Tanzania have a fantastic vision of the world as having been created from the excrement of ants. The Yoruba of Nigeria tell of a creator who got drunk on palm wine and so created cripples and albinos. The most detailed cosmology known, requiring seven days for its recitation, is that of the Dogon of Mali. An unusually attractive creation myth is that of the Fulani of Mali, a pastoral,cattle-herding people whose mythology centres on milk.
At the beginning there was a huge drop of milk.
Then Doondari came and created the stone.
Then the stone created iron;
And iron created fire;
And fire created water;
And water created air.
Then Doondari descended the second time. And he took the five elements
And he shaped them into man.
But man was proud.
Then Doondari createdblindness and blindness defeated man.
But when blindness became too proud,
Doondari created sleep, and sleep defeated blindness;
But when sleep became too proud,
Doondari created worry, and worry defeated sleep;
But when worry became too proud,
Doondari created death, and death defeated worry.
But when death became too proud,
Doondari descended for the third time.
And he came as...