I UNIT 21 : THE AFRICAN NOVEL IN *a

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ENGLISH :AN INTRODUCTION

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Structure
21.0 Objectives
21 1 Introductioi~

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21 2 African Writings : the Beginnings
21.3 African Novel in English: in various regions
1 21.4 Let Us Sum Up
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2 1.5 Suggested Reading

.I 21.6 Answers to Exercises

21.0 OBJECTIVES
The primary objective of this unit is to survey briefly the tradition of creative writing in
different regions of Africa since the pre-colonial era. While we would like to examine
the nature and forms of literature composed before the arrival of Europeans, our primary
focus would be on the development of the novel as a form of literature in Africa. This
uill help us place Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart in a proper literary perspective and
it will also help us in evaluating it in relation to other si~nilartexts.
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2,l.l INTRODUCTION
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l'o state 'hat there was no literature in various parts of Africa before the advent of

i l:uropeans is as false as the statement that Africa had no history aid no past before the
amval of the Europeans. And yet both these statements have been made by many
responsible European scholars and unfortunately many Europeans have believed them to
be m e as well.
'The misconception about the lack of any literary achievements on the part of Africa could
have arisen because of the fact that a large number of African languages lacked the
, lradition of a script or a writing system. In fact out of sevcn hundred odd languages
:;poken in Africa, there are no more than forty-four which have been used for written
literary expression. The literate western societies equated literature with literacy and the
,lbsenceof literacy in a number of African societies was interpreted as their having no
Literary padiqon at all.
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It is said that story-telling is as old as man himself. If this is true, story-telling must also
have originated in Africa because, as stated in Unit 20, the origin of man can be traced to
Africa. In the following sections, we shall look at the content and form of literary efforts
in different parts of Africa through the ages.

21.2.1 The Beginnings : Oral literature

Telling stories and singing songs are amongst the oldest fonns of literary activity and have
existed in human societies since most primitive times. This is true of not only Africa but
of centres of human development in other parts of the world as well. Accumulated over a
period of time these songs and stories became a part of the cultural heritage of a particular
society. This body of literature which was oral had a 'functional' role to play and was
used on social occasions like birth, mlriarion. wedding and death 9ince most of s l ~ r h
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Things Full Apart societies did not have a script or system of writing down their languages, such literature
was preserved and passed on to succeeding generations through professional singers or
narrators. In one part of Africa these were called griot and in another they were known as
babalawo.

21.2.2 Beginnings of written literature

Most of the written literary activity begall with the arrival of the Europeans, although
some African languages did have a tradition of written literature even before their coming
into contact with Europeans. It was missionaries who took the initiative in setting up the
fir~t'printin~ presses and undertook the translation of the Bible and other religious books.
It is not surprising that the first efforts were made in the southern regions of Africa
because, of the seven hundred odd major languages in Africa, only forty-nine have a
writing system and some literary output. Eighteen of these languages are from Southern
Africa alone. Hwever, other regions were not far behind in following this lead. We
detail below, region-wise, such initial efforts at creating written literature.

21.2.3 Southern Africa

European influence was the most pronounced in Southern Africa comprising of Sesotho,
Zimbabwe and South Africa. The first language to come under the European influence
was SesoUio whose first inajor writers were Segoete and Mangoela both of whom drew
heavily on folk literature and folk poetry. They, however, combined it w~thChristian ,

moral ideas. Rut the most prominent synthesis of Uiis tradition was Thomas Mfolo who
was also the greatest writer of this early period. In 1906, Mfolo wrote a novel whlch was
later translated as The Traveller to the East which is a kind of hero-quest.story about
Fekisi who seeks the Christian ideal giving up his tribal way of life. However, Mfolo's
most famous work is Chaka which was published in 1925 and translated in 1931. It is the
story of the great warrior king Chaka and his tragic life. Sol T. Plaatje is another major
writer wtiose books Native Life in Soulh Africa and Mhudi were well-received.
Xhosa was the next language to come under European influence and its pioneer writers
were Tiyo Soga and William Gqaba who were also iilflue~lcedby the Bible and John
Bunyan's The Pilgrjm's Progress. However, h e most important Xhosa writer of the
period was S.E.K. Mqhayi who tried to assert the independence of the artist from the
patronage of Christian religious bodies. Other prominent Xllosa writers include L.
Kakaza, J.R. Jalobe and D.D. T. Jabavu.
More literary efforts were visible in Southern African lnnguages such as Shona and
Ndebele of what is now called Zimbabwe. Its most important writers of the initial phase
were Mutswairof and Chivaura. The last to be drawn to the tradition was tlie Zulu
language. In tlle poems of B.W. Vilakazi, who is its most protninerlt writer, can be .
discerned anger and protest against tlle European settlers's exploit?tion of the Africans.
Other well-known Zulu writers include J.L Dube, and R.R.R. Duloma.

21.2.4 Western Africa

In western Africa, Yoruba, Ibo and Hausa languages from Nigeria and Twi , Ewe and
Fanti languages from Ghana came under the influence of foreign missionaries around the
middle of the 19th century and a of written literary efforts was under way by the
beginning of the twentieth century. Is'aac Thomas is the first Yomba writer and his book
The Autobrogruphy c.fSegllolu is centred around life in Lagos. The book is an
interesting blend of serious morality and hilarious comedy. However, a more important
Yoruba writer of this phase is D.D. Fagunwa who while mtending~tomoralise to his
readers under t l ~ einfluence of Christianity, also borrowed t~eavilyfrom the very rich
Yoruba tradition of folk tales and ~antasy His prominent books include The Bruve
Hunler in the Forest ofthe Four Hundred Gods and The Forests of Oldumare. OUler
well-known Yoruba writers are Isaac Ilelano and Adeboye Babalola.
Hausa language which is spoken in the northern parts of Nigeria, came under the influence
of Arabic language around tlie eighth century but written literature in Hausa appeared,only
m the seventeenth century. Early literature was in praise of Islam and prominent I-Iausa
poets were Tahir Ihrahim and Shahu IJsman Ilan Fodio
 Ibo was the last major Nigerian language to be drawn into the orbit of written creative The African Novt!l in English :
An Introduction
literature and the first important Ibo writer was Pita Nwwa whose short novel Omenukn
was published in 1935. More than a hero quest story, Ornenukn examines conflicting
loyalties and the psychology of crime. In many ways. Nwana's book resembles Bunyan's
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Pilgrim's Progress. L.B. Cram is another early Tbo writer whose novels were drawn after
Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver's Travels. Another important Ibo writer of the early phase
is D.N. Achara whose novel Ala Bingo is an allegory.
The written literature in Ghana has been within the oral tradition, borrowing heavily from
the art of speaking and singing. This is obviously evident in the poems of J.J. Adaye and
Ephrairn Amu. The same strain is visiblein the writings of Fanti writer R. Gaddiel
Acquaah whose Oguaa Aban describes the wanderings of the Fanti, their contacts with
other uibes, the Ashanti war and the coming of the Christian missionaries. Otl~er
prominent Fanti writer is Joseph Crlartey. Ewe, the third major language from Ghana
showed a strain of pervasive sadness in its early poetry as can be seen in the works of
Kofu Hoh and Kofi Awonoor.

21.2.5 Eastern Africa

Written literature in eastern Africa has existed since the eighteenth century when verses
were composed in Swahili language, a language spoken in the coastal regions of Uganda,
Kenya and Tanzania. The Swahili language, which developed as a result of trade
cont?cts between the Arabs and the coastal people of east Africa, has verses which are
sung or recited on public occasions and are called mashairi which is the same as the
tradition of mushaira in Urdu in our own country. Early Swahili poetry has a strong
element of Islam and its most prominent writers were Muyka bin Haji and Mwana
Kupona.
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Literature in other east African languages begins with Gikuyu writer John Mbiti whose
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i book Mutunga and His Story appeared as late as 1954. Of the Ugandans, Timothy
Bazaarabusa writing in Runyoro is the most important writer whose well~knowubooks
include I will Never Die,At the point of Death and Kalyaki and Marunga, In the Luganda,
language, the poems of Y.B. Labu~nbulacaught the attention of the people quite early
because of his successful inclusion of the narrative tale into his verse. Kintu is an
important example of this.

21.2.6 Central Africa

In Malawi in central Africa, literary attempts were nude in Nyanja language only in the
early fifties and S.A. Paliani and Samuel Ntara are important writers. Once'again, the
influence of Christian morality is quite evident in the writings of these two. Jacob Zulu's
I stories also touch on moral issues in a quite superficial manner.

21.2.7 Conclusion
In coilclusion we would like to observe that most of the literary efforts in African
languages were made prinlarily in British colonies and hardly any worthwhile efforts in
this direction were made in either French or Portuguese colonies. The reasons for Ulis are
not difficult to seek. Encouraging Africans to develop their own languages and literatures
was contrary to the French and Portuguese policies of assimilation which had the aims of
absorbing the Afiicans completely into the culture of the colonis~ngnations, namely
French and Portuguese cultures respectively. They encouraged the Africans to learn
French and Portuguese respectively and write in them. In the course of time, African
writings appeared in not only these two languages but also in English which we examine '
in tlle next sectic~n,with special reference to the novel in English since that will help us
place Chinua Achebe's Things Fcrll Apart in the proper context of the African novel in
English.
Things Fall Apart
21.3 AFRICAN NOVEL IN ENGLISH :
THE BEGINNINGS

As we have seen in the earlier sectioi;, the carlrest literary forms-in which the .\fricans
expressed themselves were stories, play, and poems. There were two basic reasons for
these : one, all the three genres. that i>pcews, plays and stories, suited the oral form cf
literature since it is easier to memonse them ?,ld two, once again these three could be
easily associated with the community-orieoted ssprcts of life. That is to say, they could
be recited, acted or narrated on specific social occ;sions.
However, with the coming of Europeans and their syqti:m of education, everything in
African societies including the socio-economic as well as cultural kpects of their lives
was completely disrupted. Urbanisation, shift to a market oriented economy and
emphasis on literacy led to the emergence of a new genre of literature which was alien to
African soil. This new genre was called the novel. LJnlike story-telling, verse-reciting or
play-acting, novel-reading cannot be associated with any community-oriented activay
since it is not possible to narrate it, or act it or to recite it. The novel as a literary form is
a typical product of a society in which the emphasis is not on community-oriented cultural
activities but on those activities which can be enjoyed by an individual in isolatioil within
the four-walls of hidher room.
As we have seen in the earlier section, some of the attempts made in creating written
literature in African languages was also in the direction of writing novels. For instance,
Thomas Mfola's The Traveller to the East, Pitsang and Chaka and Plaatje's Mhudi could
be called novels. Similarly, the writings of Fagunwa also fall into the category of novels.
So are the writings of those from east African territories, After these attempts had been
made in African languages, it was only natural that soon some Africans would attempt to
use this newly acquired literary genre of the novel - writing for expressing themselves in
the languages of their colonial master.
Unlike the fiction in 'African languages which originated in southern Africa, the
beginnings in African fiction in English were made in Western Africa. Two novelists
from Ghana - E. Casely Hayford and R.E. Obeng - were pioneers in this regard. In 191 1,
Casely Hayford had published a narrative called Ethiopia Unbound which is an amalgam
of documeiltatio~~ and fantasy. Events in the life of Kwamankra, the hero, take him to
London, W. Africa and even to the underworld. Education, Christianity, colonialism and
of course love are the focal points of tlle book into which Fanti beliefs and customs have
been blended be'autifully.
R.E. Obeng's Eighteenpence is in many ways similar to Casely-Hayford's Ethiopia
Unbound, particularly in its moral preachings and detailed documentatio~~ which in this
case is UI legal system of Ghana. Eighteenpence is written as an allegory in which ,
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Akrofi, e'principal character, borrows eighteenpence for buying a cutlass - a kind of
sword - io lieu of which he agrees to work free for his creditor, farmer Owusu. Owusu's
wife accuses Akrofi of attempting to rape her and thereafter begin a serieg of legal,
wrangles. Like Ethiopia Unbound, ~ i ~ h t e e n p e n too
c e shows the influence of the-Bible
not only in terms of a moral message but also in terms of language and style. However,
unlike Casely Hayford's book, Obeng's Eighteenpence shows signs of humour too

21.3.2 Beginnings in Nigeria

Amos Tutuola's Palm-Wine Drinkard published in 1952, is the first major attempt by a
Nigerian to write a novel in English and it was an instant success, primarily due to its
unusual and largely ungrammatical use of English. Critics saw in it, the birth of a new
variety of English. However, they were not sure if Tutuola's subsequent writings in the
same style would be as successful. However, Tutuola repeated his success many times to
show that there was more to his writings than just 'wrong English'. In fact, Tutuola had,
like D.D. Fagunwa before him, blended reality with fantasy. He had also drawn heavily
from Yoruba folklore material, trai~sfonningits myths to their modem vf rsions. It is in
this new use of Yoruba folklore that the intrinsic significance of Pnlrn- Wine Drinkard lies.
Tutuola was well-received internationally and his writings were translated into inany
languages of Europe.
 Other major Nigerian novelists include Cyprian Ekwensi, T.M. Aluko, Gabriel Okara, The African Novel in Engli ih :
An Introduclion
Wole Soyinka, Buchi Emecheta, Flora Nwapa. Ben Okri and of course Chinua Achebe, -

whose works we shall discuss in subsequent Units.

21.3.3 East Central and South African novelists in English

Writers in English from East, Central and South Africa, unlike their counterparts in West
Africa, were considered rebels and the element of rebellion against the colonial authority
in their writings was due to the additional presence of the settler population in these
regions. As we have seen in the first Unit of this Block, settlers added to the problems of
Africans suffering under colonial administrations. This led to a kind of writing in west
Africa where, as we have seen above, a lot of emphasis was laid on documentation. In
East, Cenual and South African novels we find writers condemning the European's
superiority complex, particularly in the fields of art, culture and education.

21.3.4 East African novel

Ngugi wa 'Thiong'o from Kenya is the most important novelist from this region whose first
novel Weep Not Child was published in 1964. It is the story of the break up of a Gikuyu
family in the background of the Mau Mau struggle for independence. Through the
characte; of Njorage, Ngugi explores the relevance of the western system of education.
His next novel The River Between highlights the conflict between the two cultures - the
Gikuyu and the European through their attitude towards the African custom of
circr~mcisingfemale children at the age of puberty.
Ono: again, Ngugi explores the relative merit of the African system of education and
African socio-religious practices vis-a-vis the European systems of education and
Christianity. He links this up with their impact on the Kenyan freedom struggle, lending
a distinct political flavour to his novel.
Ngugi continued to explore the same theme of confrontation between the two cultures and
its impact on various classes of Kenyan society in his subsequent novels - A Grain of
Wheat, Petals of Blood, Devil on the Cross and Matigari - giving him the status of not ,
only the foremost political novelist of this part of Africa but of Africa as a whole., Ngugi
wa 'hiong'o has been greatly influenced, particularly in his early phase, by the wQtings of
I Chtlua Achebe, i

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0th1:r East African r~ovelistsof significance include Leonard Kibera, Charles Maugua
Meja Mwangi, Stephen Ngubiah, Grace Ogot and Okello Oculi. i. '

Prominent Central African novelists include Legson Kayira whose novels The
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Loomingshadow and Jingala explore the same themes of conflit betwen the two cultures.
particularly the tradition of Africa and the modernity of Europe.. Another important
novelist is Khadambi Asalache whose A Calabash-of LiJe is more in the style of a praise
poem.
Major South African writers include ~ o b eprize
l winning Nadine Gordimer, Alex La
Gurna, Peter AbraAams, and Ezekiel Mphalele. The most important single factor
affecting all South African writers including the novelists is the obnoxious policy of
apanheid pursued by the racist South African government. While this policy of apartheid
affected their day-to-day lives, each of these novelists also felt handicapped in discharging
her or his duties as a writer. Nadine Gordimer, for instance, talks of 'unscalable limits' in
understanding the black South Africans because being a white she lives on the other side
of tlhe colour barrier . Similarly, Alex La Guma, another outstanding novelist is pushed
into the slot of a coloured novelist because his themes are primarily centred around the
prol>lemsof coloured people in a society which is divided threeways into whites, blacks
and the people of Asian origin. Also because of severe repression on the people in
general and writers and artists in particular, a number of South African novelists had been
forced to leave the country and go into exile. Alex La Guma and Bessie Head are the
mo!;t promfnent examples while Nadine Gordimer is the only exception. Their early
wriltings were naturally full of the themes of protest against this segregation on the basis of
the colour of one's skin.
Hol~ever,a number of these South African novelists have made a deliberate effort to rise
'I'hings Fall Apart all South Africans. Writers like Alex La Gumn, Nadine Gordi~nerand Alan Paton have
succeeded in doing so and are therefore no more sectarian writers representing their own
racial constituency. Nadine Gordimer's Jrrly's People and My Son's S t o y , for example,
are centred around black and coloured principal characters respectively. These writers
can now even sntirise or criticise aspects of the lives of black South Africans withdut
running the danger of being dubbed as racists. Peter Abrahams, Alex La Guma and
Nadine Gordi~r~er do it ever so often.
L)ominic Muliiisho is perliaps the only novelist worth mentioning from Zambia and his
novtl The Tongr~eofthe Dr~tnh(1971) is an impressive novel depicting the power struggle
in an African village.
West African liovels are centred primarily around the claii or the tribe because tliere were
no white seltlers to mrrke life miserable for them . In the case of the east, central or
southern Africa, on tlle otlier hand, since a large number of white settlers liad made their
homes there the struggles for freedom were bitter and violent. which is amply reflected in
heir novels.
Attenipts have been made to divide the African novel into five types based on the themes
of the novels. It is, therefore, no clearcut division and there are overlaps. Tlieir order is
tlle chronological order in which African fiction is considered to have evolved'over the
years. These five types are :

1) Novels which portray the intial exposure to the West and the confrontation with
Cliristianity. Achebe's Things Fall Apart and Ngugi's The River Between represent
this type. Since these novels also describe in detail the social aspects of the life of
their people, customs, rituals and kinship, they have also been called anthropo1ogic;ll
or sociological novels.

2) The second category of novels consists of probems relating to the adoption of tlie
westeni system of education. Weep Not Child by Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Atnbigrror~s
Adventrtrer by Cheikh H'midou Kane fall ucder this category.

3) The third type of novels are those that portrary problems relating to the process of
urbanisation or the development of a city culture. Jagr~aNand by Cyprsaii Ekwensi is
an important cx:unple of a novel of this type.

4) The fifth and tlic last category coiisists of novels dealing with more individual life
styles. Armall's Frtlgments and Mphalele's The Wanderers fall in this category
 .................................................................................................................................... The Afrlcnn Nnvel in English :
An Introduction

if 3) What were the reasons far the beginnings of written literature in African in its
soulhem region?
Things Fall Apari
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21.4 LET US SUM UP

Most literature in Africa before the arrival oflhe Europeans existed in oral form while in
some languages, parlicularly in southern Africa there did exist a tradition of writing. ,
Most of the literary activities in Africa were confined to the genres of poetry, drama and
stories since these suited the oral form of literature better. Novel as a genre of literature
is alien to Africa.
Most literary writings in Africa in the written form began after the European colonial
powers had introduced their own systems of education and their own religion -
Christianity - on the continent. The influence of the Bible is quite pronounced on these
early writings.
African novel writing in English is a direct result of the process of urbanisation,
introduction of market economy and the emphasis on literacy. The initiative in writing
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novels in English came from the Western parts of Africa Ghana and Nigeria. South
Africa was perhaps the last to draw Africans to writing novels in English primarily due to
the government's policy of denying the Africans access to European languages.
The tradition of African novel writing can be divided into five major groups based on the
manner in which various themes have been treated in these books.

21.5 SUGGESTED READING 1

Larson, Charles. R. The Emergence of African Fiction-(The Macmilan Press Ltd,
London), 1978
Palmer, Eustace, An Introduction to the African ~ o v e l(Heinemann,
' London), 1972
Wright. Edgar, The Critical Evaluation of African Literature(ZIeinemann, London),
1973.
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21.6 ANSWERS TO EXERCISES
1) Literary efforts ~trmostparts of Africa before the arrival of the Europeans were oral
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because only a-few languages of Africa had developed their own writing systems.
The most prevalent forms of literary creation were poetry, drama and stories because
these suited the oral tradition more.
2) These forms did not include the novel because most of the literary activities were
community and performance-oriented. For example, while poems could be read
aloud plays could be performed and stories narrated before a large audience. it was
not possible to do so in the case of novels which needed just a single individual in
isolated conditions of the fourwalls of a reader's room.
3) The beginnings of written literary efforts in Africa were mqde in its southern parts
because a number of languages spoken in these areas had already developed writing
systems that is to say diey had scripts for writing their languages.
4) Novel-writing developed as a direct result of the introduction of the European
education systems with more emphasis on literacy or written aspects of education.
Secondly, the introduction of market economy and the process of urbanisation
disrupted the community-orientedlife including the cultural life in which people
participated in groups rather than individually. Novel-reading is primarily an
individual activity.
5 ) The beginnings of novel-wnting in English wereflade in Ghana in West Africa and
its pioneers were Casely-IIayford and R.E. Obeng whose novel Ethiopia Unbound and
Eighteenpence respectively were the first efforts in this direction. Both of these
novels, as also many others later, were influenced by the Bible in both morals and