African Literature

African Literature

I would say that Africa has a complex literary story, an example of this are oral literatures; they have been in Africa for many centuries.

Between 2300-2100 a.c the first African Literature work was written; the oldest literature work was the "Memphite Declaration of Deities" . Abd Al-Rahman Al-Sadi was the first one to write an African History, and the name of this one is "History of Sudan".

They used to learn in a different way we learn nowadays, they used to learn with testimonies, riddles, stories and rituals and proverbs. 

There is a reason of why the Period of Colonization is called like that, and it is because the oral traditions and the written works were threatened by Christian ideas, and they were trying to destroy the primitive cultures. 1883 was an important year for African Literature, the first African Classic Analysis was written by Olive Schreiner and he called it "Story of African Form".

Leopald Sedar Senghor was a big influence in this time, he wanted to transform Africans in a political figure; and by that time (1930) african people used to speak french.

Another important character of African Literature is Chinua Achebe, because he wrote one of the most important novels of all the times, this one is called "Things Fall Apart" , this is a novel that still continues to be required reading the world over, also it has sold over twelve million copies and has been translated into more than fifty languages.

REFERENCES:

Literature notebook (2013) 

The writer Chinua Achebe was raised by Christian evangelical parents in the large village Ogidi in Igboland; which is located in Eastern Nigeria, he received most of his education in english, but had to grow up in the complex fusion of Igbo traditions and the colonial legacy. By the time, he is married and he has four children, He currently lives in the United States.
He did two carrers: literature and medicine at the university of Ibadan and after graduating he went to work for the Nigerian Broadcasting in Lagos.
He is known because he played an important role in the founding and development of African literature. He is well known for the famous novel "Things fall apart" in 1958. This novel sold over twelve million copies around the world; and it has been translated in 50 languages or more. Other novels of the ones he has done are: No Longer At Ease (1960), Arrow of God (1964), and A Man of the People (1966).
He wasn't only a writer, he also was a critical thinker and essayist who has written questions of the role Africa should have in culture, and the social and political significance of the postcolonial state in Africa.
He has received over twenty honorary doctorates from universities around the world. He received Nigeria's highest honor for intellectual achievement, the Nigerian National Merit Award, in 1987. His novel Anthills of the Savannah was shortlisted for the Booker McConnell Prize that same year.

REFERENCES:
Africana Studies (2012) Africana studies. [online] Available at: http://brown.edu/Departments/Africana_Studies/people/achebe_chinua.html [Accessed: 21 Jan 2013].

Biography of Chinua Achebe (2010) Biography. [online] Available at: http://www.gradesaver.com/author/chinua-achebe/ [Accessed: 21 Jan 2013].

Importance of literature in education and development

Literature in our education is very important;  it reminds us of what stories, scriptures and some of the classical works. It also tells us the time when the novels or books were written, so people get to know more about them. The bible is a good example because it has helped people in so many ways, it provides society with the guiding principles of life as it is. Literature also can change human's perspective of life, because when people go through poetic works and that stuff, these  help people to understand life better. It is a fact that literature is excelent for education, because it helps students when they have to research famous inventors and literary works, and get to know more about them. Literature is also in charge of making people notice about lives of many authors ( achievers ) who have made a great contribution to society; the things they have done are in their bibliographies and usually students can find it there when they look for any of them.

"Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become." - C.S. Lewis, a British scholar and novelist.

REFERENCES:

www.buzzle.com