Modern African Literature

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Modern African Literature
Without a doubt, modern African literature is for the most part a form of rejoinder to European colonization and can be categorized under the concept of post colonialism. It is apparent that European colonialists in Africa based their beliefs on an ethnocentric and universalism approach, implying that the African cultures had a lot to borrow from Europe. Indeed, modern African literature has drawn a lot of inspiration from European context, this is in consideration of the impacts that colonialism had on African civilization, particularly religion and education. In fact, most African authors readily agree with this fact. Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian and one of the most distinguished African authors, was of the opinion that undertaking literary works in English stood to elevate the scope of reach of his works. In "The African Writer and the English language" (30), Achebe outlines his view on this matter by stating, "The English language will be able to carry the weight of my African experience. But it will have to be new English, still in full communion with its ancestral home but altered to suit its new African surroundings".
It must be noted however, that modern African literature contains aspects of active protest in regards to the continent’s encounter with Europe. Certainly, references to instances of injustice and prejudice as orchestrated by colonial powers as well as issues of convergence of the different cultures make common appearance in modern African literature. To analyze this subject efficiently, this paper seeks to make specific inference to distinguished African literary works of poetry, it also calls for attention for a piece of pedantry in the sense that 21st century Africa is still a continent of alienated groupings of people, separated by numerous language barriers and under the rule of warring political administrations. A case worth mentioning, in this respect is where Chinua Achebe made travels to East Africa and met other great authors including Tanganyika but he was unable to relate with them as desired due to language barriers.
As the African continent struggles to battle the remnants of British imperialism and regionalism affecting its literature cycles, it even more has to deal with the fact that millions of Africans are still illiterate. Such a storehouse of facts has made many literature gurus to perceive the influence of Europe on African literature as positive. As Joanna Sullivan (75) states, "authors chose to write in English not only to secure publication, but to further their social prestige through international recognition".
The postcolonial period in Africa wherein there was lessening of domination by Europe countries saw Africans standing up to the occasion of independence as they began running their countries autonomously. Special emphasis was placed on both local and international platforms to ensure the realization of African empowerment. Sectors of politics and education form some of the most critical areas of engagement between modern African literature’s encounter with Europe. All the same, it remains clear that there exists a form of disarray in modern African literature. The aforementioned interethnic imbalances have resulted in gross linguistics separatism, as such, there has been witnessed a great challenge of uniting postcolonial Africa.
For a continent with many countries, Africa has a rich background of diverse cultures, languages and ethnicities. This makes African literature not to bear homologous characteristics, for the continent is "populated by myriad races and cultures" (Soyinka, 97). Like many other African writers, most notably Achebe, Wole Soyinka demonstrates serious "almost desperate, concern for his society" (Eldred Jones, 11). It is also of importance to note that the languages of European colonial powers have featured greatly in modern African literature. Despite English having the most dominance, Portuguese and French have featured significantly in African literary works.
Scholars have argued over time that African literature in relation to European encounter involves huge associations with "protest literature". This can be viewed as a product of convergence of cultures with major impacts on political views (Emenyonu, 52). Indeed, the establishment of social order in this respect remains homogeneous in the different parts of the continent as the writers from these places expressed a tendency of similar socio-political views in protest against the larger Europe. As such, one cannot decline to note a sharp and unanimous moral inclination in the overall body of modern African literature, owing to correspondence among major African cultures.
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