ISBN: 0140410244
Godina izdanja: 1969
Jezik: Engleski
Vrsta: Istorija svetske književnosti
Autor: Strani

O.R. Dathorne, Willfried Feuser - Africa in Prose
Penguin, 1969
384 str.
meki povez
stanje: dobro, prednja korica delimično zalepljena selotejpom.

This book was published in 1969 and contains 44 works by writers from 17 African countries. As far as can be judged, about half of the works were published in the 1960s, a fifth in the 1950s, and the remainder between the 1890s and 1940s. One-quarter of the pieces come from Nigeria, and other countries with three or more stories were South Africa, Senegal, Kenya and Ghana.

The majority of the pieces were excerpts from major novels published between the 1910s and the 1960s, with the rest of the space devoted to short stories and excerpts from a few memoirs, essays and speeches. There were a few introductory paragraphs for each writer briefly placing them in context, and the bibliographical information was thorough.

The novels, the excerpts of which were unfortunately only a few pages each, included Joseph Casely-Hayford`s Ethiopia Unbound (1911) and Sol Plaatje`s Mhudi (written ca. 1913, published 1930), among the earliest modern novels written by black Africans. It didn`t mention Thomas Mfolo`s Chaka, written earlier, ca. 1910, but not published in English until several decades later.

Other novels included R. Dhlomo`s An African Tragedy (1928), the first novel by a black African published in book form in English; Ousmane Socé`s Karim (1935), an early black African novel published in French and the prototype of the urban African novel; and R. Obeng`s Eighteenpence (1943), the first West African novel published in English, As well as Paul Hazoumé`s Doguicimi (ca. 1935), a recreation of the court of an African kingdom set in the first half of the 1800s, Mongo Beti`s The Poor Christ of Bomba (1956), Sembène Ousmane`s God`s Bits of Wood (1960) and Alex La Guma`s A Walk in the Night (1962). There were even a few excerpts from works by Nigerian writers from the Onitsha market of the 1960s, who satisfied the tastes of their domestic market with titles like Rosemary and the Taxi Driver and Mabel the Sweet Honey That Poured Away.

Major early works of nonfiction excerpted included the historian A.B.C. Sibthorpe`s 1907 account of conditions aboard a slave ship captured 70 years earlier, and Sol Plaatje`s Native Life in South Africa, inspired by the Land Act of 1913, which restricted land ownership by black Africans to a fraction of the country. There was also a brief but fascinating selection from a piece written by a man from Zanzibar on impressions from travel with his German employer to Russia in the 1890s. In St. Petersburg, upon meeting Tartar workers at his hotel, he was astonished to find fellow Muslims in a European country.

Naturally, in a number of the pieces through the 1960s, the focus was on the encounter with European cultures and values, the interaction between black Africans and white Europeans. Or with people struggling to cope with changes in their societies. A few of the other stories, set in the past, focused on native burial customs and other social rituals. The editors pointed to a story written in the 1960s as indicating a new direction: concern with the individual apart from society, emphasizing the thoughts of `I, the narrator.`

Slightly more than half of the works were written in English in the original. Another 13 were translated from the French and two from the Portuguese. A few other pieces were translated into English from indigenous languages: two from Yoruba and one each from Swahili, Tiv and a dialect of Nyanja.

This book differed from most other contemporary and later anthologies for the region in its historical scope, including many early works as well as later ones, in its relatively generous selection of works translated by French-speaking writers, and in its inclusion of a few works written in indigenous languages. It struck me as a wide-ranging, informed selection of African literature. On the other hand, readers who love short stories might not appreciate all the excerpts, since naturally these weren`t self-contained. And maybe it was a sign of the times that of the 40-odd writers included, all but one were male; nothing by Olive Schreiner, Gladys Casely-Hayford, Nadine Gordimer, Ama Ata Aidoo, Bessie Head, Grace Ogot or Flora Nwapa.

Readers who enjoyed this work might also like African Voices, compiled by Peggy Rutherfoord and published back in 1958.

Contents:
A journey to Russia and Siberia in 1896 / Salim bin Abkari
Coup / John Mensah Sarbah
The black joke / A.B.C. Sibthorpe
An early train journey / E. Casely-Hayford
Native life in South Africa / Sol T. Plaatje
The rake / R.R.R. Dhlomo
Segilola: the lady with the delicate eye-balls / Isaac B. Thomas
Mhudi and Umnandi / Sol T. Plaatje
Courting in Saint-Louis / Ousmane Soce
A message to the ancestors / Paul Hazoume
Justice / Akiga
Konaduwa`s trial / E.E. Obeng
The visitor / S.Y. Ntara
Reminiscences / Adelaide Casely-Hayford
Mambeke`s creed / Jean Malonga
Nini in distress / Abdoulaye Sadji
̀ ... and reel to the brink of the grave which awaits you` / David Ananou
The medal / Ferdinand Oyono
Saving souls in Tala land / Mongo Beti
Speech delivered on the occasion of President de Gaulle`s arrival at Conakry / Sekou Toure. High life / Kenule tsaro-Wiwa
How fast we are moving / Timothy Wangusa
How Mabel learnt / Speedy Eric
Rosemary and the taxi driver / Miller O. Albert
Lumumba`s last days / Okenwa Olisa
Strike / Sembene Ousmane
Chief Xa-Mucuari`s grievance / Castro Soromenho
Riot / Casey Motsisi
Kocoumbo and the stowaway / Ake Loba
Death in the city / Alex la Guma
Everything under the sun / D.N. Malinwa
Remember the day after tomorrow / Amos Tutuola
Mourner`s progress / Edward Babatunde Haratio-Jones
A ballad of Oyo / Ezekiel Mphahlele
The old woman / Luis Bernardo Honwana
The meeting / Nazi Boni
Limits / James Ngugi
The initiation / Jonathan Kariara
The house / Sadru Kassam
Negritude and Marxism / Leopold Sedar Senghor
Lagos interlude / Ralph Opara
Salutations to the gut / Wole Soyinka
A wise man solves his own problems / Bakare Gbadamosi
The city of the future / Cheikh Hamidou Kane