Africa : Towards a "canon" of Classical African Literature

[delsydebothom]

This is really just an invitation to list works that would qualify as exemplars of African literature. Such a list might include complete works, or even modern compilations of ancient folktales, poems, and proverbs.

 

[LindaChavis]

I thought

this was interesting:

African American Writers from 1746-1999

1746. Terry, Lucy, " Bars Fight."
1760. The Narrative of the Uncommon Sufferings and Surprizing Deliverance of Briton Hammon, a Negro Man
*****Hammon, Jupiter, " An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ, with Penitential Cries. "
1773. Wheatley, Phyllis, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral.
1789. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano..., Written by Himself.
1837. Séjour, Victor," Le Mulatre." The earliest known work of African American fiction. The first translation of it appears in
The Norton Anthology of African American Literature, pp.287-299 (" The Mulatto")
1845. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.
1847. Narrative of William W. Brown, A Fugitive Slave.
1849. Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, an American Slave.
1850. Narrative of Sojourner Truth.
1853. Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northrup.
1857. Steward, Austin, Twenty-two Years a Slave and Forty Years a Freeman.
1859. Delaney, Martin L., Blake, or the Huts of America.
*****Wilson, Harriet E., Our Nig, or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black.
1861. [ Jacobs, Harriet A.] Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Written by Herself..
1869. Harper, Frances E.W., Minnie's Sacrifice.
1880. Harris, Joel Chandler, Uncle Remus: His Songs and Sayings. Harris Home Page from PAL.
1881. An Autobiography of The Reverend Josiah Henson ( "Uncle Tom" ).
1890. Johnson, Mrs. A.E., Clarence and Corinne; or, God's Way.
1894. Johnson, Mrs. A.E., The Hazeley Family .
1896. DuBois, W.E.B., The Suppression of the African Slave Trade.
*****Dunbar, Paul Laurence, Lyrics of Lowly Life.
1899. Chesnutt, Charles W., The Conjure Woman and Other Tales.
1901. Washington, Booker T., Up From Slavery.
1912. Johnson, James Weldon, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man.
c.1920-c.1935 The Harlem Renaissance
1923. Toomer, Jean, Cane.
1924. Fauset, Jessie, There is Confusion.
*****White, Walter, Fire in the Flint.
1925. Cullen, Countee, Color.
*****Locke, Alain, The New Negro:An Interpretation.
*****The Survey Graphic Harlem Number.
1926. Handy, W.C.,ed., Blues: An Anthology.
*****Hughes, Langston, The Weary Blues.
1927. Adams, Edward C.L., Congaree Sketches.
*****Fisher, Rudolph, Walls of Jericho.
1928. Adams, Edward C.L., ****** to ******.
*****Larsen, Nella, Quicksand.
*****McKay, Claude, Home to Harlem.
1929. Thurman, Wallace, The Blacker the Berry.
1931. Schuyler, George, Black No More.
1932. Brown, Sterling A., Southern Road.
*****Fisher, Rudolph, The Conjure Man Dies: A Mystery Tale of Dark Harlem.
1934. Hurston, Zora Neale, Jonah's Gourd Vine.
1936. Bontemps, Arna, Black Thunder.
1938. Wright, Richard, Uncle Tom's Children.
1941. Brown, Sterling, Arthur P. Davis, and Ulysses Lee, The Negro Caravan.
1944 Tolson, Melvin, Rendezvous with America.
1945. Botkin, B.A., Lay My Burden Down .
*****Brooks, Gwendolyn, A Street in Bronzeville.
*****Himes, Chester, If He Hollers, Let Him Go.
1946. Petry, Ann, The Street.
*****Yerby, Frank, The Foxes of Harrow.
1947. Motley, Willard, Knock on Any Door.
1950. Redding, Saunders, They Came in Chains: Americans from Africa.
1952. Ellison, Ralph, Invisible Man.
1953. Baldwin, James, Go Tell It on the Mountain.
*****Tolson, Melvin B., Libretto for the Republic of Liberia.
1954. Killens, John O., Youngblood.
1957. Simmons, Herbert, Corner Boy.
1958. King, Martin Luther, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom.
1959. Hansberry, Lorraine, A Raisin in the Sun.
*****Marshall, Paule, Brown Girl, Brownstones.
1960. Brooks, Gwendolyn, The Bean Eaters.
*****Williams, John A., The Angry Ones.
1961. Baraka, Amiri (Le Roi Jones) from PAL, Preface to a 20 Volume Suicide Note.
1962. Hayden, Robert, from Modern American Poetry A Ballad of Remembrance.
*****Perry, Charles, Portrait of a Young Man Drowning.
1963. King, Martin Luther, " Letter from Birmingham Jail. " ***** Strength to Love.
*****Parks, Gordon, The Learning Tree.
1964. Gaines, Ernest J., Catherine Carmier.
*****Baraka, Amiri (Le Roi Jones), The Dead Lecturer.
*****King, Martin Luther, Why We Can't Wait.
1965. Brown, Claude, Manchild in the Promised Land.
*****Baraka, Amiri (Le Roi Jones), The System of Dante's Hell.
*****Tolson, Melvin B., Harlem Gallery.
*****Autobiography of Malcolm X. With Alex Haley.
1966. Hayden, Robert, Selected Poems.
*****Baraka, Amiri (Le Roi Jones), Home.
*****Walker, Margaret, Jubilee.
1967. Baraka, Amiri (Le Roi Jones), Tales.
*****Reed, Ishmael, The Free-Lance Pall Bearers.
*****Wideman, John E., A Glance Away.
1968. Cleaver, Eldridge, Soul on Ice.
*****Gaines, Ernest J., Bloodline.
*****Giovanni, Nikki, Black Feeling, Black Talk.
*****Lorde, Audre, The First Cities
1970. Angelou, Maya (Voices From the Gaps), I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
*****Brown, Cecil, The Life and Loves of Mr. Jiveass ******.
*****Evans, Mari, I Am a Black Woman.
*****Wideman, John Edgar, Hurry Home.
1971. Angelou, Maya, Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie.
*****Gaines, Ernest J., The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.
*****Killens, John O., The Cotillion; or, One Good Bull is Half the Herd.
*****Morrison, Toni, The Bluest Eye.
1972. Bambara, Toni Cade, Gorilla, My Love.
*****Reed, Ishmael, Mumbo Jumbo.
1973. Walker, Alice, Revolutionary Petunias and Other Poems.
*****Wideman, John Edgar, The Lynchers.
1974. Angelou, Maya, Gather Together in My Name.
1975. Angelou, Maya, Oh Pray My Wings are Gonna Fit Me Well.
*****Hayden, Robert, Angle of Ascent.
*****Jones, Gayl, Corregidora.
1976. Angelou, Maya, Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas.
*****Haley, Alex, Roots.
*****Jones, Gayl, Eva's Man.
1977. Bambara, Toni Cade, The Sea-Birds are Still Alive.
*****Cleaver, Eldridge, Soul on Fire.
*****Jones, Gayl, White Rat.
1978. Gaines, Ernest J., In My Father's House.
1979. Jeffers, Lance, Grandsire.
1980. Bambara, Toni Cade, The Salt-Eaters.
*****Dove, Rita, The Yellow House on the Corner.
*****Shange, Ntozake, Nappy Edges.
1981. Evans, Mari, Nightstar.
*****Jones, Gayl, Song for Anninho.
1982. Hayden, Robert, American Journal.
*****Naylor, Gloria, The Women of Brewster Place.
*****Shange, Ntozake, Sassafras, Cypress, and Indigo.
1983. Angelou, Maya, Shaker, Why Don't You Sing ?.
*****Gaines, Ernest J., A Gathering of Old Men.
*****Jones, Gayl, The Hermit-Woman.
1984. Baraka, Amira, The Autobiography of LeRoi Jones.
*****Daggers and Javelins.
1985. Jones, Gayl, Xarque and Other Poems.
***** Kincaid, Jamaica, Annie John.
*****Wilson, August, Fences.
1987. Bambara, Toni Cade, If Blessing Comes.
*****McMillan, Terry, Mama.
1988. Ellis, Trey, Platitudes.
1990. Walker, Margaret, How I Wrote Jubilee and Other Essays.
*****Wideman, John Edgar, Philadelphia Fire.
1992. Morrison, Toni, Jazz.
1993. Reed, Ishmael, Japanese By Spring.
1994. Wideman, John Edgar, Fatheralong.
1996. Wideman, John Edgar, The Cattle Killing.
1998. Morrison, Toni, Paradise.
1999. Williams, John A, Clifford's Blues.

http://frank.mtsu.edu/~vvesper/afam.html

 

[delsydebothom]

Plenty of public-domain goodies in that list! But I was thinking more along the lines of continental African work.

Europe, for instance, has its "canon" which, with some variation, includes the works of e.g., Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Caesar, Cicero, Virgil, Bede, Aquinas, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Francis Bacon, Descartes, Dickens, and many others. Also included would be works that did not originate in Europe, but exerted profound influence on it (e.g., Sacred Scripture, which is of course Middle Eastern, and the works of St. Augustine of Hippo, the African Bishop). Since all of these authors were members of the species Homo Sapiens--which is an African species--Africa can still claim each of them as her own. But what about work composed in Africa proper? The Epic of Sundiata would certainly be included on such a list.

The oral literature in Africa is, from what I hear, varied and rich. I'd sure like to know more about it, and what examples of it have been committed to writing.

 

[RAPTOR]

Since all of these authors were members of the species Homo Sapiens--which is an African species--Africa can still claim each of them as her own.

That maybe.

But does that, in your opinion, make them afrikan in culture/world view?

As well as drawing (and even starting) on your own intellectual heritage, it is suggested,
and I agree with the suggestion, that we "draw on the intellectual heritage of the whole world".

 

[delsydebothom]

That maybe.

But does that, in your opinion, make them afrikan in culture/world view?

As well as drawing (and even starting) on your own intellectual heritage, it is suggested,
and I agree with the suggestion, that we "draw on the intellectual heritage of the whole world".

Africa is hardly homogeneous itself; the marked difference between the world view of the Khoisan and the surrounding culture is evidence enough for that.

I would certainly be willing to suggest, though, that the political border we put between Africa and the rest of the world is man-made. Who decided Israel wasn't part of Africa? Or Syria? Or the entire Middle East? The division is cultural, to be sure, but the difference in culture between Northeast Africa and the Middle East is no more stark than the difference between the cultures of Kenya and Morocco, respectively.

I think that Africa can claim all human cultures as her own, since all cultures are those of an irreversibly African species. Nevertheless, the usefulness of labeling regions into meta-geographical categories is immense, as it allows us to appreciate more easily the many varied ways in which this African species has expressed its experiences around the world.

Regardless, a literary canon from Africa, the motherland of all peoples, would be immensely valuable to the development of persons all across the globe; embodied in it would be the unique observations of people who have gained their wisdom from a very unique land.