Literature
The beginning of Nigerian Literature
In the beginning was oral literature, the root of African literature. Nigerian literature, in particular, began with the oral tradition, pioneered by the unsung heroes of her literary past, like royal bards, warriors, story tellers, priests and many others. Literary elements like folklore and proverbs were originated by these unknown literary soldiers.
According to Bade Ajuwon in his article, ?Oral and Written Literature in Nigeria?, in Nigerian History and Culture, pre-literate Nigeria once enjoyed a verbal art civilization which, at its high point, was warmly patronised by traditional rulers and the general public. ?At a period when writing was unknown, the oral medium served the people as a bank for the preservation of their ancient experiences and beliefs. Much of the evidence that related to the past of Nigeria, therefore, could be found in oral traditions.?
He cited the instance of Yoruba community where ?as a means of relaxation, farmers gather their children and sit under the moon for tale-telling... that instruct the young and teach them to respect the dictates of their custom?. This was the practice across the cultural groupings that form Nigeria today. A literary work must, therefore, derive from these basic traditional elements to be adjudged as African literature. Nigeria, therefore, owes her present giant strides in the international literary scene to her rich oral tradition.
Advent of written literature in the North
The written tradition was introduced to Northern Nigeria in the 15th century by Arab scholars and traders. The intellectual and religious interaction between them and the indigenous community led to the adaptation of Hausa into Arabic script; a genre known as Ajami. The subsequent arrival of missionaries in the 1930s with the Roman script further enhanced the written tradition and gave rise to the emergence of many indigenous poets and prose writers. The novels in particular were based on folktales featuring fantastic characters of humans, animals and fairies. According to available records, the earliest literature in Hausa written in Arabic and Ajami, were by Islamic scholars such as Abdullahi Suka who wrote Riwayar Annabi Musa in Ajami, and Wali Danmasani Abdulajalil who wrote the Hausa poem Wakir Yakin Badar also in Ajami. The works of these pioneers marked a literary landmark, which came to its height in the nineteenth century when the Islamic Jihadist, Shehu Usman Dan Fodio, wrote hundreds of poems in Arabic, Fulfulde and Hausa.
The Hausa novel genres in Roman script were published from the winning entries of a writing competition in the 1930s. The works, which have become classics, include Shehu Umar by Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Ruwan Bagaja by Abubakar Imam, Gandoki by Bello Kagara, Idon Matambayi by Mohammadu Gwarzo and Jiki Magayi by M. Tafida and Dr. East. In terms of plays, the Six Hausa Plays edited by Dr. R. M. East and published in 1930 were the first plays in Hausa. It consists of three plays; Kidan Ruwa, Yawon Magi and Kalankuwa.
Advent of written literature in the South
Sounthern Nigeria owes its literary legacy to missionary activities in the area around 1840s which went hand in hand with inculcation of literacy. The need to translate the bible for the new converts necessitated a number of publications by the missionaries. Prominent among such publications were, A Grammar of the Ibo Language (1840) by the pioneer missionary, Rev. J.F. Schon and A Vocabulary of the Yoruba Language (1843) by Samuel Ajayi Crowther, an ex-slave and the first African Bishop of the Niger Diocese of the Church Missionary Society. Such publications eventually served not only the primary religious purpose but also as a sound foundation for the written indigenous literature, in which folklores and other genres of oral tradition were recorded and woven into poetry, short stories and novels, especially in the Igbo and Yoruba languages.
From fantasy to realism
With the growth in literary awareness resulting from western education, the literary tradition shifted from folktales to realism. The shift was galvanised by literary scholars at the University College of Ibadan in 1948. They effected the movement through calls at conferences, in journals and newspapers. The movement was earlier propelled when the Ministry of Education sponsored a novel writing competition in 1963. The major criterion was that the entries must centre on the prevailing realities in Nigeria then. Yoruba writers, in particular, according to Bade Ajuwon, reacted appropriately, eliminating the fairies in favour of human characters and omitting the animal-to-human conversation found in the non-realistic literature. ?Thus a new literary tradition was being adopted by many Yoruba novelists; they dealt with such universal themes as religion, labour, corruption and justice; they employed human characters and concrete symbols.? However, this did not mean that the folklore elements were completely eliminated. Rather, it was a kind of mixed grill.
For instance, Chinua Achebe?s first novel, Things Fall Apart, published in 1958, has Igbo folklore, thereby preserving the African elements despite the English prose. According to the Ghanaian poet, Kofi Awonoor, Igbo proverbs ?are intricately woven into the fabric of his style, completely absorbed to the extent that they constitute one of the most significant features of his totally African-derived English style?.
Other glaring example is Wole Soyinka?s poetry in the collection A Shuttle in the Crypt, which is loaded with elements of older Nigerian literature. According to Bade Ajuwon both ?O Roots!? and ?When Seasons Change? in the collection, dwell upon the images of ancestral generations and the souls of ancient Nigerians, reflective of the purpose of the oral literature of keeping family and local histories alive. Therefore, though Soyinka?s poetry in A Shuttle in the Crypt, like the other works of his contemporaries, encompass ?many themes and techniques of modernists, it equally reverberates with the Nigerian oral and written literary traditions.
Nigerian literature in the indigenous languages
According to literary scholars like Emenyonu, authentic Nigerian literature is that which is written in the indigenous languages. In Emenyonu?s words; ?It is important for any reader of fiction in Nigeria to realise that no matter how much the author denies or disguises it, every Nigerian who writes fiction in English today has his foundation in the oral heritage of his ethnic group?. An authentic study of Nigerian literature must, therefore, begin by examining and appreciating the origins and development of literatures in Nigerian indigenous languages.?
Another scholar, Obianjulu Wali, even went as far as defining African literature, in the early 1960s, as the literature written in the indigenous languages of Africa as opposed to English, French or Portuguese. This is perhaps why writers like Ngugi Wa Thiongo attempted abandoning English in favour of their indigenous languages. But these writers, Ngugi in particular, has reversed to writing in English due to the fact that, as another literary critic, Jeyifo, put it, literature in indigenous language is ?limited to a handful of the indigenous languages?.
In spite of the limited readership, however, indigenous literature has thrived with relative success especially in Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo languages till today. After the earliest literature in Hausa written in Arabic and Ajami by Islamic scholars such as Abdullahi Suka and Wali Danmasani Abdulajalil, Hausa literature has continued to flourish.
Written Igbo literature, which is equally as illustrious as the Hausa literature, is of much younger origin than either Hausa or Yoruba literatures. So also is Igbo indigenous literature. The first novel in Igbo, Omenuko, was published in 1933 by Pita Nwana. It was followed by other works in 1960s such as Ije Odumodu by Leopold Bell-Gam and Ala Bingo by D.N. Achara. According to Emenyonu, Igbo literature attained her maturity with the works of Uchenna Tony Ubesie, the leading novelist in Igbo language. The works include Ukwa Ruo Oge Ya Odaa, Isi Akwu Dara Nala, Ukpana Okpoko Buuru and Juo Obinna.
Literary scholars are unanimous on the view that Yoruba literature attained its maturity in the first three decades of the twentieth century. According to Isola, Yoruba became a written language in 1842. Poetry written in Yoruba has a far longer origin than Yoruba literature in the other genres. The earliest poetry, written in the form of religious hymns, was published in a collection by Henry Townsend in 1848. ?Moses Lijadu published Kekere Iwe Orin Aribiloso in 1886. He followed this with the publication of Awon Arofo Orin ti Sobo Arobiodu ati ti Oyesile Keribo both performed in the arungbe poetic form of the Oro Cult of the Egba,? wrote Isola.
In terms of drama, the Yoruba have a very vibrant theatre and drama tradition that dates back to the pre-colonial Alarinjo Agbegijo performers and other cultic/ritualistic theatres, according to Adedeji. It is no wonder therefore that the best of plays even in English today are produced mainly from that cultural background.
Novel writing in Yoruba also has a pride of place in the Nigerian indigenous literature. Isaac B. Thomas? Itan Emi Segilola Eleyinjuege, Elegberun oko laiye, the first novel in Yoruba, was published as far back as 1930. On this novel, Isola wrote, ?Thomas? socially relevant, realistic novel, first serialised in 1929 in Akede Omo, was not the first attempt at novelistic writing in Yoruba. But his novel was the first that exhibited features of the modern novel.?
Thomas? efforts set the pace for other literary works especially by Daniel Olurunfemi Fagunwa, who is said to be the best known Yoruba novelist. His Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmale (1938), according to Isola, is arguably the most popular literary work in Yoruba. The novel has been translated into English by Wole Soyinka as The Forest of a Thousand Daemons (1968).
Fagunwa?s novels, centred mainly around a lone heroic figure, did not only inaugurate the magical-realist tradition in Yoruba novelistic writing, but ultimately serve as inspiration to a generation of Yoruba novelists including Ogundele?s Ejigbede Lona Isalu Orun (1956), Delano?s Aiye D?aiye Oyinbo (1955), Afolabi Olabimtan?s Kekere Ekun and Adebayo Faleti?s Omo Olokun Esin.
The first literature in English by a Nigerian
There is no doubt about the fact that Nigerian literature in English is the one which attracts greater attention and has the greater influence nationally and internationally today. This is because, according to O. Ogunba, the literature has been produced by the new westernised elite who often have greater literary competence in English than in their indigenous languages. Ogunba further observed that ?although some highly literate Nigerians (for example Professor Akin Isola) have chosen to write in their indigenous languages rather than English, the number of writers who have made such a choice is very small indeed?. It could therefore be said that literature in the English language has taken firm root in Nigeria.
However, even before the written literature began to take root on the Nigerian soil, a Nigerian had made a literary breakthrough in far away Europe. The Nigerian, Olaudah Equiano, who was an ex-slave, became one of the first Africans to produce an English-language literary work. Published in 1789 and titled The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustava, the African, it is an autobiography containing how the author was kidnapped as a boy of 12 from his village of Essaka near Benin and sold to a white slave trader, and how he eventually obtained his freedom. The book was the first to give the West the true picture of Africa and the evils of slavery.
Equiano travelled throughout England promoting the book and spent over eight months in Ireland where he made several speeches on the evils of the slave trade. While he was there he sold over 1,900 copies of the autobiography. The book became an instant best-seller, running into its ninth edition by the time of the author?s death in 1797. It was published in Germany (1790), America (1791) and Holland (1791).
The First English-language literature in Nigeria
The real indigenous literature in English was pioneered by the legendary Amos Tutuola in the 1950s. His debut, The Palm-Wine Drinkard, published by Faber in London (1952), kind of served as a monumental link in the transition to the Western literary tradition. In the story, Tutuola crafted a unique narrative from traditional elements of Yoruba mythology. Though his dropping out of school in primary five as a result of the death of his father affected his proficiency in the English language, the seeming shortcoming became a plus when critics began to see the uniqueness of the manner in which he captured the way English is spoken by the ordinary people in his community.
His other works include My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1952), Simbi and the Satyr of the Dark Jungle (1955), The Brave African Huntress (1958), Feather Woman of the Jungle (1962), Ajaiyi and his Inherited Poverty (1968), and The Witch Herbalist of the Remote Town (1981).
Born in Abeokuta in 1920 by Christian parents who were cocoa farmers, he began attending the Anglican Central School in his home town at the age of 12. After his formal education, which lasted only for five years, he went to Lagos to train as a blacksmith in 1939, and from 1942 to 1945 he practised the trade for the Royal Air Force in Nigeria. After this he worked as a messenger for the Department of Labour in Lagos, then as a storekeeper for Radio Nigeria in Ibadan. Before his death in June 1997, he was a visiting fellow of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife - an honour that confirmed his international recognition.
A literary view of Nigeria by British writers
British imperialists who worked in Nigeria and thought they knew much about the colony produced literary works based on the local setting. One of such writers was Arthur Joyce Lunel Carey (1888?1957), who served as an administrator and soldier in Nigeria from 1910 to 1920. His works, particularly the novel, Mister Johnson (1939), were about his experiences in the British civil service and his views on the African culture.
The novel, described as comic and tragic, is centred on Johnson, a young Nigerian who falls foul of the British colonial regime. Johnson is assigned as a clerk at an English district office in Fada. Because he is from a different district he is regarded as a foreigner by the natives of the area. Even though he works his way into the local society, marrying there, he never really fit in. Worse still, he has difficulties in adjusting to the regulations and mechanism of the district office and his official duties.
Cary had on several occasions been quoted as saying that Mister Johnson was his favourite of all his books. But critics have questioned the views expressed in the book. Chinua Achebe was in the forefront. He pointed out that the depiction of Johnson as representative of Africans is flawed from the very outset, in the sense that such a character, a figure without a family to support him, is very difficult to imagine in the context of Nigerian society. And so, as Achebe himself admitted, the novel was the motivating factor for his novel, Things Fall Apart, as he sought to correct the wrong impression portrayed in Mister Johnson.
He said in a collection of radio interviews published by Heinamann in 1972: ?I know around 1951, 1952, I was quite certain that I was going to try my hand at writing, and one of the things that set me thinking was Joyce Cary?s novel, set in Nigeria, Mister Johnson, which was praised so much, and it was clear to me that it was a most superficial picture of - not only of the country - but even of the Nigerian character, and so I thought if this was famous, then perhaps someone ought to look at this from the inside.? So he set out to challenge the colonialist?s depiction of the African society in Things Fall Apart and his other novels.
The emergence of Chinua Achebe and his contemporaries
The emergence of Chinua Achebe and his contemporaries in the 1940s/60s marked a milestone in the Nigerian literary history. The most outstanding writers of this era were Wole Soyinka, Gabriel Okara, T.M. Aluko , Christopher Okigbo, John Pepper Clark and Cyprian Ekwensi. Generally referred to as the first generation writers, this crop of writers gave African literature focus and direction. They addressed basic African problems like colonialism, neo-colonialism and propagated African values to the outside world.
They sought to correct the misrepresentation of Nigerians and Africans in literary works like Joyce Cary?s Mister Johnson and African Witch, Rider Haggard?s She, King Solomon?s Mines and Allan Quartermain, and Joseph Conrad?s Heart of Darkness.
For instance, as against the African society of Mister Johnson, portrayed as uncivilized, simple and corrupt, the Igbo society of Things Fall Apart is shown as having grown from a long tradition of careful decision-making and a well arranged system of religious, social and political beliefs.
Speaking on the political values of this literary generation, M.J.C. Echeruo, observed that ?it was in Achebe and his generation that the political agitation (and) the philosophical speculations of 1940s bore their first fruit, long before the actual independence in 1960.? Achebe himself confirmed this when he said, ?I had to tell Europe that... Africa had a history, a religion, a civilisation... We reconstructed this history and civilisation and displayed it to challenge the stereotype and cliché.?
Explaining the combative posture adopted by the writers of this era even after the departure of colonialists, Achebe said, ?Europe conceded independence to us and we promptly began to misuse it... So we got mad at them and came out brandishing novels of disenchantment.? At this point the writers became more concerned with the issues of governance and corruption among the indigenous politicians that took over from the colonial masters. This period witnessed the publication of critical works like No Longer at Ease and A Man of the People by Chinua Achebe, The Interpreters, Kongi?s Harvest, Madmen and Specialists, A Dance of the Forest and Season of Anomy by Wole Soyinka, Casualties, Song of a Goat and The Raft by J.P. Clark-Bekederemo, and Path of Thunder by Christopher Okigbo.
African Writers Series
The emergence of the African Writers Series by Heinemann in 1962 really helped to boost the Nigerian and indeed African writings of the Achebe era. According to Odimegwu Onwumere, a poet and media consultant, the series has been a vehicle for some of the most important African writers, ensuring an international voice to literary masters including Chinua Achebe, Ngugi wa Thiong?o, Steve Biko, Ama Ata Aidoo, Nadine Gordimer, Buchi Emecheta and Okot p?Bitek. ?It provided a forum for many post independence African writers, and provided texts with which many African universities could begin to redress the colonial bias then prominent in the teaching of literature,? Onwumere wrote. The works in the series include novels, short stories, poetry, biographical writings and essays from across Africa.
The brain behind the series was the Heinemann executive, Alan Hill, and the first editor of the series was Chinua Achebe, who focused first on West African writers, and soon branched out, publishing the works of Ngugi wa Thiong?o in East Africa, and Nadine Gordimer in South Africa. By the time Achebe left the editorship in 1972, over 40 writers from 19 different countries had been published in the series. According to records, apart from the editors, James Currey anchored as the editorial director of the label from 1967 to 1984, and during his tenure, the series released over 250 titles by authors from more than twenty-five African countries.
In spite of the obvious advantages of the series, it also had some shortcomings. According to Onwumere, many African authors saw the series as part of the colonial masters? strategy of exploiting the relics left of Africa. Consequently, many of the authors did not want the label, AWS, to publish their works; they wanted African publishers as against the neo-colonial publishers. The genesis of this contentious relationship between the AWS publishers and the African authors ranged from advance/royalty payments to editorial recommendations. This was why perhaps, Wole Soyinka, for a time, resisted having his novel, The Interpreters appear in AWS; though he said it was for fear of being confined to the ?orange ghetto? defined by the recognizable colour scheme of AWS volumes. The contention could also be the reason for Ayi Kwei Armah?s hope ?to find an African publisher as opposed to a neo-colonial writers? coffle owned by Europeans but slyly misnamed African.?
But the factor that really led to the steady decline of the series seems to border more on economy than authors-publishers relationship. In Onwumere?s words, ?After a fairly prosperous beginning, the series faced [the economic] difficulties that mirrored those which faced the continent as a whole. By the mid-1980s, only one or two new titles a year were being published, and much of the back catalogue had fallen out of print.?
However, from the early 1990s, Heinemann has been making attempts at reviving the series by publishing new works, texts originally published in local release and translated works.
So, in conclusion, while there are all sorts of ways to critique what the AWS turned out to be, in the words of Aeron Bady, ?it is absolutely unquestionable that Alan Hill?s establishment of an ?African Writers Series? for Heinemann was the most important and most influential publishing infrastructure through which ?African literature? was first developed...?
The civil war literature
The issue that became a major concern to the Nigerian writers in the sixties and seventies, apart from the multiplying societal ills, was the Nigerian Civil War which took place between 1967 and 1970. The war, which is said to have claimed the lives of over 100,000 soldiers, affected the Nigerian literary scene in many ways. It claimed the life of one of the country?s most celebrated poets, Christopher Okigbo, and caused untold hardship to other writers like Wole Soyinka, who were detained for crying out against the atrocities perpetrated in the war.
The bright side of the ugly incident, however, is that the war provided inspiration for many writers, particularly those directly involved. These writers poured out their frustration, anger and memories in considerable quantities and qualities. For instance, Elechi Amadi wrote a powerful novel, Sunset in Biafra (1973), depicting his war-time experience. Other testimonies to the madness of the era were Soyinka?s The Man Died (1972), Chukuemeka Ike?s Sunset at Dawn (1976), Ken SaroWiwa?s Sozaboy (1985), Flora Nwapa?s Never Again (1976) and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie?s Half of a Yellow Sun (2007).
A legacy of protest
Rather than abating, the evils against which the first generation writers preached multiplied by the day, generating poverty and diseases. So the critical tone and themes of the literature of the first generation writers were sustained and amplified by writers of the subsequent generations who emerged from the mid 1970s.
As Dr. Ahmed Yerima, the General Manager of National Arts Theatre, Iganmu, rightly observed, Nigerian literature manifests the struggles of a people whose country is undergoing the painful process of transformation from colonial through neo-colonial to wholly self-determining nation. So, the second generation writers reacted to the bloody civil war, immediately followed by an ill-managed oil boom that, in turn, created social and political dislocations that the nation is yet to overcome. The second generation writers, according to Aiyejina, ?wrote socially-relevant, highly critical (some of them with a Marxist-proletarian bent) literature in highly accessible, people-oriented language?. Prominent among such writers are Ola Rotimi, Femi Osofisan, (playwrights); Niyi Osundare, Odia Ofeimun, Tanure Ojaide (poets) and Festus Iyayi, Eddie Iroh, Zaynab Alkali, Labo Yari and Abubakar Gimba (novelists).
A typical example of the protest works of this era is Iyayi?s novel, Violence (1979), which portrays violence not only as a physical phenomenon, but as a circumstance in which a man is denied the opportunity of being the real man he is supposed to be. Femi Osofisan?s Kolera Kolel (1975), Niyi Osundare?s Songs of the Marketplace (1983), Labo Yari?s Climate of Corruption (1978), Abubakar Gimba?s Innocent Victims (1988) and Chris Abani?s Masters of the Board (1985).
Though the question of categorising authors into generations has remained contentious among critics, it is popularly believed that the mid 1990s to the present is the era of the third generation writers who grew and started writing in the period of the structural and economic disjunctions that characterised military rule. According to Onwumere, ?the pressures exerted by the seemingly unending crises in various sectors of the economy: labour and electoral crises, mass unemployment, decayed infrastructures and constant closure of schools and lecturers? strikes; police and military brutality - all of these constitute the themes of the writings of this generation of writers?. Onwumere further explained that unlike the works of the earlier generations, there is a lot of experimentation, both thematic and stylistic, in much of the present writings.
Prominent the writers are Akin Adesokan (Roots in the Sky), Maik Nwosu (Invisible Chapters), Helon Habila (Waiting for An Angel and Measuring Time), Chimamanda Ngozi-Adichie (Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun), Sefi Attah (Everything Good Will Come and Swallow), Adimora-Akachi Ezeigbo (House of Symbols), Biyi-Bandele (The Sympathetic Undertaker and Other Dreams, The Man Who Came in From the Back of Beyond, Burma Boy), Akeem Lasisi (Iremoje: Ritual Poetry for Ken Saro-Wiwa), Toyin Adewale-Gabriel (Naked Testimonies), Lola Soneyin-Soyinka, (All the While I was Sitting on An Egg), Ogaga Ifowodo (Mandela and Oil Lamp), Remi-Raji (Web of Remembrance, and A Harvest of Laughters), Ahmed Yerima (Hard Ground, Yemoja, etc), Ben Tomoloju (Jankariwo and Askari), Tess Onwueme (The Reign of Wazobia), Ben Okri (The Famished Road, Star Book, etc), Emman Shehu (Questions for Big Brother), Sumaila Umaisha (Hoodlums), Ahmed Maiwada (Saint of a Woman, Fossil, Musdoki, etc), Mu?azu Maiwada (State of the Anus), BM Dzukogi (These Last Tears) and others. And they all speak with the same angry voice.
Female writings
All along, Nigerian women were not left out of the literary scene. They made tremendous contributions to the country?s literary development in all the literary genres. It all began with Flora Nwapa, the first published Nigerian female novelist and the first woman in Africa to have her work published in London. Her first novel, Efuru (1966), redefines the place of the woman in the scheme of things. And that set the tone not only for her subsequent works but for those of other female writers like Mabel Segun, Flora Nwapa and Phebean Ogundipe.
In the 1970s other female writers came up. They include Zulu Sofola, Catherine Acholonu, Adaora Lily Ulasi, Buchi Emecheta and Zaynab Alkali. Zaynab is the first female writer in English to emerge from the North. She made her debut in 1984 with her novel, The Stillborn. This was followed by The Virtuous Woman (novel, 1985) and Cobwebs (short stories, 1977). Her two novels produced in the 2000s are The Descendants and The Initiates. The new generation female writers have arguably gained more visibility than the old generation, especially writers like Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie who won the Orange Prize for her Half of a Yellow Sun in 2007.
Both the old and the new generation female writers are so dynamic that they explore not just the feminist aspects, they also engage in issues of general concern, such as politics, war and economy.
Children's literature
The beginning of written Nigerian children?s literature, according to Virginia W. Dike of the Department of Library and Information Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, coincided with the attainment of independence in 1960. She observed that though a few titles, like Cyprian Ekwensi?s Drummer Boy and The Passport of Mallam Ilia, were written some years earlier, they were not published until 1960. Dike further observed that the development of children?s literature was motivated by the felt need for a literature that would more adequately reflect indigenous views and realities. ?It was also stimulated by the rapid expansion of education and the resulting need and market for supplementary reading materials.?
The early titles, which concentrated on supplementary readers for the pre-adolescent age group in senior primary and junior secondary schools, were produced by the African Readers Library of the African Universities Press which, according to Dike, came out with 34 titles between 1962 and 1988. Other series that came up later were the Nelson Rapid Readers (1965), Longman?s Palm Library for Younger Readers (1968), Oxford University Press? Adventures in Africa (1968) and Evans Africa Library (1976). New indigenous publishing houses, like Onibonoje, also produced titles for children.
Development in children?s literature was boosted particularly in the 1970s and 1980s when Macmillan?s Winners Series brought out its first title in 1978, followed by others, such as the University Press Limited?s Rainbow Series.
These early works, according to Dike, were mainly based on adventure stories in which the hero or heroes, especially boys, fell into danger and helped bring criminals to book. Examples are Achebe?s Chike and the River, and Ekwensi?s Juju Rock. Some had school stories as their subject-matter, with the young hero succeeding in gaining admission into school (eg, Eze Goes to School, by Nzekwu and Crowder) and boarding school children playing their usual pranks (eg, Tales out of School by Nwankwo).
It should be noted that women writers like Christee Ajayi, Remi Adediji, Teresa Meniro and Mabel Segun played a prominent role in the promotion of children?s literature in Nigeria. Each of them produced over 10 books in this genre.
It was indeed an exciting time for children?s literature as it was for adult literature. According to Fayose, who compiled a bibliography of children?s books published in Nigeria since 1960 for the Nigerian Book Development Council, by 1986 there were over three hundred titles, many of which were prose fiction.
Unfortunately, the economy, which had been relatively good since the oil boom of the 1970s, declined from the mid-1980s, affecting the production of the genre in the same manner it affected adult literature. Presently, only few publishing houses in Nigeria like the Lantern Books division of Literamed, publish series of fiction for children and youth. Today, such books are mostly published in Britain. They include Heinemann?s Junior African Writers Series (JAWS) and Heartbeat Series, which began in the 1990s. Though the titles are by Africans, including Nigerians, and set in Africa, they are scarcely available to the African and Nigerian youths for which they are intended.
Pacesetter series
Between the late 1970s and early 1980s Nigerian young writers were given the opportunity to have their works published curtsey Macmillan Publishing Company. Through the company?s young writers? series, known as Pacesetters, hundreds of youths across Africa were published, with Nigerians forming the largest percentage. The series dealt mostly with contemporary issues that were of interest to young adults. Among the lucky young writers to be published were Mohammed Sule, author of The Undesirable Element (1977) and The Delinquent (1979), Helen Obviagele, who wrote Evbu My Love (1980) and Dickson Ighrini who authored Death is a Woman (1981) and Bloodbath at Lobster Close (1980). Other works in the series include, Kalu Okpi?s Coup!, Sunday Adebomi?s Symphony of Destruction, Ibe Oparandu?s The Wages of Sin, Sam Adewoye?s The Betrayer, and Victor Ulojiofor?s Sweet Revenge. By the early 1990s, there were about 125 Pacesetters titles. And the books were widely available, even in the market bookstalls, which usually sold only textbooks.
However, with the economic decline which began around the 80s, Macmillan separated from Macmillan Nigeria, taking with it the Pacesetters copyright. Consequently, the series vanished, and only occasional pirated versions of a few titles could be seen in Nigeria.
But, those who were fortunate to have been published have made their marks and some have even gone further to produce more serious works. Among such writers are Mohammed Tukur Garba (author of The Black Temple -1981); and Muhammed Sule, who published Eye of Eternity and The Devil?s Seat, respectively, in the 90s.
Onitsha Market Literature
In the 1940s to 1960s a vibrant literary genre emerged around the commercial nerve centre of Eastern Nigeria - Onitsha. The first books of this genre appeared precisely in 1947. According to records, there was no conscious effort or structure in the evolution of the genre, popularly known as Onitsha Market Literature. It simply arose when Christianity and colonialism in the 19th century created a crop of educated people from all walks of life who converged on Onitsha town to work, trade or improve themselves educationally at the schools and commerce institutions. Another interesting fact about the genre is that it was more of an attempt to fill a gap as, apart from school texts, the Bible and the occasional books from Britain, there were very few reading materials.
The main characteristics of Onitsha Market Literature is that the writers were amateur and of modest educational background (except the likes of Cyprian Ekwensi who were well educated - he was a pharmacist). And the books, which were in form of novels, plays and inspirational materials, tailored towards inculcating how to cope with the daily vicissitudes of living and adjusting from the past to cope with the modern, were more or less pamphlets. But they could be said to be the forerunner of the contemporary Nigerian literature, for the genre held sway for nearly three decades, producing over 200 titles. According to literary critics, it served as an inspiration to the first generation of what could be called serious writers that followed about a decade later.
From the business point of view, the genre is said to be boosted by availability of printers. After the Second World War, the Nigerian colonial government decided to upgrade its various equipment and sell off the old ones, particularly the printing presses. Business men, especially in the eastern part of the country, purchased and refurbished the old printing presses and set up printing and publishing businesses. They became editors, arbiters of literary taste. The books were produced in millions and distributed to agents who passed them on to booksellers and itinerant traders. They were made available in bookshops, motor parks and on the streets, and with time the sale expanded to other Nigerian cities and eventually to other English-speaking West African countries.
Some of the more prominent authors and their titles include: J. Abiakam, How to Speak to Girls and Win their Love; Cyril Aririguzo, Miss Appolo?s Pride Leads her to be Unmarried; S. Eze, How to know when a Girl Loves You or Hates You; Thomas Iguh, $9000,000,000 Man still says No Money; Highbred Maxwell, Public Opinion on Lovers; Nathan Njoku, Beware of Women and My Seven Daughters are after Young Boys; Marius Nkwoh, Cocktail Ladies and Talking about Love; Joseph Nnadozie, Beware of Harlots and Many Friends; Raphael Obioha, Beauty is a Trouble; Ogali A. Ogali, Veronica My Daughter and No Heaven for the Priest; H.O. Ogu, Rose Only Loved My Money and How a Passenger Collector Posed and got a Lady Teacher in Love; Rufus Okonkwo, Why Boys Never Trust Money Monger Girls; Anthony Okwesa, The Strange Death of Israel Njeanze; Okenwa Olisah, Money Hard to get but Easy to Spend and Drunkards Believe Bar as Heaven; Speedy Eric, Mabel the Sweet Honey that Poured Away; Felix Stephen, Lack of Money is not Lack of Sense, etc.
The books were highly patronised, especially by youths. For instance, Ogali A. Ogali?s play, Veronica My Daughter, published in 1956, hit a record sale of 250,000 copies.
Unfortunately, the genre did not survive the Nigerian civil war, which ended in 1970. The aftermath of the war brought about a revival of economic priorities, and the genre gradually died. However, some of the authors (like Cyprian Ekwensi, who pioneered the genre in 1947, with When Love Whispers and Ikolo, the Wrestler and other Igbo Tales) eventually became famous writers.
Kano Market Literature
Subsequently, the history of the Onitsha literary phenomenon repeated itself in the northern part of Nigeria. Commonly known as Kano Market Literature, the genre, written in Hausa language, began in the 1980s. And so far over 1000 novels/novellas have been produced. Writers of this genre, numbering over 300, are spread all over the North, but production and sale of the books are done mainly in Kano. Most popular among the earlier writers of the genre are Balaraba Ramat Yakubu whose eight books include Budurwar Zuciya and Bala Anas Babinlata who authored, among others, Da Ko Jika?
According to Professor Abdalla Uba Adamu of Bayero University, Kano, in his unpublished paper (Oct. 5, 2000), love themes make up about 35% of his collection of over 400 books. Other critics like Professor Ibrahim Malumfashi of Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto, however, argued that 40 percent of the works are on love, which is why they are also called Soyayya (love) novels.
Dr. Yusuf Adamu of Bayero University, however, asserts that the Soyaya trend in Hausa literature has now been exhausted. ?Soyaya is gone. People now mostly write about what I may call family life,? he said, adding that, the writers, who are mostly women, were no longer writing about a boy falling in love with a girl. ?They are focussing on what is happening in the home, how women are treated. And there is no name for it because even the Soyayya is a stereotype.? He also insists that the appellation of Kano Market Literature introduced by Professor Malumfashi for the genre was derogatory. According to him, Hausa Popular Literature? is more appropriate. ?What we feel we should call it is Hausa Popular Fiction.?
Unlike the Onitsha Market Literature, this genre was heavily characterised by debates among scholars and the writers. According to Dr. Adamu, the ?soyayya debate? began in 1991 when Ibrahim Sheme (now editor of Leadership newspaper) introduced a literary column in the Hausa language newspaper, Nasiha, and two articles by Malumfashi appeared, critical of the quality and worth of the emerging genre.
The debate has helped to shape the themes and subject-matters of the works so much that some of the writers have graduated from soyayya writing, as Adamu pointed out, to more serious subjects. Consequently, some of them, like Ibrahim Sheme and Balaraba Ramat Yakubu, have won the prestigious literary prize, Karaye Prize for Hausa Literature.
Though critics like Malumfashi are of the view that the genre may eventually be phased out by the flourishing Hausa film industry, the fact is that it is currently thriving alongside the industry.
Nigeria on the global literary scene
In spite of all the numerous problems bedevilling the Nigerian literary scene, it could be said that Nigerian literature has come a long way, considering the teeming number of writers that have emerged and the giant achievements of writers like Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka. Achebe?s legendary Things Fall Apart has been translated into about 50 languages globally. Soyinka, on the other hand, has done Africa proud by winning the Nobel Prize in 1986.
Nigerian writers of the new generation have equally pushed Nigerian literature to the pinnacle by winning some of the most prestigious literary prizes. Ben Okri won the Booker Prize for his The Famished Road in 1991, Helon Habila, Segun Afolabi and E. C Osondu, won the Caine Prize for their Prison Story, Monday Morning and Waiting, respectively. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has, like Habila, won the Commonwealth Prize for Literature. She has as well won the Orange Prize with her novel, Half of a Yellow Sun.
Beyond setting international literary standards, Nigerian writers have also succeeded more than any group in the country in exporting our culture and tradition to other parts of the world. This fact was eloquently stressed by the renowned literary critic, Professor Charles E. Nnolim. According to him, ?Nigeria today stands tall before the international community because of the collective endeavours of her writers... While our politics and the shenanigans of our business deals often sell the country?s private shames in the international scandal market, it is through the collective endeavours of Nigerian writers that Nigeria stands redeemed and enhanced in the eyes of the world.?
Nigerian literature is indeed at its golden age.
(c) SUMAILA UMAISHA
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Literature
History of Nigerian literature
The beginning of Nigerian Literature
In the beginning was oral literature, the root of African literature. Nigerian literature, in particular, began with the oral tradition, pioneered by the unsung heroes of her literary past, like royal bards, warriors, story tellers, priests and many others. Literary elements like folklore and proverbs were originated by these unknown literary soldiers.
According to Bade Ajuwon in his article, ?Oral and Written Literature in Nigeria?, in Nigerian History and Culture, pre-literate Nigeria once enjoyed a verbal art civilization which, at its high point, was warmly patronised by traditional rulers and the general public. ?At a period when writing was unknown, the oral medium served the people as a bank for the preservation of their ancient experiences and beliefs. Much of the evidence that related to the past of Nigeria, therefore, could be found in oral traditions.?
He cited the instance of Yoruba community where ?as a means of relaxation, farmers gather their children and sit under the moon for tale-telling... that instruct the young and teach them to respect the dictates of their custom?. This was the practice across the cultural groupings that form Nigeria today. A literary work must, therefore, derive from these basic traditional elements to be adjudged as African literature. Nigeria, therefore, owes her present giant strides in the international literary scene to her rich oral tradition.
Advent of written literature in the North
The written tradition was introduced to Northern Nigeria in the 15th century by Arab scholars and traders. The intellectual and religious interaction between them and the indigenous community led to the adaptation of Hausa into Arabic script; a genre known as Ajami. The subsequent arrival of missionaries in the 1930s with the Roman script further enhanced the written tradition and gave rise to the emergence of many indigenous poets and prose writers. The novels in particular were based on folktales featuring fantastic characters of humans, animals and fairies. According to available records, the earliest literature in Hausa written in Arabic and Ajami, were by Islamic scholars such as Abdullahi Suka who wrote Riwayar Annabi Musa in Ajami, and Wali Danmasani Abdulajalil who wrote the Hausa poem Wakir Yakin Badar also in Ajami. The works of these pioneers marked a literary landmark, which came to its height in the nineteenth century when the Islamic Jihadist, Shehu Usman Dan Fodio, wrote hundreds of poems in Arabic, Fulfulde and Hausa.
The Hausa novel genres in Roman script were published from the winning entries of a writing competition in the 1930s. The works, which have become classics, include Shehu Umar by Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Ruwan Bagaja by Abubakar Imam, Gandoki by Bello Kagara, Idon Matambayi by Mohammadu Gwarzo and Jiki Magayi by M. Tafida and Dr. East. In terms of plays, the Six Hausa Plays edited by Dr. R. M. East and published in 1930 were the first plays in Hausa. It consists of three plays; Kidan Ruwa, Yawon Magi and Kalankuwa.
Advent of written literature in the South
Sounthern Nigeria owes its literary legacy to missionary activities in the area around 1840s which went hand in hand with inculcation of literacy. The need to translate the bible for the new converts necessitated a number of publications by the missionaries. Prominent among such publications were, A Grammar of the Ibo Language (1840) by the pioneer missionary, Rev. J.F. Schon and A Vocabulary of the Yoruba Language (1843) by Samuel Ajayi Crowther, an ex-slave and the first African Bishop of the Niger Diocese of the Church Missionary Society. Such publications eventually served not only the primary religious purpose but also as a sound foundation for the written indigenous literature, in which folklores and other genres of oral tradition were recorded and woven into poetry, short stories and novels, especially in the Igbo and Yoruba languages.
From fantasy to realism
With the growth in literary awareness resulting from western education, the literary tradition shifted from folktales to realism. The shift was galvanised by literary scholars at the University College of Ibadan in 1948. They effected the movement through calls at conferences, in journals and newspapers. The movement was earlier propelled when the Ministry of Education sponsored a novel writing competition in 1963. The major criterion was that the entries must centre on the prevailing realities in Nigeria then. Yoruba writers, in particular, according to Bade Ajuwon, reacted appropriately, eliminating the fairies in favour of human characters and omitting the animal-to-human conversation found in the non-realistic literature. ?Thus a new literary tradition was being adopted by many Yoruba novelists; they dealt with such universal themes as religion, labour, corruption and justice; they employed human characters and concrete symbols.? However, this did not mean that the folklore elements were completely eliminated. Rather, it was a kind of mixed grill.
For instance, Chinua Achebe?s first novel, Things Fall Apart, published in 1958, has Igbo folklore, thereby preserving the African elements despite the English prose. According to the Ghanaian poet, Kofi Awonoor, Igbo proverbs ?are intricately woven into the fabric of his style, completely absorbed to the extent that they constitute one of the most significant features of his totally African-derived English style?.
Other glaring example is Wole Soyinka?s poetry in the collection A Shuttle in the Crypt, which is loaded with elements of older Nigerian literature. According to Bade Ajuwon both ?O Roots!? and ?When Seasons Change? in the collection, dwell upon the images of ancestral generations and the souls of ancient Nigerians, reflective of the purpose of the oral literature of keeping family and local histories alive. Therefore, though Soyinka?s poetry in A Shuttle in the Crypt, like the other works of his contemporaries, encompass ?many themes and techniques of modernists, it equally reverberates with the Nigerian oral and written literary traditions.
Nigerian literature in the indigenous languages
According to literary scholars like Emenyonu, authentic Nigerian literature is that which is written in the indigenous languages. In Emenyonu?s words; ?It is important for any reader of fiction in Nigeria to realise that no matter how much the author denies or disguises it, every Nigerian who writes fiction in English today has his foundation in the oral heritage of his ethnic group?. An authentic study of Nigerian literature must, therefore, begin by examining and appreciating the origins and development of literatures in Nigerian indigenous languages.?
Another scholar, Obianjulu Wali, even went as far as defining African literature, in the early 1960s, as the literature written in the indigenous languages of Africa as opposed to English, French or Portuguese. This is perhaps why writers like Ngugi Wa Thiongo attempted abandoning English in favour of their indigenous languages. But these writers, Ngugi in particular, has reversed to writing in English due to the fact that, as another literary critic, Jeyifo, put it, literature in indigenous language is ?limited to a handful of the indigenous languages?.
In spite of the limited readership, however, indigenous literature has thrived with relative success especially in Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo languages till today. After the earliest literature in Hausa written in Arabic and Ajami by Islamic scholars such as Abdullahi Suka and Wali Danmasani Abdulajalil, Hausa literature has continued to flourish.
Written Igbo literature, which is equally as illustrious as the Hausa literature, is of much younger origin than either Hausa or Yoruba literatures. So also is Igbo indigenous literature. The first novel in Igbo, Omenuko, was published in 1933 by Pita Nwana. It was followed by other works in 1960s such as Ije Odumodu by Leopold Bell-Gam and Ala Bingo by D.N. Achara. According to Emenyonu, Igbo literature attained her maturity with the works of Uchenna Tony Ubesie, the leading novelist in Igbo language. The works include Ukwa Ruo Oge Ya Odaa, Isi Akwu Dara Nala, Ukpana Okpoko Buuru and Juo Obinna.
Literary scholars are unanimous on the view that Yoruba literature attained its maturity in the first three decades of the twentieth century. According to Isola, Yoruba became a written language in 1842. Poetry written in Yoruba has a far longer origin than Yoruba literature in the other genres. The earliest poetry, written in the form of religious hymns, was published in a collection by Henry Townsend in 1848. ?Moses Lijadu published Kekere Iwe Orin Aribiloso in 1886. He followed this with the publication of Awon Arofo Orin ti Sobo Arobiodu ati ti Oyesile Keribo both performed in the arungbe poetic form of the Oro Cult of the Egba,? wrote Isola.
In terms of drama, the Yoruba have a very vibrant theatre and drama tradition that dates back to the pre-colonial Alarinjo Agbegijo performers and other cultic/ritualistic theatres, according to Adedeji. It is no wonder therefore that the best of plays even in English today are produced mainly from that cultural background.
Novel writing in Yoruba also has a pride of place in the Nigerian indigenous literature. Isaac B. Thomas? Itan Emi Segilola Eleyinjuege, Elegberun oko laiye, the first novel in Yoruba, was published as far back as 1930. On this novel, Isola wrote, ?Thomas? socially relevant, realistic novel, first serialised in 1929 in Akede Omo, was not the first attempt at novelistic writing in Yoruba. But his novel was the first that exhibited features of the modern novel.?
Thomas? efforts set the pace for other literary works especially by Daniel Olurunfemi Fagunwa, who is said to be the best known Yoruba novelist. His Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmale (1938), according to Isola, is arguably the most popular literary work in Yoruba. The novel has been translated into English by Wole Soyinka as The Forest of a Thousand Daemons (1968).
Fagunwa?s novels, centred mainly around a lone heroic figure, did not only inaugurate the magical-realist tradition in Yoruba novelistic writing, but ultimately serve as inspiration to a generation of Yoruba novelists including Ogundele?s Ejigbede Lona Isalu Orun (1956), Delano?s Aiye D?aiye Oyinbo (1955), Afolabi Olabimtan?s Kekere Ekun and Adebayo Faleti?s Omo Olokun Esin.
The first literature in English by a Nigerian
There is no doubt about the fact that Nigerian literature in English is the one which attracts greater attention and has the greater influence nationally and internationally today. This is because, according to O. Ogunba, the literature has been produced by the new westernised elite who often have greater literary competence in English than in their indigenous languages. Ogunba further observed that ?although some highly literate Nigerians (for example Professor Akin Isola) have chosen to write in their indigenous languages rather than English, the number of writers who have made such a choice is very small indeed?. It could therefore be said that literature in the English language has taken firm root in Nigeria.
However, even before the written literature began to take root on the Nigerian soil, a Nigerian had made a literary breakthrough in far away Europe. The Nigerian, Olaudah Equiano, who was an ex-slave, became one of the first Africans to produce an English-language literary work. Published in 1789 and titled The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustava, the African, it is an autobiography containing how the author was kidnapped as a boy of 12 from his village of Essaka near Benin and sold to a white slave trader, and how he eventually obtained his freedom. The book was the first to give the West the true picture of Africa and the evils of slavery.
Equiano travelled throughout England promoting the book and spent over eight months in Ireland where he made several speeches on the evils of the slave trade. While he was there he sold over 1,900 copies of the autobiography. The book became an instant best-seller, running into its ninth edition by the time of the author?s death in 1797. It was published in Germany (1790), America (1791) and Holland (1791).
The First English-language literature in Nigeria
The real indigenous literature in English was pioneered by the legendary Amos Tutuola in the 1950s. His debut, The Palm-Wine Drinkard, published by Faber in London (1952), kind of served as a monumental link in the transition to the Western literary tradition. In the story, Tutuola crafted a unique narrative from traditional elements of Yoruba mythology. Though his dropping out of school in primary five as a result of the death of his father affected his proficiency in the English language, the seeming shortcoming became a plus when critics began to see the uniqueness of the manner in which he captured the way English is spoken by the ordinary people in his community.
His other works include My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1952), Simbi and the Satyr of the Dark Jungle (1955), The Brave African Huntress (1958), Feather Woman of the Jungle (1962), Ajaiyi and his Inherited Poverty (1968), and The Witch Herbalist of the Remote Town (1981).
Born in Abeokuta in 1920 by Christian parents who were cocoa farmers, he began attending the Anglican Central School in his home town at the age of 12. After his formal education, which lasted only for five years, he went to Lagos to train as a blacksmith in 1939, and from 1942 to 1945 he practised the trade for the Royal Air Force in Nigeria. After this he worked as a messenger for the Department of Labour in Lagos, then as a storekeeper for Radio Nigeria in Ibadan. Before his death in June 1997, he was a visiting fellow of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife - an honour that confirmed his international recognition.
A literary view of Nigeria by British writers
British imperialists who worked in Nigeria and thought they knew much about the colony produced literary works based on the local setting. One of such writers was Arthur Joyce Lunel Carey (1888?1957), who served as an administrator and soldier in Nigeria from 1910 to 1920. His works, particularly the novel, Mister Johnson (1939), were about his experiences in the British civil service and his views on the African culture.
The novel, described as comic and tragic, is centred on Johnson, a young Nigerian who falls foul of the British colonial regime. Johnson is assigned as a clerk at an English district office in Fada. Because he is from a different district he is regarded as a foreigner by the natives of the area. Even though he works his way into the local society, marrying there, he never really fit in. Worse still, he has difficulties in adjusting to the regulations and mechanism of the district office and his official duties.
Cary had on several occasions been quoted as saying that Mister Johnson was his favourite of all his books. But critics have questioned the views expressed in the book. Chinua Achebe was in the forefront. He pointed out that the depiction of Johnson as representative of Africans is flawed from the very outset, in the sense that such a character, a figure without a family to support him, is very difficult to imagine in the context of Nigerian society. And so, as Achebe himself admitted, the novel was the motivating factor for his novel, Things Fall Apart, as he sought to correct the wrong impression portrayed in Mister Johnson.
He said in a collection of radio interviews published by Heinamann in 1972: ?I know around 1951, 1952, I was quite certain that I was going to try my hand at writing, and one of the things that set me thinking was Joyce Cary?s novel, set in Nigeria, Mister Johnson, which was praised so much, and it was clear to me that it was a most superficial picture of - not only of the country - but even of the Nigerian character, and so I thought if this was famous, then perhaps someone ought to look at this from the inside.? So he set out to challenge the colonialist?s depiction of the African society in Things Fall Apart and his other novels.
The emergence of Chinua Achebe and his contemporaries
The emergence of Chinua Achebe and his contemporaries in the 1940s/60s marked a milestone in the Nigerian literary history. The most outstanding writers of this era were Wole Soyinka, Gabriel Okara, T.M. Aluko , Christopher Okigbo, John Pepper Clark and Cyprian Ekwensi. Generally referred to as the first generation writers, this crop of writers gave African literature focus and direction. They addressed basic African problems like colonialism, neo-colonialism and propagated African values to the outside world.
They sought to correct the misrepresentation of Nigerians and Africans in literary works like Joyce Cary?s Mister Johnson and African Witch, Rider Haggard?s She, King Solomon?s Mines and Allan Quartermain, and Joseph Conrad?s Heart of Darkness.
For instance, as against the African society of Mister Johnson, portrayed as uncivilized, simple and corrupt, the Igbo society of Things Fall Apart is shown as having grown from a long tradition of careful decision-making and a well arranged system of religious, social and political beliefs.
Speaking on the political values of this literary generation, M.J.C. Echeruo, observed that ?it was in Achebe and his generation that the political agitation (and) the philosophical speculations of 1940s bore their first fruit, long before the actual independence in 1960.? Achebe himself confirmed this when he said, ?I had to tell Europe that... Africa had a history, a religion, a civilisation... We reconstructed this history and civilisation and displayed it to challenge the stereotype and cliché.?
Explaining the combative posture adopted by the writers of this era even after the departure of colonialists, Achebe said, ?Europe conceded independence to us and we promptly began to misuse it... So we got mad at them and came out brandishing novels of disenchantment.? At this point the writers became more concerned with the issues of governance and corruption among the indigenous politicians that took over from the colonial masters. This period witnessed the publication of critical works like No Longer at Ease and A Man of the People by Chinua Achebe, The Interpreters, Kongi?s Harvest, Madmen and Specialists, A Dance of the Forest and Season of Anomy by Wole Soyinka, Casualties, Song of a Goat and The Raft by J.P. Clark-Bekederemo, and Path of Thunder by Christopher Okigbo.
African Writers Series
The emergence of the African Writers Series by Heinemann in 1962 really helped to boost the Nigerian and indeed African writings of the Achebe era. According to Odimegwu Onwumere, a poet and media consultant, the series has been a vehicle for some of the most important African writers, ensuring an international voice to literary masters including Chinua Achebe, Ngugi wa Thiong?o, Steve Biko, Ama Ata Aidoo, Nadine Gordimer, Buchi Emecheta and Okot p?Bitek. ?It provided a forum for many post independence African writers, and provided texts with which many African universities could begin to redress the colonial bias then prominent in the teaching of literature,? Onwumere wrote. The works in the series include novels, short stories, poetry, biographical writings and essays from across Africa.
The brain behind the series was the Heinemann executive, Alan Hill, and the first editor of the series was Chinua Achebe, who focused first on West African writers, and soon branched out, publishing the works of Ngugi wa Thiong?o in East Africa, and Nadine Gordimer in South Africa. By the time Achebe left the editorship in 1972, over 40 writers from 19 different countries had been published in the series. According to records, apart from the editors, James Currey anchored as the editorial director of the label from 1967 to 1984, and during his tenure, the series released over 250 titles by authors from more than twenty-five African countries.
In spite of the obvious advantages of the series, it also had some shortcomings. According to Onwumere, many African authors saw the series as part of the colonial masters? strategy of exploiting the relics left of Africa. Consequently, many of the authors did not want the label, AWS, to publish their works; they wanted African publishers as against the neo-colonial publishers. The genesis of this contentious relationship between the AWS publishers and the African authors ranged from advance/royalty payments to editorial recommendations. This was why perhaps, Wole Soyinka, for a time, resisted having his novel, The Interpreters appear in AWS; though he said it was for fear of being confined to the ?orange ghetto? defined by the recognizable colour scheme of AWS volumes. The contention could also be the reason for Ayi Kwei Armah?s hope ?to find an African publisher as opposed to a neo-colonial writers? coffle owned by Europeans but slyly misnamed African.?
But the factor that really led to the steady decline of the series seems to border more on economy than authors-publishers relationship. In Onwumere?s words, ?After a fairly prosperous beginning, the series faced [the economic] difficulties that mirrored those which faced the continent as a whole. By the mid-1980s, only one or two new titles a year were being published, and much of the back catalogue had fallen out of print.?
However, from the early 1990s, Heinemann has been making attempts at reviving the series by publishing new works, texts originally published in local release and translated works.
So, in conclusion, while there are all sorts of ways to critique what the AWS turned out to be, in the words of Aeron Bady, ?it is absolutely unquestionable that Alan Hill?s establishment of an ?African Writers Series? for Heinemann was the most important and most influential publishing infrastructure through which ?African literature? was first developed...?
The civil war literature
The issue that became a major concern to the Nigerian writers in the sixties and seventies, apart from the multiplying societal ills, was the Nigerian Civil War which took place between 1967 and 1970. The war, which is said to have claimed the lives of over 100,000 soldiers, affected the Nigerian literary scene in many ways. It claimed the life of one of the country?s most celebrated poets, Christopher Okigbo, and caused untold hardship to other writers like Wole Soyinka, who were detained for crying out against the atrocities perpetrated in the war.
The bright side of the ugly incident, however, is that the war provided inspiration for many writers, particularly those directly involved. These writers poured out their frustration, anger and memories in considerable quantities and qualities. For instance, Elechi Amadi wrote a powerful novel, Sunset in Biafra (1973), depicting his war-time experience. Other testimonies to the madness of the era were Soyinka?s The Man Died (1972), Chukuemeka Ike?s Sunset at Dawn (1976), Ken SaroWiwa?s Sozaboy (1985), Flora Nwapa?s Never Again (1976) and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie?s Half of a Yellow Sun (2007).
A legacy of protest
Rather than abating, the evils against which the first generation writers preached multiplied by the day, generating poverty and diseases. So the critical tone and themes of the literature of the first generation writers were sustained and amplified by writers of the subsequent generations who emerged from the mid 1970s.
As Dr. Ahmed Yerima, the General Manager of National Arts Theatre, Iganmu, rightly observed, Nigerian literature manifests the struggles of a people whose country is undergoing the painful process of transformation from colonial through neo-colonial to wholly self-determining nation. So, the second generation writers reacted to the bloody civil war, immediately followed by an ill-managed oil boom that, in turn, created social and political dislocations that the nation is yet to overcome. The second generation writers, according to Aiyejina, ?wrote socially-relevant, highly critical (some of them with a Marxist-proletarian bent) literature in highly accessible, people-oriented language?. Prominent among such writers are Ola Rotimi, Femi Osofisan, (playwrights); Niyi Osundare, Odia Ofeimun, Tanure Ojaide (poets) and Festus Iyayi, Eddie Iroh, Zaynab Alkali, Labo Yari and Abubakar Gimba (novelists).
A typical example of the protest works of this era is Iyayi?s novel, Violence (1979), which portrays violence not only as a physical phenomenon, but as a circumstance in which a man is denied the opportunity of being the real man he is supposed to be. Femi Osofisan?s Kolera Kolel (1975), Niyi Osundare?s Songs of the Marketplace (1983), Labo Yari?s Climate of Corruption (1978), Abubakar Gimba?s Innocent Victims (1988) and Chris Abani?s Masters of the Board (1985).
Though the question of categorising authors into generations has remained contentious among critics, it is popularly believed that the mid 1990s to the present is the era of the third generation writers who grew and started writing in the period of the structural and economic disjunctions that characterised military rule. According to Onwumere, ?the pressures exerted by the seemingly unending crises in various sectors of the economy: labour and electoral crises, mass unemployment, decayed infrastructures and constant closure of schools and lecturers? strikes; police and military brutality - all of these constitute the themes of the writings of this generation of writers?. Onwumere further explained that unlike the works of the earlier generations, there is a lot of experimentation, both thematic and stylistic, in much of the present writings.
Prominent the writers are Akin Adesokan (Roots in the Sky), Maik Nwosu (Invisible Chapters), Helon Habila (Waiting for An Angel and Measuring Time), Chimamanda Ngozi-Adichie (Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun), Sefi Attah (Everything Good Will Come and Swallow), Adimora-Akachi Ezeigbo (House of Symbols), Biyi-Bandele (The Sympathetic Undertaker and Other Dreams, The Man Who Came in From the Back of Beyond, Burma Boy), Akeem Lasisi (Iremoje: Ritual Poetry for Ken Saro-Wiwa), Toyin Adewale-Gabriel (Naked Testimonies), Lola Soneyin-Soyinka, (All the While I was Sitting on An Egg), Ogaga Ifowodo (Mandela and Oil Lamp), Remi-Raji (Web of Remembrance, and A Harvest of Laughters), Ahmed Yerima (Hard Ground, Yemoja, etc), Ben Tomoloju (Jankariwo and Askari), Tess Onwueme (The Reign of Wazobia), Ben Okri (The Famished Road, Star Book, etc), Emman Shehu (Questions for Big Brother), Sumaila Umaisha (Hoodlums), Ahmed Maiwada (Saint of a Woman, Fossil, Musdoki, etc), Mu?azu Maiwada (State of the Anus), BM Dzukogi (These Last Tears) and others. And they all speak with the same angry voice.
Female writings
All along, Nigerian women were not left out of the literary scene. They made tremendous contributions to the country?s literary development in all the literary genres. It all began with Flora Nwapa, the first published Nigerian female novelist and the first woman in Africa to have her work published in London. Her first novel, Efuru (1966), redefines the place of the woman in the scheme of things. And that set the tone not only for her subsequent works but for those of other female writers like Mabel Segun, Flora Nwapa and Phebean Ogundipe.
In the 1970s other female writers came up. They include Zulu Sofola, Catherine Acholonu, Adaora Lily Ulasi, Buchi Emecheta and Zaynab Alkali. Zaynab is the first female writer in English to emerge from the North. She made her debut in 1984 with her novel, The Stillborn. This was followed by The Virtuous Woman (novel, 1985) and Cobwebs (short stories, 1977). Her two novels produced in the 2000s are The Descendants and The Initiates. The new generation female writers have arguably gained more visibility than the old generation, especially writers like Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie who won the Orange Prize for her Half of a Yellow Sun in 2007.
Both the old and the new generation female writers are so dynamic that they explore not just the feminist aspects, they also engage in issues of general concern, such as politics, war and economy.
Children's literature
The beginning of written Nigerian children?s literature, according to Virginia W. Dike of the Department of Library and Information Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, coincided with the attainment of independence in 1960. She observed that though a few titles, like Cyprian Ekwensi?s Drummer Boy and The Passport of Mallam Ilia, were written some years earlier, they were not published until 1960. Dike further observed that the development of children?s literature was motivated by the felt need for a literature that would more adequately reflect indigenous views and realities. ?It was also stimulated by the rapid expansion of education and the resulting need and market for supplementary reading materials.?
The early titles, which concentrated on supplementary readers for the pre-adolescent age group in senior primary and junior secondary schools, were produced by the African Readers Library of the African Universities Press which, according to Dike, came out with 34 titles between 1962 and 1988. Other series that came up later were the Nelson Rapid Readers (1965), Longman?s Palm Library for Younger Readers (1968), Oxford University Press? Adventures in Africa (1968) and Evans Africa Library (1976). New indigenous publishing houses, like Onibonoje, also produced titles for children.
Development in children?s literature was boosted particularly in the 1970s and 1980s when Macmillan?s Winners Series brought out its first title in 1978, followed by others, such as the University Press Limited?s Rainbow Series.
These early works, according to Dike, were mainly based on adventure stories in which the hero or heroes, especially boys, fell into danger and helped bring criminals to book. Examples are Achebe?s Chike and the River, and Ekwensi?s Juju Rock. Some had school stories as their subject-matter, with the young hero succeeding in gaining admission into school (eg, Eze Goes to School, by Nzekwu and Crowder) and boarding school children playing their usual pranks (eg, Tales out of School by Nwankwo).
It should be noted that women writers like Christee Ajayi, Remi Adediji, Teresa Meniro and Mabel Segun played a prominent role in the promotion of children?s literature in Nigeria. Each of them produced over 10 books in this genre.
It was indeed an exciting time for children?s literature as it was for adult literature. According to Fayose, who compiled a bibliography of children?s books published in Nigeria since 1960 for the Nigerian Book Development Council, by 1986 there were over three hundred titles, many of which were prose fiction.
Unfortunately, the economy, which had been relatively good since the oil boom of the 1970s, declined from the mid-1980s, affecting the production of the genre in the same manner it affected adult literature. Presently, only few publishing houses in Nigeria like the Lantern Books division of Literamed, publish series of fiction for children and youth. Today, such books are mostly published in Britain. They include Heinemann?s Junior African Writers Series (JAWS) and Heartbeat Series, which began in the 1990s. Though the titles are by Africans, including Nigerians, and set in Africa, they are scarcely available to the African and Nigerian youths for which they are intended.
Pacesetter series
Between the late 1970s and early 1980s Nigerian young writers were given the opportunity to have their works published curtsey Macmillan Publishing Company. Through the company?s young writers? series, known as Pacesetters, hundreds of youths across Africa were published, with Nigerians forming the largest percentage. The series dealt mostly with contemporary issues that were of interest to young adults. Among the lucky young writers to be published were Mohammed Sule, author of The Undesirable Element (1977) and The Delinquent (1979), Helen Obviagele, who wrote Evbu My Love (1980) and Dickson Ighrini who authored Death is a Woman (1981) and Bloodbath at Lobster Close (1980). Other works in the series include, Kalu Okpi?s Coup!, Sunday Adebomi?s Symphony of Destruction, Ibe Oparandu?s The Wages of Sin, Sam Adewoye?s The Betrayer, and Victor Ulojiofor?s Sweet Revenge. By the early 1990s, there were about 125 Pacesetters titles. And the books were widely available, even in the market bookstalls, which usually sold only textbooks.
However, with the economic decline which began around the 80s, Macmillan separated from Macmillan Nigeria, taking with it the Pacesetters copyright. Consequently, the series vanished, and only occasional pirated versions of a few titles could be seen in Nigeria.
But, those who were fortunate to have been published have made their marks and some have even gone further to produce more serious works. Among such writers are Mohammed Tukur Garba (author of The Black Temple -1981); and Muhammed Sule, who published Eye of Eternity and The Devil?s Seat, respectively, in the 90s.
Onitsha Market Literature
In the 1940s to 1960s a vibrant literary genre emerged around the commercial nerve centre of Eastern Nigeria - Onitsha. The first books of this genre appeared precisely in 1947. According to records, there was no conscious effort or structure in the evolution of the genre, popularly known as Onitsha Market Literature. It simply arose when Christianity and colonialism in the 19th century created a crop of educated people from all walks of life who converged on Onitsha town to work, trade or improve themselves educationally at the schools and commerce institutions. Another interesting fact about the genre is that it was more of an attempt to fill a gap as, apart from school texts, the Bible and the occasional books from Britain, there were very few reading materials.
The main characteristics of Onitsha Market Literature is that the writers were amateur and of modest educational background (except the likes of Cyprian Ekwensi who were well educated - he was a pharmacist). And the books, which were in form of novels, plays and inspirational materials, tailored towards inculcating how to cope with the daily vicissitudes of living and adjusting from the past to cope with the modern, were more or less pamphlets. But they could be said to be the forerunner of the contemporary Nigerian literature, for the genre held sway for nearly three decades, producing over 200 titles. According to literary critics, it served as an inspiration to the first generation of what could be called serious writers that followed about a decade later.
From the business point of view, the genre is said to be boosted by availability of printers. After the Second World War, the Nigerian colonial government decided to upgrade its various equipment and sell off the old ones, particularly the printing presses. Business men, especially in the eastern part of the country, purchased and refurbished the old printing presses and set up printing and publishing businesses. They became editors, arbiters of literary taste. The books were produced in millions and distributed to agents who passed them on to booksellers and itinerant traders. They were made available in bookshops, motor parks and on the streets, and with time the sale expanded to other Nigerian cities and eventually to other English-speaking West African countries.
Some of the more prominent authors and their titles include: J. Abiakam, How to Speak to Girls and Win their Love; Cyril Aririguzo, Miss Appolo?s Pride Leads her to be Unmarried; S. Eze, How to know when a Girl Loves You or Hates You; Thomas Iguh, $9000,000,000 Man still says No Money; Highbred Maxwell, Public Opinion on Lovers; Nathan Njoku, Beware of Women and My Seven Daughters are after Young Boys; Marius Nkwoh, Cocktail Ladies and Talking about Love; Joseph Nnadozie, Beware of Harlots and Many Friends; Raphael Obioha, Beauty is a Trouble; Ogali A. Ogali, Veronica My Daughter and No Heaven for the Priest; H.O. Ogu, Rose Only Loved My Money and How a Passenger Collector Posed and got a Lady Teacher in Love; Rufus Okonkwo, Why Boys Never Trust Money Monger Girls; Anthony Okwesa, The Strange Death of Israel Njeanze; Okenwa Olisah, Money Hard to get but Easy to Spend and Drunkards Believe Bar as Heaven; Speedy Eric, Mabel the Sweet Honey that Poured Away; Felix Stephen, Lack of Money is not Lack of Sense, etc.
The books were highly patronised, especially by youths. For instance, Ogali A. Ogali?s play, Veronica My Daughter, published in 1956, hit a record sale of 250,000 copies.
Unfortunately, the genre did not survive the Nigerian civil war, which ended in 1970. The aftermath of the war brought about a revival of economic priorities, and the genre gradually died. However, some of the authors (like Cyprian Ekwensi, who pioneered the genre in 1947, with When Love Whispers and Ikolo, the Wrestler and other Igbo Tales) eventually became famous writers.
Kano Market Literature
Subsequently, the history of the Onitsha literary phenomenon repeated itself in the northern part of Nigeria. Commonly known as Kano Market Literature, the genre, written in Hausa language, began in the 1980s. And so far over 1000 novels/novellas have been produced. Writers of this genre, numbering over 300, are spread all over the North, but production and sale of the books are done mainly in Kano. Most popular among the earlier writers of the genre are Balaraba Ramat Yakubu whose eight books include Budurwar Zuciya and Bala Anas Babinlata who authored, among others, Da Ko Jika?
According to Professor Abdalla Uba Adamu of Bayero University, Kano, in his unpublished paper (Oct. 5, 2000), love themes make up about 35% of his collection of over 400 books. Other critics like Professor Ibrahim Malumfashi of Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto, however, argued that 40 percent of the works are on love, which is why they are also called Soyayya (love) novels.
Dr. Yusuf Adamu of Bayero University, however, asserts that the Soyaya trend in Hausa literature has now been exhausted. ?Soyaya is gone. People now mostly write about what I may call family life,? he said, adding that, the writers, who are mostly women, were no longer writing about a boy falling in love with a girl. ?They are focussing on what is happening in the home, how women are treated. And there is no name for it because even the Soyayya is a stereotype.? He also insists that the appellation of Kano Market Literature introduced by Professor Malumfashi for the genre was derogatory. According to him, Hausa Popular Literature? is more appropriate. ?What we feel we should call it is Hausa Popular Fiction.?
Unlike the Onitsha Market Literature, this genre was heavily characterised by debates among scholars and the writers. According to Dr. Adamu, the ?soyayya debate? began in 1991 when Ibrahim Sheme (now editor of Leadership newspaper) introduced a literary column in the Hausa language newspaper, Nasiha, and two articles by Malumfashi appeared, critical of the quality and worth of the emerging genre.
The debate has helped to shape the themes and subject-matters of the works so much that some of the writers have graduated from soyayya writing, as Adamu pointed out, to more serious subjects. Consequently, some of them, like Ibrahim Sheme and Balaraba Ramat Yakubu, have won the prestigious literary prize, Karaye Prize for Hausa Literature.
Though critics like Malumfashi are of the view that the genre may eventually be phased out by the flourishing Hausa film industry, the fact is that it is currently thriving alongside the industry.
Nigeria on the global literary scene
In spite of all the numerous problems bedevilling the Nigerian literary scene, it could be said that Nigerian literature has come a long way, considering the teeming number of writers that have emerged and the giant achievements of writers like Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka. Achebe?s legendary Things Fall Apart has been translated into about 50 languages globally. Soyinka, on the other hand, has done Africa proud by winning the Nobel Prize in 1986.
Nigerian writers of the new generation have equally pushed Nigerian literature to the pinnacle by winning some of the most prestigious literary prizes. Ben Okri won the Booker Prize for his The Famished Road in 1991, Helon Habila, Segun Afolabi and E. C Osondu, won the Caine Prize for their Prison Story, Monday Morning and Waiting, respectively. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has, like Habila, won the Commonwealth Prize for Literature. She has as well won the Orange Prize with her novel, Half of a Yellow Sun.
Beyond setting international literary standards, Nigerian writers have also succeeded more than any group in the country in exporting our culture and tradition to other parts of the world. This fact was eloquently stressed by the renowned literary critic, Professor Charles E. Nnolim. According to him, ?Nigeria today stands tall before the international community because of the collective endeavours of her writers... While our politics and the shenanigans of our business deals often sell the country?s private shames in the international scandal market, it is through the collective endeavours of Nigerian writers that Nigeria stands redeemed and enhanced in the eyes of the world.?
Nigerian literature is indeed at its golden age.
(c) SUMAILA UMAISHA
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