Writings of Eastern Africans in English

Literature from Eastern Africa is neither imitative nor inferior within the vast area differences in climate (desert, savanna, mountain, island) and colonial influence, show varying local cultures.

The influence of oral tradition differs from the direct repeat of folk art by Martha Mrungi and the myths of Grace Ogot. Media too helped in extending oral messages to rural audience. Oral traditions are generally expressed in colonial languages but in Eastern Africa the artists have the choice of using either of two languages for general readership. In western and southern Africa local languages cater to a small segment of people. In north Africa either Arabic or French is used by the writers.

In eastern Africa ‘Swahili’ is widely understood and is used as an alternative to English. Poetry, a few novels and dramas are produced in ‘Swahili!’ Micere Mugo is a dramatist and a critic.

The theme of witch-craft is frequent in East African fiction, written in ‘Swahili’ and English both. The story teller takes for granted the readers’ acceptance of the mysterious.

Grace Egot used witch-craft as a plot in her novels, the promised land and other short stories. The incidents presented are of coincidence or magic. Other common themes in African fiction stress on current changes in the relationship between man and woman, husband and wife. This kind of books were written by male writers like Sembene Gusmane, Joe de Grant and Alan Paton.

Physiological changes causing psychic stresses were rarely mentioned in African literature. Very few writers had the courage to write about circumcision occurring in many nations. In a Kenyan novel by Ngugiwa Thiong named “The River Between,” there is a reference to the above practice.

Other cultural themes such as love of the land, mystic powers, rich earth, understanding and misunderstanding between mother and child are common in East African literature. Most of them are written, analyzed and examined by women writers, individually.