# Suggest some African literature **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 5, 2007, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-african-literature/425338 "2007-11-05T20:36:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-african-literature/425338/1 "2007-11-05T20:36:20Z")
In the [Overrated Classics](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=442907) thread, **SpazCat** brought up Achebe’s _Things Fall Apart_: > [@](#): > > Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. There have been many books written by Nigerians that are miles better than this depressing hatefest. There have been many more written by people all across Africa that are miles better. Yet this is always the one dragged out as The Example of African Literature. As a matter of fact, everything Achebe’s written is overrated. I agree - I expected to really like _Things Fall Apart_, and it left me, you know, mergh. What’s the best in African literature? ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-african-literature/425338/2 "2007-11-05T23:09:58Z")
I still have a lot of the books from my postcolonial African lit class a couple of years ago. All my recommendations come from there. **Graceland** by Chris Abani–a boy in modern Nigeria comes to terms with his heritage, the current state of the country, and his own fate. **Nervous Conditions** by Tsitsi Dangarembga–a Rhodesian girl’s experiences with the colonial education system and what it’s done to her family. **Efuru** by Flora Nwapa–the life of an everyday Nigerian village woman. Same theme as TFA but so much better. **Dilemma of a Ghost and Anowa** by Ama Ata Aidoo–two plays about Ghana’s shameful secret (they helped collect slaves for the colonies). **Matigari** by Ngugi wa Thiong’o–a man emerges from the forest after years of guerilla warfare. Is he the one who will save his people? **Mating Birds** by Lewis Nkosi–a black man and a white woman have an encounter in apartheid South Africa. **A Walk in the Night** by Alex La Guma–a haunting novella and several short stories about apartheid South Africa. Please note that there is nothing by Nadine Gordimer on this list. That is because Nadine Gordimer is a pretentious tw(a/i)t. For that she won the Nobel. Figures. ---
**Author:** ![pprgrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f6c823/32.png) [@pprgrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pprgrl)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-african-literature/425338/3 "2007-11-06T00:49:51Z")
Sorry, SpazCat, but I disagree with you about Nadine Gordimer, although she can be a bit dense at times. **The Conservationist** was very, very good, but if you don’t like stream-of-consciousness you probably won’t enjoy it. I liked **The Pickup** too. It’s a much more accessible story about an upper-class white South African girl who meets and dates an illegal immigrant, marries him so that he can stay in the country and ends up going with him to live with his family in an unnamed Middle Eastern village when he gets deported anyway. If you want to tackle Gordimer, I’d maybe start with this one. **The Joys of Motherhood** by Buchi Emecheta. Depressing, yes, but also very powerful. Story of a young woman trapped between traditional expectations for Ibo women and the new and harsh realities of colonial life in WWII-ish Lagos, Nigeria. **Dark Child** by Camara Leye is also good and not depressing. It’s not fiction, but a memoir of the author’s childhood in Senegal. **Ways of Dying** by Zakes Mda is hilarious and touching and gripping and sometimes sad, but ends on a hopeful note. In fact, I’d recommend trying this one first. It’s about a professional mourner in a large (unnamed, IIRC) city in South Africa and his progress away from a bleak and isolated existence into one of love and rebuilding. It’s one of those books that’s sort of hard to describe - you really should read it for yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-african-literature/425338/4 "2007-11-06T01:05:12Z")
Uzodinma Iweala’s [Beasts of No Nation](http://www.amazon.com/Beasts-No-Nation-Uzodinma-Iweala/dp/B000MG1Z6A/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-8236501-7786240?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194310784&sr=8-1) is a good read. It’s a novel about a small child drafted into a rebel army, told in the kid’s own voice. I’d recommend reading it alongside P.W. Singer’s [Children At War](http://www.amazon.com/Children-at-War-P-Singer/dp/0520248767/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-8236501-7786240?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194311025&sr=8-1) - not great literature, but a good and readable overview of the real-world use of child soldiers. ---
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-african-literature/425338/5 "2007-11-06T01:37:03Z")
If you are open to a white author, I highly recommend [Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight](http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Lets-Dogs-Tonight-Childhood/dp/0375758992/ref=pd_bbs_2/105-6081045-3304441?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194312594&sr=8-2) by Alexandra Fuller. It is about her childhood during the Rhodesian civil war in the 1970s. She has a very humorous style, but she does not neglect the reality of the situation. She is very upfront about the rampant racism and corruption. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-african-literature/425338/6 "2007-11-06T01:40:12Z")
[QUOTE=pprgrl] Sorry, SpazCat, but I disagree with you about Nadine Gordimer, although she can be a bit dense at times. **The Conservationist** was very, very good, but if you don’t like stream-of-consciousness you probably won’t enjoy it. I liked **The Pickup** too. It’s a much more accessible story about an upper-class white South African girl who meets and dates an illegal immigrant, marries him so that he can stay in the country and ends up going with him to live with his family in an unnamed Middle Eastern village when he gets deported anyway. If you want to tackle Gordimer, I’d maybe start with this one. [/QUOTE] I agree, **The Pickup** is a decent read. A large proportion of her stuff (_coughBurgersDaughtercough_) is all about people who think they’re Doing Something About Apartheid when all they’re really doing is making futile gestures. Pisses me right off, she does. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-african-literature/425338/7 "2007-11-06T01:49:43Z")
Oh, let me add one since I asked for some - I loved _The World that was Ours_, by Hilda Bernstein. It’s a memoir by a white South African, available through Persephone Books (an amazing press, BTW.) ---
**Author:** ![straight\_man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straight_man/32/3027_2.png) [@straight\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straight_man)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-african-literature/425338/8 "2007-11-07T04:20:40Z")
I’m extremely fond of _Cry, the Beloved Country_ by Alan Paton. BTW, _Matigari_ is a truly despicable book in just about every sense of the word (but it’s already been mentioned…) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-african-literature/425338/9 "2007-11-07T06:27:59Z")
I’m admittedly not well read on the topic, but of the books I have read by African writers my favorites are: _A Long Way Gone_ by Ishmael Beah- his memoir of surviving the civil war in Sierra Leone. He went within a few weeks from being a 12 year old schoolboy to a drug-using murdering boy soldier. The amazing thing is that on interviews he seems so genuinely nice and well-balanced after what would make most Americans scream themselves to death. _Season of Anomy_- brilliant (autobiographical) tale about an imprisoned intellectual. Lots of mythological allusions. I’ve also read one of his plays that I particularly liked and I’m trying to remember the name of it- I think it was _A Play of Giants_ but I’m not sure as it’s been 20 years (_Season_ I read just a few years ago). ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-african-literature/425338/10 "2007-11-07T07:15:44Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] _A Long Way Gone_ by Ishmael Beah- his memoir of surviving the civil war in Sierra Leone. He went within a few weeks from being a 12 year old schoolboy to a drug-using murdering boy soldier. The amazing thing is that on interviews he seems so genuinely nice and well-balanced after what would make most Americans scream themselves to death. [/QUOTE] I have to agree with this suggestion. This book is amazingly powerful. It’s very hard to come to terms with the fact that it’s NOT fiction, and the things written there actually happened. There is no praise high enough for this story. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-african-literature/425338/11 "2007-11-07T10:42:23Z")
I don’t know if y’all are interested in North African writers, but I recommend anything by Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz (who died last year, sadly), expecially his Cairo Trilogy (first book is _Palace Walk_) and _Arabian Nights and Days_. A lot of these books sound so interesting…I miss the library! ---
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2007, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-african-literature/425338/12 "2007-11-08T00:02:22Z")
[QUOTE=Kyla] I don’t know if y’all are interested in North African writers, but I recommend anything by Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz (who died last year, sadly), expecially his Cairo Trilogy (first book is _Palace Walk_) and _Arabian Nights and Days_. A lot of these books sound so interesting…I miss the library! [/QUOTE] Ooh, yes! Mahfouz is a wonderful writer! His **Palace Walk** is by far my favorite. Do you think you could pop over [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=442850) , **Kyla**?