Abstract
In their spirited and desperate bid to correct the distorted notion of Africa held by some European ethnologists, Negritudian writers such as Leopold Senghor, Leon Damas, Aime Cessaire, Gilbert Gratiant, Leonard Sainville, etc tended to portray Africa and the black world in rather glowing terms of beauty and idealism. Despite the robust hope and idealism echoed in Negritude literature about Africa, the reality of life in post-Negritude paints a dismal picture of despair and disillusionment. This paper explores how some African writers of the post-Negritude era have committed their art to the exploration of such related themes of despair, disillusionment, corruption, brutality, conflicts, etc, that are quite contrary to the idyllic picture painted by the founding fathers of Negritude.
Highlights
Hope and aspiration are the dynamics of the human species
As a literary/cultural renaissance, Negritude literature has its place in the literary experimentation of Black African writing
Though much blame for Africa’s underdevelopment has been put on the western powers, it is high time the African leadership and its people took a look inward and see how they can forge a better future for the people of the continent
Summary
Hope and aspiration are the dynamics of the human species. When a people are devoid of hope and aspiration, they sink into the abyss of developmental atrophy. The themes and style of Negritude literature were to be expected because the Negritude writers were too passionately involved in their debunking of the negative and demeaning characterization of Africa by western ethnologists that they sounded sentimental and strident Despite these weaknesses in the Negritude movement, it can be argued that the movement saw the emergence of a vibrant literary voice from Africa, whether at home or in the diaspora. The above poem by David Diop highlights three historical periods in Africa’s historical/ political experience: the precolonial period of heroic past with great warriors, the colonial period of subjugation, suffering, exploitation, humiliation, and the post-colonial period that saw African nations asserting their independence and nationhood. It is as if the poet had to go back to the past to find something to be proud of in Africa (2001, 235)
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