Tanzanian Anglophone Fiction: A Survey

Abstract

Tanzanian Anglophone fiction is extant and bustling. The invisibility of Tanzanian fiction in English is not due to the country’s inability to produce good- quality Anglophone novels but is related to the challenge in accessing the texts both within and outside Tanzania. Studies about East African fiction tend to ignore the contribution of Tanzanian Anglophone writers in the region. In Tanzania people know more about other canonical African novelists than their very own Anglophone writers. This article explores the emergence and development of Tanzanian Anglophone fiction, paying particular attention to the emergence of Tanzanian Anglophone literary canons and how these canons have inspired and continue to inspire the production of Tanzanian fiction. Starting with the novels produced by the inaugural Tanzanian Anglophone writers in the sixties, and continuing with the most recent works, the paper examines the interface between Swahili and English, translation and self-translation, diasporic writers, universities’ and researchers’ contributions to the definition of the canon and to the visibility of the fiction in general.