China News Service Johannesburg, April 14 Title: Wu Qinjian: Why has Africa become the darling of world literature in recent years?
China News Service reporter Wang Xi
2021 can be called the "Year of African Literature", African writers or African themes of literary works have won the Nobel Prize in Literature, Booker Literature Award and other honors, African literature has suddenly become a hot spot in the field of world culture, its strong regional characteristics and unique customs and customs, loved by world literature fans.
As the most influential Chinese African literature expert today, Wu Qinjian has been focusing on the development of African culture in recent years, especially the research and promotion of African literature. Wu Qinjian was recently interviewed by China News Agency's "East and West Questions" to talk freely about the development of African literature and Sino-African literary exchanges.
The interview transcript is summarized below:
China News Service: Please briefly introduce the development and characteristics of African literature in recent years.
Wu Qinjian: Different from European and American literature, the oral characteristics of African literature and its unique national culture have become its biggest highlights, with distinct regionality. Modern African literature was born in the environment of colonial rule in Europe and the United States, and gradually developed with the awakening of the national consciousness of the African people, and is an indispensable and important part of world literature.
Audiences enjoy "Hand-Painted Dynamic History of Africa" at the Zeitz Museum of African Contemporary Art in Cape Town, South Africa. Photo by China News Service reporter Wang Xi
The development of modern African literature has gone through four stages: First, in the first two decades of the twentieth century, the stage of coexistence between imitation and European and American literature and indigenous oral literature. On the one hand, this stage is mainly to collect and sort out african myths, legends, epics, fables, etc., on the other hand, a group of local writers, imitating the language and narrative methods of the literature of the suzerainty country to tell African stories; second, during the 1920s and 1940s, a group of African intellectuals continued to excavate and affirm local history and culture through literary means to awaken the African people's pride and sense of identity with Africa; the third was the 1950s and 1960s, during which the African people's liberation movement surged up. Countries have declared independence, and writers have also written stories of the African people's heroic resistance to colonialists and national independence; the fourth stage has continued from the 1970s to the present, and is also called the "post-colonial stage" by scholars, and the main theme of creation is to reflect on the real social problems after the end of colonialism.
China News Service: Why has Africa become the darling of world literature in recent years?
Wu Qinjian: The literary theme of "post-colonial stage" has always attracted the attention of the world cultural field. Although themes such as "postcolonialism" and "diaspora" are not emerging themes, the physical and spiritual harm caused by "colonialism" to the people of Africa and other regions has not been fully resolved, whether in the field of real life or literature, and attention to and reflection on social problems in the post-colonial stage has always been the eternal theme of such themes.
In particular, the attention paid to the current situation of the survival of ethnic groups in Africa in recent years has made the literary creation of such subjects "opportune" and more likely to resonate. For example, Gulner, the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature, has a focus and tendency to focus on issues such as the "post-colonial stage": focusing on the human condition, and telling the world a distant "diaspora" story with compassion. Stories like this are both fascinating and deeply thought-provoking.
Zimbabwean women of Namibia. Photo by China News Service reporter Wang Xi
Second, African writers are often able to look at the current situation in Africa from a global perspective and discover the unknown side of the continent. Especially in the form of artistic expression, most African writers are able to boldly innovate on the basis of traditional national characteristics and actively integrate other cultural elements, thus presenting a unique sense of color.
In addition, African literature has strong national characteristics and customs, which are more novel and interesting than traditional classic literary works. These unique elements make African literature unique in the world, and also attract more readers who are eager to understand Africa, becoming an important window for the outside world to understand Africa and its culture.
The "Ostrich Market" on the streets of Oudtshoorn, south Africa's "ostrich town". Photo by China News Service reporter Wang Xi
China News Service: Please introduce the current situation and prospects of Sino-African literary exchanges.
Wu Qinjian: China-Africa literary exchanges have a long history. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, China successively introduced the literary works of Egypt, South Africa and other countries, injecting a ray of fresh air into China, which was in a period of social change, and also opened a window for Chinese intellectuals to understand Africa; after the founding of New China, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, China and Africa also maintained a high degree of harmony in literature because of their similar historical experience of getting rid of colonial rule and striving for national independence. During this period, China introduced African literary works, including "Old Blacks and Medals", most of which served ideological propaganda, and the exchange of visits between Chinese and African leaders became the main driving factor for Sino-African literary exchanges; after the reform and opening up, China introduced African literary works mainly by African writers who won the Nobel and Booker Literary Prizes, such as Kuche, Soyinka, and Mahafoz, and the countries where they were located in South Africa, Nigeria, and Egypt also became hot spots in African literary translation.
In August 2018, the "Blossoming Flowers" of the "Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation" attracted the public. China News Service reporter Jia Tianyong photographed
Since the beginning of the 21st century, with the advent of platforms such as the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and the Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese and African literature has been able to achieve exchanges on a newer and broader platform. Compared with previous periods, the horizons of Sino-African literary exchanges in this period have been greatly expanded, the types of translations and introductions have been more abundant, and more African writers and their works have been introduced to China.
In fact, literary exchanges have become one of the important promoters of China-Africa cultural exchanges, and they will certainly play an increasingly important role in the future with the continuous and in-depth development of China-Africa relations.
China News Service: What are the main problems in the current Sino-African literary exchanges?
Wu Qinjian: African literature is very complex, including works written in English, French, Portuguese, etc., as well as works written in African languages such as Arabic and Swahili. But with the exception of egyptian writer Mahafuz, who became the first Arabic-language writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, literature written in local African languages is hardly known to the world. In South Africa alone, for example, there are 11 official languages in addition to English, each with its own literary work. The sheer number and richness of the content far exceed the impression of Chinese readers. For Sino-African literary exchanges, this problem also exists. In particular, there are too few talents who master African non-lingua franca such as Xhosa and Zulu, which affects the process of further understanding of African literature by Chinese literature lovers.
In the central square of Rosebank, the financial center of Johannesburg, South Africa, local art groups perform traditional African folk songs and dances in the streets. Photo by China News Service reporter Wang Xi
In recent years, driven by platforms such as the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and the Belt and Road Initiative, in-depth understanding of African literature is no longer out of reach. However, in addition to the main languages such as English, French and Arabic, improving the understanding of African regional languages will be a key task in the future exchange of Chinese and African literature. (End)
Respondent Profiles:
Courtesy of respondents
Wu Qinjian, a senior Chinese media person in South Africa, born in Shanghai, graduated from Nanchang University, the editor-in-chief of the South African 365 news website, has returned to China several times to report on major events such as the National Two Sessions and the Expo, and has also participated in the Chinese media forum many times, enjoying a reputation in the South African media circles, especially the Chinese media circles. In addition to reporting on the hot news and customs of South Africa and Africa, Wu Qinjian has been focusing on the development of African culture for many years, especially African literature is the focus of his research, and has published a number of related research articles, and is one of the few African literature experts in today's African Chinese-speaking world.