Ecology in African Literatures

Abstract

Ecological concerns have been the content of literature since the beginning of man’s creativity. Ecology deals with the relations between nature and the natural. In literature, ecology illustrates the relation between nature and human nature. In ecological writing, nature has been granted the status of the great Mother by indigenous communities. Literature and nature are interlinked; nature is the outer world often portrayed in literature. Therefore it is obvious that literature and ecology are interrelated. Nature writing is self reflexive. It reveals at once the complexities of nature as well as the creative psyche. Eco factors are rarely practiced consciously in African literatures. African writers are in a “state of nature,” in perfect harmony with environment. Their literature has therefore a rural orientation on the one hand and a despise of urban background on the other. There is an inherent longing for lost rustic serenity in African literatures. In African literatures, the celebration of nature and wildness is more dynamic than in any other literatures. This celebration is part of community life. African communities have close relationship with nature and conservation ecology is part of everyday practice. Writers like Amos Tutualo, Camera Lay, Mongo Bette, Ferdinand Oyono, Cyprian Ekwensi, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Nadine Gordimer, Alan Panton, Ben Okri, Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche, Ama Ata Aidoo and J.M. Coetzee have attempted to demonstrate these facts through their works.