There is a Zulu folk story of the prodigious uHlakanyana who, impatient to be born, hammered with his fists on the inside of his mother’s stomach shouting “Let me out!” With an awareness of the leap being made by many African nations and peoples from a culture of the Iron Age into one of industrialism, science, and mass media, the story could be taken as apocalyptic. The little hero had hardly seen the light of day when he could vie with seasoned warriors in feats of strength, not to mention his insatiable trickery. By the same measure, young African writers whose fathers were tribalists have sprung complete into the mid-twentieth century and have learned to handle at the same time a new form—the story—as well as a new language, English or French or Portuguese.
On this emergent continent the short story is nearly everywhere the most significant medium in use, and the debate on its value, health, or vitality is here at least beside the point. Certainly Africa is far off the general line of Western literary evolution and the situation has its own distinctions, yet, with the convergence of world cultural trends under increasing pressure, African writing may have a relevance in the broader international scene.
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