서구의 문학장(文學場)과 아프리카의 현대문학

Abstract

Throughout the history of world literatures, one may not find, except for Africanexample, the case in which the role of literary field would take such an importantposition as literature itself in the process of the literature's birth. No systematicstudy has so far been attempted on the role of the elements contributing to the birthof contemporary African literature. The aim of the current study is to investigatehow the various elements of the literary field outside the continent such aspublishing companies, book reviewers, literary critics, academic journals,university curriculums, etc. of Western societies served as motivating force for thedevelopment and globalization of modern African literature. Like the fate of the newly independent African countries after World War II, thenewborn literature of the continent seemed to be unable to escape from the logic ofthe literary field of the West. Chinua Achebe whose literary mission was to createthe canon for African readers, Ngugi Wa Thiong'o who denied neo-imperialisticstatus of English as a medium of expression for African writers and advocated theuse of vernacular languages in novels and poetry, and Wole Soyinka whoattempted to explain, in his literary works, the African peculiarities within theframework of universality; the works of these writers were essential to theexistence of African literature, but not sufficient for its development. The modernAfrican literature at this early stage, depending on the languages of former colonialmasters, resulted in confining itself within the fence of the patriarchal concern ofthe West, though paradoxically speaking the result itself successfully contributednot only to creating African literature by African writers but also producing the vigorous literary discourse among the local elites of the continent. This articlediscusses what constituted the pillars of this fence and how protected the Africanliterature within its territory