Wolfram Frommlet

African Radio Narrations and Plays Wolfram Frommlet

Due to political censorship, lack of a cultural policy and the increasing rate of illiteracy, African writers have not been able to reach the masses with their visionary analysis of Africa's crisis under the neo-colonial elites. This collection of 24 narrations and 5 plays from 12 countries provides a caleidoscope of African writing which reflects the present pressing problems of both urban and rural societies - the cultural disintegration of the youth; values and problems of rural traditions; loss of identity; women's suppression; the brain-washing effect of post-colonial education - to mention but a few themes. The anthology represents a wide variety of styles and forms of modern African English literature - parabel, satire, realism, oral-history or oral-literature inspired writing. Due to the economic crisis fewer readers can afford books and fewer writers are able to find publishers. Hence this collection of texts, highly suitable for broadcasting, for a medium which, across the continent, has the best potential to promote African literature.