Around the World BPC: Africa
African Myths of Origins is a collection of myths from across the continent gathered by Stephen Belcher.
Sunjata by Bamba Suso and Banna Kanute. This book contains the story of the founding of the Malian empire in the early thirteenth century. The most fascinating part of this book is it’s not traditional story telling. The text is a transcription of live performances of two different versions of the Sunjata myth.
Bamba Suso and Banna Kanute are griots/bards. This book is documenting the tradition of oral story telling that has been passed down through the ages.
Onto the three novels set in Africa. People of the Mists and King Solomon’s Mines are both written by H Rider Haggard and Tarzan of the Apes is by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Out of the two authors only Haggard spent time in Africa. From 1875-1882 Haggard lived and worked in South Africa. During this time he witnessed the Zulu uprising of 1879.
The majority of his works are set within South Africa during the 1800s featuring actual events and historical persons. He does embellish these however since his writing takes place within living memory of his readers he needs to keep them somewhat accurate.
He does write with the view of a colonial where the protagonist is European. However the protagonist always has an African sidekick. The sidekick often saves the life of the protagonist as well is key to the defeat of the antagonist. Despite his colonial view Haggard tries to make his African characters three dimensional and not just a stereotype. That said there are still racist leanings of the time.
Feel free to join in my journey across the world via books, also feel free to contribute with your own entries. There are millions of books out there written and set in different countries that I don’t know about
