Igbo literature
The roots of Igbo literature trace back to ancient oral traditions that included chants, folk songs, narrative poetry, and storytelling.
Missionaries like Edwin Norris and John Clarke translated and published Igbo vocabularies and grammatical elements.
Contemporary written Igbo theatre and poetry began to flourish after the Nigerian Civil War, serving as a means of political expression and resistance.
Writers like Anthony Uchenna Ubesie, and Julie Onwuchekwa played roles in the development of modern Igbo literary works.
[5] Proverbs were an integral part of the life of the Igbo people and were perpetually on the lips of the elders, reflecting their wisdom and experiences.
[11][12] In 1837, during the Niger Expedition of 1832–1834, Scottish merchant Macgregor Laird published a wordbook compiled from the Igbo homeland.
[15] John Clarke and Joseph Merrick jointly published Specimens Of Dialects, Short Vocabularies Of Languages: And Notes Of Countries And Customs In Africa, which included approximately 250 Igbo words.
[18][17] In the same year, William Balfour Baikie included a short Igbo vocabulary in his work, Narrative of an Exploring Voyage up the Rivers Kwora and Binue.
[17] Following the British Niger Expeditions of 1854 and 1857, Samuel Ajayi Crowther produced a primer for the Igbo language in 1857, written in the Isuama dialect.
[19][20][21][22] A revised edition of Crowther's primer was published in 1859 by John Christopher Taylor, who had established a school in Onitsha with Simon Jonas.
[23] In Grammatical Elements Schön criticised the translations made by Taylor for failing to include folktales and native proverbs.
In that year, Julius Spencer, a Sierra Leonean missionary based in Onitsha, published An Elementary Grammar of the Igbo Language.
This period witnessed the establishment of magazines such as Amamihe, the publication of guidebooks, and the translation of major European classic literature.
However, there was a limited output of indigenous fiction during this period, with most works and translations sponsored or published by the government or Christian missionaries.
[46] Plays and dramas addressing issues of tyranny began to emerge in places like Okpatu and Ngwa land, particularly during periods when secret societies were suppressed.
[47] Contemporary written Igbo theatre emerged in 1974 with the publication of Udo Ka Mma by Anelechi B. Chukuezi.
[49] Each generation had artists who contributed new poems to the society, but the names of these poets are lost due to lack of orthographic documentation.
[50] One of the earliest attempts at writing Igbo poetry were made by the Church Missionary Society in 1934 with the translation of the Book of Common Prayer into Akwụkwọ Ekpelu nke Anekpelu Cuku n'Ogbo.
[54] The first written Igbo poetry Akpa Uche was published in 1975 by Oxford University Press and edited by Romanus M. Ekechukwu.
His novels include Ukwa Ruo Oge Ya Ọ Daa (1973) Isi Akwu Dara Nala (1973), Mmiri Oku Eji Egbu Mbe (1974), Ụkpana Okpoko Buuru (1975), Jụọ Obinna (1977).
