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From: John Edward Philips
List Editor: Patrick Wurster <pwurster@rz.uni-osnabrueck.de>
Editor's Subject: AFRICA'S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 20TH CENTURY: reply
Author's Subject: AFRICA'S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 20TH CENTURY: reply
Date Written: Tue, 5 Mar 2002
Date Posted: Wed, 05 Mar 2002 17:42:24 -0500

                  <philips@cc.hirosaki-u.ac.jp>


The very same points which have been made about Amharic
could equally be made about Hausa, an even larger
language. In addition, both languages were official
languages of government administration in the 20th
century. This list of "best books" is too exclusionary
to be taken seriously as definitive. All African
languages should have been included without bias.

The point about oral tradition is also well taken, and
not only for Africa. What would English literature be
without "Beowulf" or "Barbara Allen" (indeed the whole
corpus of Child Ballads) or the Jack Tales?

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