A Study On Biodun Jeyifo’s African Writing Theory

After the independence of Africa,there are two kinds of voices in African literature.One is the emphasis of negritude literature on native culture,while the other is the reflection of non-negritude literature on negritude literature.The conflict between the two voices constitutes the confusion of African literature on its own cultural identity.Biodun Jeyifo’s theory of African writing was formed during the process of African cultural decolonization and the construction of modern African literature.Its historical context is the cultural reality of the collision between African national literature and European literature after independence.On the basis of previous studies,this paper focuses on Biodun Jeyifo’s theory of African writing.Biodun Jeyifo’s theory of African writing consists of two parts: The first is the status of African English and the second is African writing philosophy.The former mainly refutes neo-negritude’s disparaging view of English status.Biodun Jeyifo expounds his own idea about the place of English in the process of refuting Ngugi’s language philosophy,giving African English legal status.The latter mainly discusses the disadvantages of negritude writing,and advocates the writing of “neo-black consciousness” after African independence.Different from negritude’s nativism,Jeyifo advocates that African writing should not only inherit African traditional culture,but also actively absorb advanced European culture,and strive for the right to speak for African literature in the world literary arena,so as to realize the feasibility of modern African literature construction day by day.Biodun Jeyifo’s African writing theory transcends the limits of English and non-English dualism in language and nativism in culture,which is an effort to construct independent modern African literature.