History of French-Speaking Nigerian Literature

The aim of this study is to lay bare the history of Nigerian literature in French. It aims to trace its origins, some thoughts on it, its evolution, leading to its future. The research employs two critical methods: descriptive and historical. Ola Balogun was the first French-speaking Nigerian writer, but his theatrical work Shango suivi du roi éléphant, published in 1968, was not considered the first work of French-speaking Nigerian literature. This is because, through the translation, L’ivrogne dans la brousse, the French version of The Palm-wine Drinkard, by Amos Tutuola, who ranks among English-speaking Nigerian writers, was published in 1953. We also discover that, contrary to Mokwenye’s pessimistic thinking following his 1999 research, Nigerian literature in French, judging by its thin corpus and limited audience, has no future in the country, Onyemelukwe guided by the findings of his 2003 study conveys an optimistic thought: that it has a fruitful future, hence its growth to date.