ABSTRACT
This chapter makes a strong case for the recognition, long ignored, by critics and teachers, of the important foundational position of oral and written literature in African indigenous languages. The omission of these literature makes any history of African literature not only incomplete but also false. Literature in African languages predates the arrival of Europeans in Africa. By implication, therefore, it predates the introduction of the Western art of the novel set in Africa. The African novel in European languages was essentially inspired by the protests against European colonization of Africa by the local population. The novel in African languages was a literature of cultural affirmation and identity. The values portrayed and narrative techniques employed in African literature in indigenous languages were different from that in European languages.
