University of California Press Towards an African Literature: The Emergence of Literary Form in Xhosa

Towards an African Literature: The Emergence of Literary Form in Xhosa is a landmark intervention in the study of Southern African writing, offering both an incisive critique of Euro-American scholarship and a rigorous model for literary criticism rooted in African contexts. First published as essays in the 1950s in *Africa South*, A. C. Jordan’s work situates Xhosa literature within the broader history of colonial conquest, resistance, and cultural transformation. Rejecting approaches that divorce literature from the lived realities of its creators, Jordan insists that African writing must be read through the dialectical relationship between literature and society, where authors serve as witnesses to their epoch and mouthpieces of their people’s hopes and struggles. Jordan’s analysis foregrounds figures such as W. W. Gqoba, Jonas Ntsiko, and “Uhadi,” whose voices rang with resistance to dispossession, while drawing contrasts with the more assimilationist outlook of Tiyo Soga, a prolific Xhosa essayist who urged acceptance of colonial society. By weaving together historical context, literary form, and ideological stance, Jordan illuminates how colonial pressures produced alienation, yet also gave rise to a literature of defiance and survival. Although unfinished at the time of his death in 1968, the book remains a foundational call for African scholars to shape the interpretation of their own literary traditions. For readers and researchers alike, Towards an African Literature offers a profound framework for understanding African literature not as an isolated aesthetic practice but as a vital cultural expression forged in the crucible of historical change. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1973.