Africa at the Internet Archive: Cowries and Kobos

Finishing up this week of stories from western Africa, I wanted to be sure to include this fascinating collection that brings together both traditional folktales and literary short stories: Cowries and Kobos: The West African Oral Tale and Short Story edited by Kirsten Holst and Anna Rutherford, just a click away at Internet Archive:

You will find traditional oral tales here about Tortoise, Spider, Dodo and other familiar folk figures, along with literary stories, including stories by Chinua Achebe and Cyprian Ekwenzi among others.

There is a very helpful introductory essay by Donald Consentino that makes some great observations about similarities but also differences between oral tales and written tales, and then each section of the book has its own introduction, with Nigerian folklorist Helen O. Chukwuma providing the introduction to the selection of oral tales. 

This book is very different from most of the other books I've written about (with a few exceptions, like the books by Harold Scheub for example) because the oral stories are credited to specific storytellers in specific performances, as you can see here:

The cover art is by Uche Okeke (1933–2016), a Nigerian artist; you can read more about his work here, which is also the source for this photograph:

The original of that particular etching is held by the Museum of Modern Art in New York: Nza the Smart I.

There are profound similarities and also differences between oral and literary traditions, and this book is a great way to think about that specifically in the African context, and then you can take what you learn from these west African traditions and see how that can illuminate your understand of oral and literary traditions around the world!

Cowries and Kobos:

The West African Oral Tale and Short Story

by Kirsten Holst and Anna Rutherford