Rwandan literature is historically based on an oral tradition. The written tradition in Rwanda arose only in the 20th century [1] . Modern Rwandan literature has been greatly influenced by events related to the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda .
Oral tradition
Historically, in Rwanda, literature was divided into monarchist and folk.
The monarchist was official, the profession of a writer was inherited. The family tree of the monarch, royal myths, royal poetry, royal rituals - for all this was the responsible official literature [2] .
The fundamental difference between folk literature was its unregulatedness: neither form nor content were determined by the authorities. Stories about representatives of the main families of Rwanda, self-praise, heroic, shepherd's and hunting texts, proverbs and sayings, riddles, folk songs were popular [3] .
Written Tradition
The first poems in Kinyarwanda were written by the collector of Rwandan folklore, Abbot Alexis Kagame, in the middle of the 20th century.
Saverio Naygiziki became the first French-language writer of Rwanda [1] .
Among the writers significant for Rwandan literature, one should also mention Francois-Xavier Muniarugerero, Sipriena Rugambu [4] , Benjamin Sehene [5] , Skolastic Mukazonga [6] , Yolanda Mukagasana [7] and a number of others.
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Rwanda (state in Africa) / G.I. Potekhina // Great Soviet Encyclopedia : [in 30 vol.] / Ch. ed. A.M. Prokhorov . - 3rd ed. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978.
- ↑ Seth K Buhigiro. The oral literature of Rwanda (inaccessible link) . The New Times Rwanda (December 18, 2009). Date of treatment March 9, 2014. Archived March 9, 2014.
- ↑ Seth K Buhigiro. The oral literature of Rwanda (inaccessible link) . The New Times Rwanda (December 19, 2009). Date of treatment March 9, 2014. Archived March 9, 2014.
- ↑ Jean Chrysostome Nkejabahizi. La recherche linguistique et littéraire au Rwanda dans la brume (French) (unavailable link) . Université de Franche-Comté (2012). Date of treatment March 9, 2014. Archived March 9, 2014.
- ↑ Nicki Hitchcott. Benjamin Sehene vs Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka: the fictional trial of a genocide priest . Taylor & Francis Group . Journal of African Cultural Studies (2012). Date of treatment March 9, 2014.
- ↑ Siegfried Forster. La Rwandaise Scholastique Mukasonga, la surprise du prix Renaudot 2012 (French) . RFI (7 novembre 2012). Date of treatment March 9, 2014.
- ↑ Mukagasana, Yolande . United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees . Date of treatment March 9, 2014.