 Today, in World Literature, we turn to the literature of Africa in the Middle East. From Africa, we will look at writers from Algeria, Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. For the Middle East, we will look at writers from Egypt and Israel. In both regions, we will notice that the search for independence and the desire for a unique cultural identity coincide. The continent of Africa is exceeded in size by Asia alone. Its population of 300 million is marked by diversity in over 50 countries. Before the European invasion, African civilization was marked by creativity and wealth and strong communal ethos. The kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, Songhai, Yoruba, and Ashante flourished. This intervention in the continent undermined this way of life. Traditional life was interrupted as a result of colonization and Africa's integration into a modern world economy. Over a period of four centuries, from 1500s to the mid-1800s, close to 10 million people were enslaved in Africa. The very fiber of African society was undermined. Nevertheless, the sense of communal ethos has survived and provides the foundation for modern life. Modern African history can be said to begin in the late 19th century, with the Berlin Conference in 1884-1885. Here the West officially petitioned the continent among the major European nations and attempted to establish a permanently dependent status for Africa. Although colonial powers varied, their goals were similar. In essence, each nation worked to control Africa for its own economic development. Africa's diversified native economy was diverted to the production of cash crops. Communal lands were seized. The Euro-century policies of government and Christianity undermined traditional African social, cultural, and religious life. Africa struggled against and recovered from this colonization and established a framework for modern African history. Although the colonial regimes remained relatively stable until 1945, at the close of World War II, the nation witnessed moves for independence. In 1957, Ghana achieved independence, and over the next three decades, all of the European colonies gained their freedom. Indispensable as a guide for the literature of Africa is found in the excellent two volumes entitled, African Writers, edited by C. Brian Cox and published by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1997. In reading through this volume, we come to realize the great importance of African writers in world literature. Three have been awarded the Nobel Prize, Nadeen Gortimer in 1991, Nagwab Mahfuths in 1988, and Rolje Sojanke in 1989, four, if we count Albert Camus in 1957, and writers such as Algeria's Mohamed Debb, Botswana's Bessie Head, Nigeria's Chuna Achebe, and Kenya's Ngugo Wathiyongo have gained a truly international audience for African writing. While there was a great deal to read from these authors, I recommend the following selections, Soldiers in Brace, a short story by Gortimer, The Happy Man, a short story also by Mahfuths. The Swantwell is a play by Rolje Sojanke and Neymar were about unknown by Mohamed Debb. Mohamed Debb's story should be read in connection with Camus, the guest. The Collector of Treasures by Bessie Head. Things fall apart, a novel by Achebe, and the return, a short story by Ngugo Wathiyongo. These authors will provide an introduction to the African quest for identity, the choice of language, the African cultural tradition, that is the emergence of negritude and its critique. In reading these writers, you will be able to gain an introduction to what the critic, Edward Said, terms global consciousness, a growing 20th century awareness of the need to respect the disparate cultures of the world. Naturally, this is also the aim of studying Middle East and its literature. The region known as the Middle East is located in Northwest Africa. It includes Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, as well as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia. In the 19th century, the region became integrated into European imperialist system, either directly through colonial rule or indirectly through economic and military alliances. As a result, the area experienced a drive for modernization and independence in the 20th century. Most Arab countries achieved independence from the West after World War II. During the 1950s and 60s, the region was led by the policies of Gamal Nasser, the Egyptian leader who charted an independent course for emerging regions in the nation. For most of the contemporary period, however, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict stands out as a central tension in the region. Key to understanding the tension in the region is the concept of Zionism, the movement for reconstructing a Jewish state in Palestine that was responsible and responsible of an anti-Semite attack in Europe. In 1917, the Balfour Declaration promised Jews a homeland in Palestine, then officially a British mandate. From the outset, however, Arab Palestinians contested Zionist settlements, viewing them as an extension of Europe's imperialist policies. As the Jewish community gained an increase in its power, much of the Arab population was itself displaced. In 1948, a war began between Israel and the Arab states, and Israel increased its territory at the close of that war. Palestine seeks to exist as a political and administrative entity. Arab Palestine became Jewish Israel, as the majority of the Arab population was transformed into stateless refugees. From the ranks of these refugees rose the Palestinian liberation movements. Arab-Israeli wars occurred in 1948 and 49, 56, 1967, that is the Six-Day War, 1973 through 74, that is the Yom Kippur War, and 1982 when Israel launched a massive attack to destroy all military bases of the Palestine Liberation Organization. The Middle East and North Africa have a rich literary tradition, but it is one that is distinct from that of the West. When the Egyptian short story writer Naguib Mahfouz published his first short stories in 1934 fiction, was new to that region. Although Arabic had its own narrative tradition, the art of storytelling had never enjoyed the prestigious science of poetry for centuries, the dominant Arabic literary form. Indeed, the novel was considered suspect because of its foreign origins and the belief that it was merely light entertainment. Mahfouz and his contemporaries transformed the Arabic novel into a sophisticated literary form and created a new readership for prose narrative. Today, Mahfouz is best known for his famous Cairo trilogy, a three-generation saga of the fate of a family which presents a social and political commentary on the development of modern Egypt. Mahfouz, as we said before, received the Nobel Prize in 1988. Israel is best known for such authors as Judah Amashi and Amos Az. Amihá is a poet concerned with the complexities of his region and his work expresses his desire for peace and reconciliation. His humanism is seen in poems such as Jerusalem and Sort of an Apocalypse. Az's first novel, Elsewhere Perhaps, published in 1973, provides keen insight into life in a kibbutz. His work often revolves around the conflict between the ideal of Zionism and the realities of Israeli life. In his short story, No Meded Viper, the Arab Israeli conflict is at the center of the story. As students explore writers from Africa and the Middle East, they will want to look for themes that are evident in post-colonial literature, place and displacement. Especially, students will want to look at how place is experienced and how language works to describe location. For it is home and peace that we seek and it is home and peace that are elements in life most often most difficult to achieve. As you listen to the lectures in this, the final segment of the course, note the various ways that the authors give voice to individual conscience. As is the case with writers from Latin America and the Caribbean, the personal is clearly political in writers from Africa and the Middle East. Note too that these writers integrate their voices into distinct forms of prose and poetry that satisfy our need for beauty. Some of the forms are from European origin and some are not. Indeed, some authors elect to write in their native language rather than risk the dangers of colonialism. In all cases, it is important to be able to describe the ways that these authors give voice to their convictions. It is important to describe the aesthetics of these writers.