English and the African Writer

I am sure that Obi Wali must have felt triumphantly vindicated when he saw the report of a different kind of conference held later at Fourah Bay to discuss African literature and the University curriculum. This conference produced a tentative definition of African literature as follows: Creative writing in which an African setting is authentically handled or to which experiences originating in Africa are integral. We are told specifically that Conrad's Heart of Darkness qualifies as African literature while Graham Greene's Heart of the Matter fails because it could have been set anywhere outside Africa.