From a written to an oral literature: Transformation of the classic African novel

Those who first wrote African literary history considered political and social engagement, bearing testimony to real events, and literary realism to be the criteria according to which one decides what is "worthy of interest". But when the voice of African criticism began to be heard, in the seventies (M. Kane, A. Kone, Mahouta-Mboukou, etc.) a return to African sources was advocated. For these critics, "significant" works became those that can be related to the aesthetics of African oral tradition. It is important for this current of critical thinking that the language and narrative models used by African authors belong to African cultural heritage. But what exactly is "oral literature"? This "African tradition" so highly acclaimed, could it not also be a Western invention, as suggested by Bernard Mouralis?