When we go back into the history of socialist countries we findrnthat at the birth of socialism , during t he transition period , literaturernhad a vital rol e to pl ay. To be more prec is e, the socialist realistrnmet hod contributed to the coming of soc i a li sm. This 50cialist realistrnmethod , fi ll ed with optim i sm, was commi tted to th e worki ng class.rnHany countries in th e Afr ic an continent are now going throughrna transition period towards socialism. A transition period, as statedrnabove , is a very important period in which the African writer has arngr ea t role to play to haste n the coming of socia lism. So far , mostrnAf ri can writers , using t he critical re ali st method, have only gone asrnfar as merely depi ct ing society. Soci ety in turn , has been presentedrnin a deterioratin g state . {part from th i s, no pl ace has been givenrnfor the optimistic rising class the working cl ass .rnLearning from the ex peri e nc e of socialist write rs , a new Afri ca nrnwriter is eme rgin g. Ng ugi , t ake n as an examp l e, has been greatly influencedrnby Gorky's Moth e r , a socialist realist nov e l . Furthermore , as the Africanrnwriter is li ving in a transition period , he is working towards socialism.rnThis indicates that th e socialist realist method has some implic ationsrnthat are us eful to the Af rican ~riter . Th es e implic ation s will helprnthe Af rican vlr itH as a mea ns for the advanc ement of soci alism , whichrnin turn , will imp ro ve the African nov el .