Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T13:48:00.402Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Oral Tradition in the Criticism of African Literature

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Solomon O. Iyasere
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In recent years African literature has-at last-been receiving the serious treatment it has long deserved, largely as a result of the efforts of the literary critics who have demanded strict attention to texture and structure.1 Although there are still a few old-time missionary critics, such as G. D. Killam and Ernest Emenyonu, who pass off environmental commentaries under the shibboleths of literary criticism, the general thrust appears to be towards more formal textual consideration: the examination of how the content of a work is satisfactorily shaped into a perceivable Gestalt.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , March 1975 , pp. 107 - 119
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1975

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Page 107 note 1 See lyasere, Solomon O., ‘Art, A Simulacrum of Reality – Problems in the Criticism of Alrican Literature’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies (Cambridge), XI, 3, 09 1973, pp. 447–55.Google Scholar

Page 107 note 2 Cf. Tucker, Martin, Africa in Modern Perspective (New York, 1967), p. 16.Google Scholar

Page 108 note 1 See lyasere, Solomon O., ‘The Liberation of African Literature: a re-evaluation of the socio-cultural approach’, in Conch Magazine (New Paltz, N.Y.), 5, Spring 1974.Google Scholar

Page 108 note 2 For example, Tibble, Ann, African Literature in English (London, 1967),Google Scholar and Palmer, Eustace, Introduction to African Literature (London, 1971),Google Scholar passim.

Page 109 note 1 Eliot, T. S., ‘Tradition and the Individual Talent’, in Adman, Hazard (ed.), Critical Theory since Plato (New York, 1971), p. 784.Google Scholar

Page 109 note 2 Jahn, Janheinz, Muntu, translated by Green, Marjorie (New York, 1961), p. 207.Google Scholar

Page 109 note 3 Cultural Events in Africa (London), 29, 04 1967, p. 10.Google Scholar

Page 110 note 1 Awoonor-Williams, G., Rediscovery (Ibadan, 1964), p. 13.Google Scholar

Page 110 note 2 Ibid. p. 12.

Page 110 note 3 Okigbo, Christopher, Heavensgate (Ibadan, 1962).Google Scholar

Page 110 note 4 Schmidt, Nancy J., ‘Selective Introduction to African Literature’, in The Conch Review of Books (New Paltz, N.Y.), I, 1, 03 1973, pp. 6–12.Google Scholar

Page 111 note 1 Christ, Ronald, ‘Among the Ibo’, in New York Timex Book Review, 12 12 1967, p. 22.Google Scholar

Page 111 note 2 Wellek, René and Warren, Austin, Theory of Literature (New York, 1956), p. 22.Google Scholar

Page 112 note 1 Okara, Gabriel, The Voice (London, 1970 edn.), p. 19.Google Scholar

Page 113 note 1 Soyinka, Wole, Five Plays (London, 1964), p. 38.Google Scholar

Page 114 note 1 Soyinka, Wole, Kongi's Harvest (London, 1967), p. 3.Google Scholar

Page 114 note 2 Astrachan, Anthony, ‘Does It Take One To Know One?’, in Nigeria Magazine (Lagos), 09 1972, p. 80.Google Scholar

Page 115 note 1 Armstrong, R. P., Three Essays on African Art and Literature (Evanston, 1966), p. 9.Google Scholar

Page 115 note 2 Mbiti, John S., African Religions and Philosophy (London, 1969), pp. 17 and 19.Google Scholar

Page 116 note 1 Cf. Palmer, op. cit. p. xiv.