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Oral Tradition in the Criticism of African Literature

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Solomon O. Iyasere
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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

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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.

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

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