i can't really help very much; i don't agree with the proposition here about oral literature or euro lit, not in the way it is framed in the quote below. "oral lit' becomes an invented category when it is deployed more or less ideologically and not with the careful construction of those who study it. one book that might help frame this understanding is eileen julien's African Novels and the Question of Orality.
ken
On 2/2/14 9:57 PM, Ikhide wrote:
A friend is working on a research thesis, "Magical realism as a decolonizing tool in Ben Okri's narrative." He has asked me if I could refer him to books that cover or relate to this topic. His major question is, "where has oral tradition in Nigerian Literature gone?" So he is looking for nooks that cover oral tradition or use oral tradition in Nigerian narratives,
employ myths, riddles, aphorisms in telling stories... His argument is along these lines, I think... "Amos Tutuola's publication of The Palmwine Drinkard (1952) most Nigerian authors have abandoned African folkloric narrative style. The closest to that kind of narrative is Ben Okri's The Famished Road (1991) which was based on the African Abiku myth. Contemporary Nigerian authors like Chimamanda Adichie, Biyi Bandele-Thomas, Chris Abani and Nnedi Okoroafor swung back to what Ngugi Wa Thiongo termed, in his essay, "Afro-European Literature", that is, "literature written by Africans in European Languages." They have, in their novels, refused to blend "the factual and the fantastic, the traditional and the technological landscapes" present in a postcolonial setting (Peters, 1993:23)."
Anyway, any recommendation on books, I am sure he will greatly appreciate. I hope I hear from some of you folks..
Many thanks in advance!
- IkhideStalk my blog at www.xokigbo.comFollow me on Twitter: @ikhideJoin me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ikhide
-- kenneth w. harrow faculty excellence advocate professor of english michigan state university department of english 619 red cedar road room C-614 wells hall east lansing, mi 48824 ph. 517 803 8839 harrow@msu.edu
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