African Oral Literature
Backgrounds, Character, and Continuity
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Indiana University Press
Published:22nd Sep '92
Should be back in stock very soon
A comprehensive critical work whjich firmly establishes oral literature as a landmark of high artistic achievement and situates it within the broader framework of contemporary African culture
Aims to establish oral literature as a landmark of artistic achievement, and situate it within the framework of contemporary African culture. This book is divided into three sections, and presents types of oral literature practiced in Africa, the principal concerns of the literature, and its relation to other forms of traditional art.
". . . its pages come alive with wonderful illustrative material coupled with sensitve and insightful commentary." —Reviews in Anthropology
" . . . the scope, breadth, and lucidity of this excellent study confirm that Okpewho is undoubtedly the most important authority writing on African oral literature right now . . . " —Research in African Literatures
"Truly a tour de force of individual scholarship . . . " —World Literature Today
" . . . excellent . . . " —African Affairs
" . . . a thorough synthesis of the main issues of oral literature criticism, as well as a grounding in experienced fieldwork, a wide-ranging theoretical base, and a clarity of argument rare among academics." —Multicultural Review
"This is a breathtakingly ambitious project . . . " —Harold Scheub
" . . . a definitive accounting of the evidence of living oral traditions in Africa today. Professor Okpewho's authority as an expert in this important new field is unrivaled." —Gregory Nagy
"Isidore Okpewho's African Oral Literature is a marvelous piece of scholarship and wide-ranging research. It presents the most comprehensive survey of the field of oral literature in Africa." —Emmanuel Obiechina
" . . . a tour de force of scholarship in which Okpewho casts his net across the African continent, searching for its verbal forms through voluminous recent writings and presents African oral literature in a new voice, proclaiming the literariness of African folklore." —Dan Ben-Amos
"This is an outstanding book by a scholar whose work has already influenced how African literature should be conceived. . . . Professor Okpewho is a scholar with a special talent to nurture scholarship in others. After this work, African literature will never be the same." —Mazisi Kunene
Isidore Okpewho, for many years Professor of English at the University of Ibadan, is one of the handful of African scholars who has facilitated the growth of African oral literature to its status today as a literary enterprise concerned with the artistic foundations of human culture. This comprehensive critical work firmly establishes oral literature as a landmark of high artistic achievement and situates it within the broader framework of contemporary African culture.
"... its pages come alive with wonderful illustrative material coupled with sensitive and insightful commentary." --Reviews in Anthropology " ... the scope, breadth, and lucidity of this excellent study confirm that Okpewho is undoubtedly the most important authority writing on African oral literature right now ... " --Research in African Literatures "Truly a tour de force of individual scholarship ... " --World Literature Today " ... excellent ... " --African Affairs " ... a thorough synthesis of the main issues of oral literature criticism, as well as a grounding in experienced fieldwork, a wide-ranging theoretical base, and a clarity of argument rare among academics." --Multicultural Review "This is a breathtakingly ambitious project ... " --Harold Scheub " ... a definitive accounting of the evidence of living oral traditions in Africa today. Professor Okpewho's authority as an expert in this important new field is unrivalled." --Gregory Nagy "Isidore Okpewho's African Oral Literature is a marvellous piece of scholarship and wide-ranging research. It presents the most comprehensive survey of the field of oral literature in Africa." --Emmanuel Obiechina " ... a tour de force of scholarship in which Okpewho casts his net across the African continent, searching for its verbal forms through voluminous recent writings and presents African oral literature in a new voice, proclaiming the literariness of African folklore." --Dan Ben-Amos "This is an outstanding book by a scholar whose work has already influenced how African literature should be conceived... Professor Okpewho is a scholar with a special talent to nurture scholarship in others. After this work, African literature will never be the same." --Mazisi Kunene
ISBN: 9780253207104
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 594g
408 pages