Strategic transformations in Nigerian writing : orality & history in the work of Rev. Samuel Johnson, Amos Tutuola, Wole Soyinka & Ben Okri

Cover image for Strategic transformations in Nigerian writing : orality & history in the work of Rev. Samuel Johnson, Amos Tutuola, Wole Soyinka & Ben Okri

Title:

Author:

Quayson, Ato.

ISBN:

9780852555439

9780852555446

9780253333438

9780253211484

Personal Author:

Quayson, Ato.

Publication Information:

Oxford : J. Currey ; Bloomington : Indiana University Press, 1997.

Physical Description:

x, 180 p. ; 23 cm.

Contents:

1. Introduction: African Literature & the Question of Orality -- 2. Nutritive Junctures: Rev. Samuel Johnson & Yoruba Historiography -- 3. Treasures of an Opulent Fancy: Amos Tutuola & the Folktale Narrative -- 4. The Space of Transformations: Theory, Myth & Ritual in the Work of Wole Soyinka -- 5. Narrative Through a Prism of Indigenous Beliefs: Examples from Ben Okri's Short Stories -- 6. Harvesting the Folkloric Intuition: The Famished Road -- Appendix: 'Esoteric' Passages in The Famished Road -- 7. Conclusions & Reflections: Methods, Means & Meanings.

Personal Subject:

Soyinka, Wole-Knowledge-Folklore.

Tutuola, Amos-Knowledge-Folklore.

Okri, Ben-Knowledge-Folklore.

Johnson, Samuel, -1901.

Subject Term:

Nigerian literature (English) -- History and criticism.

Literature and folklore -- Nigeria -- History.

Literature and history -- Nigeria -- History.

Yoruba (African people) -- Historiography.

Oral tradition -- Nigeria.

Geographic Term:

Nigeria -- Historiography.

Electronic Access:

Book review (H-Net) http://www.h-net.org/review/hrev-a0a7v0-aa

Copies:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Copy	Status
Searching... 1:IIEMSA	1:GEN-BOOK	33168015737410	820.99669 J69S 1997	1	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

'This is an innovative and original study which offers a new perspective on a Nigerian literary tradition. Quayson takes issue with the prevalent use of oral tradition in the criticism of Europhone written literature as a kind of cultural matrix out of which the written text emerged, and the essence of which it embodies. He proposes instead a view of literary tradition as the outcome of numerous, and varied, strategic acts of positioning in relation to indigenous resources - which vary according to the individual writer's project but also according to the larger social and political context. He constructs a historical framework in which to view these strategies as performed by Samuel Johnson in The History of the Yorubas (1921 [1897]), Amos Tutuola (1950s), Soyinka (1960s and 70s) and Ben Okri (1980s and 90s).' - Karin Barber, Senior Lecturer at the Centre of African Studies, University of Birmingham

North America: Indiana U Press