African Oral Literature: Backgrounds, Character, and Continuity". . . 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. |
Contents
The Oral Artist | 20 |
The Oral Performance | 30 |
Varieties of Performance | 42 |
Copyright | |
15 other sections not shown
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African Oral Literature: Backgrounds, Character, and Continuity Isidore Okpewho Limited preview - 1992 |
Common terms and phrases
accompanist Acholi African oral literature Akan animals audience babalawo Babalola Bamba Benin chapter chief child culture dance death discussion divination dramatic drinkard drum element Enyi episodes Eshu especially European example Ezemu fieldwork folklore folktales frequently Ghana give griot human hunter ideophones Idoma Igbo ijala imbongi instance interest Kambili killed kind king language Limba lines literary Liyong Mandinka masquerade Moshoeshoe mother narrator Nigeria Nyiha Ogun Ogunde Okot p'Bitek Okpewho okra oral artist oral performance oral poetry oral tradition original Ozidi Saga Palm-Wine Drinkard perhaps person play poet poetic praise proverbs recorded repetition ritual role scholars Shaka Simayi singing skill slit-drum social society songs and chants Sotho Soyinka spirit statement story storyteller structure Sunjata symbols tale tape tells theatre things tion told tonal traditional African translation Tutuola Ubulu various voice warrior wife woman words Xhosa Yoruba