MYTH, LITERATURE AND THE AFRICAN WORLD

by Wole Soyinka ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 24, 1976

In five essays, Nigerian playwright Soyinka analyzes ""the self-apprehension of the African world"" as transmitted through myth, ritual and contemporary African literature. He traces traditional African moral and aesthetic concepts, the ""irreducible truths"" of the African world-view, from the stories of the gods to contemporary drama. In the process he defends the creative vitality and technical sophistication of ritual drama as a means of transmitting ""serf-apprehension,"" and refutes European assumptions of a superiority of intellect and technique, as reflected in the writings of Jung, Sartre, and other European thinkers, as well as by his fellow Africans. Marxism, Surrealism, and other European movements are used as examples of the spiritual bankruptcy that generates ""creative impulses. . . directed by period dialectics."" Equally critical of the Negritude movement and ""African intellectualism in general,"" he cites them for ""failing to come to grips with the very foundations of Eurocentric epistemology."" In contemporary African novels Islamic and Christian systems confront ""the protean nature of the symbols of African metaphysics."" Soyinka, now at the University of Ghana, presents extensive evidence to support his argument that the literature of modern black Africa should reaffirm the basic values of traditional African societies. Concrete and stimulating.

Pub Date: Sept. 24, 1976

ISBN: 0521398347

Page Count: -

Publisher: Cambridge Univ. Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1976

Categories: NONFICTION