Wole Soyinka, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature and one of the foremost living African writers, here analyses the interconnecting worlds of myth, ritual and literature in Africa. The ways in which the African world perceives itself as a cultural entity, and the differences between its essential unity of experience and literary form and the sense of division pervading Western literature, are just some of the issues addressed. The centrality of ritual gives drama a prominent place in Soyinka's discussion, but he deals in equally illuminating ways with contemporary poetry and fiction. Above all, the fascinating insights in this book serve to highlight the importance of African criticism in addition to the literary and cultural achievements which are the subject of its penetrating analysis.
FREE Two-Day Shipping for Students. Learn more |
| ||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Special Offers and Product Promotions
- Buy $50 in qualifying physical textbooks, get $5 in Amazon MP3 Credit. Here's how (restrictions apply)
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
Review
'... the best book on contemporary African literature available.' New Society
Book Description
The ways in which the African world perceives itself as a cultural whole that interconnects myth, ritual and literature and the differences between its essential unity and the sense of division pervading Western literature are emphasized in this classic analysis.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cantankerous Soyinka,
By A Customer
This review is from: Myth, Literature and the African World (Canto) (Paperback)
The Ocident meets Africa in it's inherent opacity. This collection of Soyinka's essays are typical of his volatile temperment bursting through as to evoke a degree of amusement. Lumbering and academic a good study read. Providing a predictable alternative reading of the african tradition.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Inside This Book
(learn more)
First Sentence:
I shall begin by commemorating the gods for their self-sacrifice on the altar of literature, and in so doing press them into further service on behalf of human society, and its quest for the explication of being. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
transitional gulf, tragic rites, chthonic realm, literary ideology, ritual theatre, tragic art, social vision Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Camara Laye, Hamidou Kane, Zora Zeljan, Tierno Bokar, Two Thousand Seasons, Duro Ladipo, Oba Koso, Samba Diallo, South African, The Imprisonment, William Conton, Ayi Kwei Armah, The Radiance of the King, Yambo Oulouguem, Ambiguous Adventure, Mongo Beti, Nana Buruku New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
I shall begin by commemorating the gods for their self-sacrifice on the altar of literature, and in so doing press them into further service on behalf of human society, and its quest for the explication of being. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
transitional gulf, tragic rites, chthonic realm, literary ideology, ritual theatre, tragic art, social vision Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Camara Laye, Hamidou Kane, Zora Zeljan, Tierno Bokar, Two Thousand Seasons, Duro Ladipo, Oba Koso, Samba Diallo, South African, The Imprisonment, William Conton, Ayi Kwei Armah, The Radiance of the King, Yambo Oulouguem, Ambiguous Adventure, Mongo Beti, Nana Buruku New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 19
books:
See all 19 books this book cites
100
books
cite this book:
See all 100 books citing this book
- Two Thousand Seasons by Ayi Kwei Armah on 5 pages
- Ambiguous Adventure (African Writers) by Cheikh Hamidou Kane on page 79, and page 85
- RC Series Bundle: The Science of Mythology: Essays on the Myth of the Divine Child and the Mysteries of Eleusis (Routledge Classics) by C. G. Jung on page 10, and page 35
- The Radiance of the King (New York Review Books Classics) by Camara Laye on page 123, and page 125
- King Lear (The New Folger Library Shakespeare) by William Shakespeare on page 14
See all 19 books this book cites
- Wole Soyinka: Politics, Poetics, and Postcolonialism (Cambridge Studies in African and Caribbean Literature) by Biodun Jeyifo on 17 pages
- Perspectives on Wole Soyinka: Freedom and Complexity by Biodun Jeyifo on 12 pages
- LA Route: Realite Et Representation Dans L'Oeuvre De Wole Soyinka (Cross/Cultures) (Cross/Cultures) by Christiane Fioupou on 7 pages
- Strategic Transformations in Nigerian Writing: Orality and History in the Work of Rev. Samuel Johnson, Amos Tutuola, Wole Soyinka and Ben Okri by Ato Quayson on 6 pages
- African Identities: Race, Nation and Culture in Ethnography, Pan-Africanism and Black Literatures by Kadiatu Kanneh on 5 pages
See all 100 books citing this book
Books on Related Topics
(learn more)
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
So You'd Like to...
|
|
Look for Similar Items by Category
- Books > Education & Reference > Words & Language
- Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > African
- Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > History & Criticism
- Books > New & Used Textbooks > Humanities > Linguistics
- Books > New & Used Textbooks > Humanities > Literature > World Literature > African & Middle Eastern
