Oral Epics From Africa

Author : John William Johnson
Publisher : Indiana University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780253211101
Total Pages : 360 pages
Book Rating : 4.07/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Oral Epics from Africa written by John William Johnson and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 1997-04-22 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It seems incredible that heretofore there has not been an introductory anthology of African epics presented in English. Western literary culture has long emphasized the heritage of such well-known epics as the Iliad, the Odyssey, and Aeneid. But it is only recently that scholars have turned their attention toward capturing the rich oral tradition that is still alive in Africa. The twenty-five excerpts in this volume have been selected and introduced so as to offer English-speaking readers a broad sample of the extensive epic traditions in Africa. The general introduction and the background on each epic will enable readers to understand the context of each epic and will also provide leads for further inquiry.

Author : Stephen Belcher
Publisher : Indiana University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780253212818
Total Pages : 308 pages
Book Rating : 4.12/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Epic Traditions of Africa written by Stephen Belcher and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 1999-10-22 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Belcher's volume contains a much needed and extremely well-integrated overview and discussion of a vast inter-related West African culture complex that deserves and requires the kind of original, insightful treatment it receives here." —David Conrad Epic Traditions of Africa crosses boundaries of language, distance, and time to gather material from diverse African oral epic traditions. Stephen Belcher explores the rich past and poetic force of African epics and places them in historical and social, as well as artistic contexts. Colorful narratives from Central and West African traditions are illuminated along with texts that are more widely available to Western readers—the Mande Sunjata and the Bamana Segou. Belcher also takes up questions about European influences on African epic poetry and the possibility of mutual influence through out the genre. This lively and informative volume will inspire an appreciation for the distinctive qualities of this uniquely African form of verbal art.

Author : Mariam Konaté Deme
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 113693264X
Total Pages : 134 pages
Book Rating : 4.49/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Heroism and the Supernatural in the African Epic written by Mariam Konaté Deme and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-09-13 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There exists a strong tendency within Western literary criticism to either deny the existence of epics in Africa or to see African literatures as exotic copies of European originals. In both cases, Western criticism has largely failed to acknowledge the distinctiveness of African literary aesthetics. This book revises traditional literary canons in examining the social, cultural and emotional specificity of African epics. Mariam Konate Deme highlights the distinguishing features that characterize the African epic, emphasizing the significance of the fantastic and its use as an essential element in the dramatic structure of African epics. As Deme notes, the fantastic can be fully appreciated only against the cosmological background of the societies that produce those heroic tales. This book not only contributes to the scholarship on African oral literature, but also adds reshapes our understanding of heroic literature in general.

Author : Fritz H. Pointer
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780773440876
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.79/5 ( download)

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Download or read book African Oral Epic Poetry written by Fritz H. Pointer and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Published in 2012, with Pointer rather than Byrd credited as translator, under the title: A translation into English of the epic of Kambili (an African mythic hero).

Author : Fa-Digi Sisòkò
Publisher : Indiana University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780253207135
Total Pages : 166 pages
Book Rating : 4.34/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Epic of Son-Jara written by Fa-Digi Sisòkò and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 1992-08-22 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: " . . . a major addition to the literature on oral traditions." —Journal of Religion in Africa This 750-year-old epic celebrates the exploits of the legendary founder of the Empire of Old Mali. It constitutes a virtual social, political, and cultural charter and embodies deep-rooted aspects of Mande cosmology. The fully annotated translation is accompanied by an introduction that provides a historical and contextual framework for understanding the recitation of this African epic.

Author : Lauri Honko
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter
ISBN 13 : 3110825848
Total Pages : 401 pages
Book Rating : 4.48/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Textualization of Oral Epics written by Lauri Honko and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2011-07-20 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS is a series of books that open new perspectives in our understanding of language. The series publishes state-of-the-art work on core areas of linguistics across theoretical frameworks as well as studies that provide new insights by building bridges to neighbouring fields such as neuroscience and cognitive science. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS considers itself a forum for cutting-edge research based on solid empirical data on language in its various manifestations, including sign languages. It regards linguistic variation in its synchronic and diachronic dimensions as well as in its social contexts as important sources of insight for a better understanding of the design of linguistic systems and the ecology and evolution of language. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS publishes monographs and outstanding dissertations as well as edited volumes, which provide the opportunity to address controversial topics from different empirical and theoretical viewpoints. High quality standards are ensured through anonymous reviewing.

Author : Ruth Finnegan
Publisher : Open Book Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1906924708
Total Pages : 614 pages
Book Rating : 4.06/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Oral Literature in Africa written by Ruth Finnegan and published by Open Book Publishers. This book was released on 2012-09 with total page 614 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ruth Finnegan's Oral Literature in Africa was first published in 1970, and since then has been widely praised as one of the most important books in its field. Based on years of fieldwork, the study traces the history of storytelling across the continent of Africa. This revised edition makes Finnegan's ground-breaking research available to the next generation of scholars. It includes a new introduction, additional images and an updated bibliography, as well as its original chapters on poetry, prose, "drum language" and drama, and an overview of the social, linguistic and historical background of oral literature in Africa. This book is the first volume in the World Oral Literature Series, an ongoing collaboration between OBP and World Oral Literature Project. A free online archive of recordings and photographs that Finnegan made during her fieldwork in the late 1960s is hosted by the World Oral Literature Project (http: //www.oralliterature.org/collections/rfinnegan001.html) and can also be accessed from publisher's website.

Author : Jonathon Repinecz
Publisher : MSU Press
ISBN 13 : 1628953764
Total Pages : 302 pages
Book Rating : 4.63/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Subversive Traditions written by Jonathon Repinecz and published by MSU Press. This book was released on 2019-10-01 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How can traditions be subversive? The kinship between African traditions and novels has been under debate for the better part of a century, but the conversation has stagnated because of a slowness to question the terms on which it is based: orality vs. writing, tradition vs. modernity, epic vs. novel. These rigid binaries were, in fact, invented by colonialism and cemented by postcolonial identity politics. Thanks to this entrenched paradigm, far too much ink has been poured into the so-called Great Divide between oral and writing societies, and to the long-lamented decline of the ways of old. Given advances in social science and humanities research—studies in folklore, performance, invented traditions, colonial and postcolonial ethnography, history, and pop culture—the moment is right to rewrite this calcified literary history. This book is not another story of subverted traditions, but of subversive ones. West African epics like Sunjata, Samori, and Lat-Dior offer a space from which to think about, and criticize, the issues of today, just as novels in European languages do. Through readings of documented performances and major writers like Yambo Ouologuem and Amadou Hampâté Bâ of Mali, Ahmadou Kourouma of Ivory Coast, and Aminata Sow Fall and Boubacar Boris Diop of Senegal, this book conducts an entirely new analysis of West African oral epic and its relevance to contemporary world literature.

Author : Isidore Okpewho
Publisher : New York : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 318 pages
Book Rating : 4.77/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Epic in Africa written by Isidore Okpewho and published by New York : Columbia University Press. This book was released on 1979 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : David C. Conrad
Publisher : Hackett Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9780872206977
Total Pages : 258 pages
Book Rating : 4.71/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Sunjata written by David C. Conrad and published by Hackett Publishing. This book was released on 2004-01-01 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A pillar of the West African oral tradition for centuries, this epic traces the adventures and achievements of the Mande hero, Sunjata, as he liberates his people from Sumaworo Kanté, the sorcerer king of Soso, and establishes the great medieval empire of Mali. David Conrad conveys the strong narrative thrust of the Sunjata epic in his presentation of substantial excerpts from his translation of a performance by Djanka Tassey Condé. Readers approaching the epic for the first time will appreciate the translation's highly readable, poetic English as well as Conrad's informative Introduction and notes. Scholars will find the familiar heroes and heroines taking on new dimensions, secondary characters gaining increased prominence, and previously unknown figures emerging from obscurity. "Thanks to his careful editing and translating of Condé's narrative, Conrad offers a highly readable version of the epic that is about a third of its original length. The translation communicates not only the poetic qualities and the essential events of the Sunjata legend but also the master bard's performance values. Thus, this rendering will fascinate those who already know the story and culture and those coming to the epic for the first time. Conrad provides an excellent introduction to Mande oral tradition, the role of the griot, and the Manding belief system. Though he makes no claim for this as the complete scholarly edition, he does provide helpful scholarly notes, a glossary, and a good bibliography. . . . Summing up: Highly recommended." --L. W. Yoder, CHOICE