Myth in Africa
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.41 (727 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0521274761 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 316 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2016-07-02 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
African thinkers and intellectuals see their people's culture as rooted in time-honoured oral traditions and many African writers today use symbols, images and motifs from these traditions in their works. In this work he not only reasserts the pride in African traditions but also gives students of myth a fresh look at an old problem.. In Africa the past and the present live very much side by side. Focusing on a number of tales from a selection of African countries, he shows myth to be the basic imaginative resource from which the larger cultural values derive. In this innovative study Dr Okpewho explores what he considers the essence of these traditions - myth - and examines its place in African life, literature and thought. An established novelist as well as critic, Dr Okpewho discusses the narrative traditions of Africa - of which he continues to be a part - with balanced sympathy and objectivity
"Excellent literary & anthropological study" according to David Auerbach. This is a fascinating and very substantial investigation of African myth. Okpewho shows clear structuralist influences (Levi-Strauss looms large), but he isn't tied to any one particular approach, and this allows him to avoid the reductionist strain of structuralism that makes anthropology so frustrating at times. Instead, he draws on earlier and less theoretical anthropologists like Malinowski as well as a real literary appreciation for the individual creativity in the making and remaking of myths. For Okpewho, myth can be an expression of an individual and not just the product of