Publisher's Synopsis
This book grew out of the urge to contribute to the documentation of the African oral heroic past which is gradually getting lost. It shows how African past influences its presence and how both are used to define the future. Furthermore, the study particularly highlights how oral narratives of Africa influence modern African writers, and how modern African writers guarantee a continuity of the oral tradition. The author shows that the African oral narrative is not a dead literature but a living one. This is ensured by modern African writers who make use of elements and themes of the oral narratives in their writings. Also this book undertakes a linguistic, literary, historical and sociological study of oral narratives. Finally this research is one attempt at documenting and preserving oral heroic narratives from Africa in its original form.
