The Classics, African Literature, and the Critics.
Faced with the criticism that myth and epic poetry have no place in contemporary South African literature departments, there is no point in defending the material on the grounds of intrinsic worth. No text can claim this privilege. Instead, students and lecturers alike may find value and relevance f...
| Published in: | English in Africa Vol. 44; no. 1; pp. 73 - 96 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Institute for the Study of English in Africa
Apr2017
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=122936456&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 122936456 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 03768902 EIA jtl: English in Africa issn: 03768902 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Apr2017 vid: 44 iid: 1 pid: 1771 pub: Institute for the Study of English in Africa artinfo: ui: 122936456 10.4314/eia.v44i1.5 ppf: 73 ppct: 23 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 3.4MB tig: atl: The Classics, African Literature, and the Critics. aug: au: Field, Roger su: African literature Critics Literary criticism Epic poetry Mythology Ancient (Literary period) sug: subj: African literature Critics Literary criticism Epic poetry Mythology Ancient (Literary period) keyword: Achmat Dangor Constantin Cavafy Hellenism Homer Postcolonial criticism ab: Faced with the criticism that myth and epic poetry have no place in contemporary South African literature departments, there is no point in defending the material on the grounds of intrinsic worth. No text can claim this privilege. Instead, students and lecturers alike may find value and relevance for these works if they explore a range of aesthetic, conceptual, cultural, and political issues that close readings may precipitate. After analysing a fictional demonstration of how not to teach The Odyssey, the article surveys a range of writers and cultural critics who identify as African or African-American, and whose work comments directly and indirectly on the history of the meaning, purpose and value of selected ancient and classical Greek texts. This spectrum stretches from defensive cultural nationalism to an open-ended combination of the cosmopolitan and the vernacular. The article concludes that a combination of resistance and appropriation is the best way to make new and local these canonical texts. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of English in Africa is the property of Institute for Study English in Africa and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: English in Africa holder: Institute for Study English in Africa dt: @attributes: year: 2017 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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