Adeola James and the problem of subjectivity: Eustace 'Palmer's Plea for Objectivity'.
In this essay, I use James' paper on the role of the critic and Palmer's response to shed light on the problematics of developing an aesthetics of criticism of the African novel. I begin with a broad survey of the critical responses to the controversy and then explore specific aspects of James' argu...
| Publicado en: | Journal of the African Literature Association Vol. 15; no. 2; pp. 171 - 183 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Aug2021
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=150677286&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 150677286 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 21674736 D378 jtl: Journal of the African Literature Association issn: 21674736 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Aug2021 vid: 15 iid: 2 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 150677286 10.1080/21674736.2021.1900270 ppf: 171 ppct: 12 formats: tig: atl: Adeola James and the problem of subjectivity: Eustace 'Palmer's Plea for Objectivity'. aug: au: Cole, Ernest affil: Hope College, Holland, MI, USA su: African literature Literary form Literary criticism Structural frames African philosophy Objectivity Subjectivity sug: subj: African literature Literary form Literary criticism Structural frames African philosophy Objectivity Subjectivity ab: In this essay, I use James' paper on the role of the critic and Palmer's response to shed light on the problematics of developing an aesthetics of criticism of the African novel. I begin with a broad survey of the critical responses to the controversy and then explore specific aspects of James' argument. In my analysis of James' review, I use Berger's construct of the 'subjective' in juxtaposition with Palmer's conception of the 'objective' as structural frames to explore my argument of the problematics of adopting a subjective approach to criticism. I contend that James' perspective of the African novel attempts to isolate it from its literary history and its connections with other forms of literature. I note that it further simplifies the complexities of its sociological contexts, and the multiplicity of cultural norms and values that characterize it as "African." Hence, the problematics of adopting a subjective approach to its analysis. I conclude that if we view the novel as a work of art, then Palmer's objection is valid: literature must be appreciated independently of its historical, sociological, or cultural contexts and that there is veracity in his contention that if African literature is to be accepted as serious literature, it must be judged by the same standards and criteria as Western and other forms of literature and not treated as ethnographic data or historical and cultural documents. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y dt: @attributes: year: 2021 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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