TRADITIONAL AESTHETICS TRANSFER AND THE AFRICAN NOVELISTS: A STUDY OF ACHEBE’S THINGS FALL APART AND LAYE’S THE AFRICAN CHILD

TRADITIONAL AESTHETICS TRANSFER AND THE AFRICAN NOVELISTS: A STUDY OF ACHEBE'S THINGS FALL APART AND LAYE'S THE AFRICAN CHILD

CHAPTER ONE

1.1    INTRODUCTION

Reading through African novels, this research work was triggered by a lot of borrowing from oral traditional aesthetics into the written form by African novelists. The transfer of traditional aesthetics is a common feature in African novels. According to Bodunde (2001) " - . aesthetic transfer investigates the transformation of different aspects of indigenous heritage - ."(p.7)

African traditional setting in general comprises cultural activities that constitute the concept of beauty or aesthetics. These aesthetics are enriched in the belief of or custom handed down from one generation to another. The aesthetics can be found in the people's early beliefs, religions, customs, festival, myth, legends, laws, folktales, settings, communities, metaphysics and magical ceremonies of the people. African novelists mostly source their raw materials from African traditions. This is why the transferred aesthetics were formally oral.

TRADITIONAL AESTHETIC TRANSFER AND THE AFRICAN NOVELISTS