Craftsmanship and partisanship in Zambian prose fiction since independence : a critical evaluation to the novels of Mulaisho, Mariye, Saidi and Sibale

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Date
2013-02-03
Authors
Mbwayu, Joseph Likokoto
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Abstract
This study examinee partisanship and crafts-manship in the following texts: Before Damn by s Andreya Masiye, Between Two Worlds by Grieve Sibale, The Hanging by William Saidi, The Tongue of the Dumb and The Smoke That Thunders by Dominic Mulaisho. The detailed examination of these texts takes place in the second chapter as the first briefly deals with the methodology of the dissertation* Partisanship of the writers is studied not because it is essential to the artistic success of a text or even universally desirable; it is examined in relation to Zambia's alleged socialist orientation in the economy has also spread to the literary field. In addition, a socialist perspective provides a new window through which Zambian prose fiction can be studied. Under craftsmanship, the skills of the writers are assessed to discover the artistic abilities of the writers. This is done because we realise that a writer is primarily an artist and as such if he is to win recognition from the readers, especially students of literature, he must be seen as an accomplished artist or craftsman. After the examination of the texts, the dissertation reveals several things. Firstly, the commitment of the writers is not socialist. In most^ cases, the writers are not even aware of the existence of classes - a serious handicap since there are classes during the period in which the novels are set. Omission of this fact distorts their texts in that not all factors are being taken into account in the creation of the works* Secondly, the technical skills of the sele¬cted writers are generally clumsy and this is shown in several ways: the characters tend to be wooden; there is usually unnecessary inclusion of sociological information for its own sake; and in language and style there is a tendency to over¬use the direct style, a practice which tends to reduce the significance of the texts, as we explain in the third and final chapter of the dissertation.
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Craftmanship , Prose fiction--Zambia
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