Folk Poetics - A Sociosemiotic Study of Yoruba Trickster Tales

Of all the different sub-genres of oral prose fiction developed by the Yoruba of Nigeria, the trickster tale is the most popular, especially among the nonruling stratum of society. Sekoni describes and explains literally what makes the trickster tale a trickster tale. The focus is to establish the phenomenology of the trickster tale discourse from a sociosemiotic perspective. More specifically, Sekoni attempts to investigate the sociological and narratological conditions that govern the formation, transformation, and persistence of the trickster tale primarily among the Yoruba common people.

At the same time Sekoni shows the uses made of the trickster among such contemporary writers as Soyinka, Achebe, Osofisan, and others. This study will be of particular interest to students and scholars of African folklore and literature, cultural semiotics, anthropology, and African-American literature.

List of contents

Preface
Features of Yoruba Trickster Tale Aesthetics
The Trickster as Folk Hero: Aesthetics of Negation
The Trickster as Villain: Aesthetics of Affirmation
Current Trends in the Use of Trickster Tale Discourse
Conclusion
Selected Bibliography
Index

About the author

ROPO SEKONI is Senior Lecturer, Department of Literature in English, University of Ife, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, and Visiting Professor, Department of English/Center for the Comparative Study of the Humanities, Lincoln University.

Product details

• Authors: Ropo Sekoni, Sekoni Ropo
• Publisher: Bloomsbury
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 25.05.1994
• EAN: 9780313280030
• ISBN: 978-0-313-28003-0
• Subjects: Fiction > Poetry, drama; Nigeria, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Folklore & Mythology, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / Semantics, LITERARY CRITICISM / African, Yoruba, LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / 20th Century, Folklore, myths & legends, Literary studies: from c 1900 -, Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000, Semantics, discourse analysis, stylistics, Semantics, discourse analysis, etc, Folklore studies / Study of myth (mythology), Geography and World Cultures: Folklore