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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Fragmentation, Orality and Magic Realism in Kezilahabi's Novel 'Nagona'
Author:Khamis, Said A.M.ISNI
Year:2003
Periodical:Nordic Journal of African Studies
Volume:12
Issue:1
Pages:78-91
Language:English
Geographic term:Tanzania
Subjects:literature
Swahili
Literature, Mass Media and the Press
About person:Euphrase KezilahabiISNI
External link:https://www.njas.fi/njas/article/view/341/324
Abstract:This paper looks at Euphrase Kezilahabi's (Tanzania) novel 'Nagona' (1990). In particular, it is a response to a 1998 article by M.D. Gromov. Contrary to Gromov's thesis, which postulates the structural ambiguity of 'Nagona', the present paper argues that the structure of Kezilahabi's novel is discernible when the fluidity of the genre 'novel' is taken into consideration and when elements of sociocultural patchwork and chaos characterizing contemporary African societies are brought in. On the one hand, the novel is fragmented, and pregnant with religious, philosophical, political and social rhetoric. On the other hand, it uses 'orality' and 'magic realism' for its fictional strategies. 'Nagona' seems to challenge the possibility of an 'absolute' generic definition. Nevertheless, 'fragmentation', orality and magic realism are the peculiarities that make this a unique - if structurally not the most idiosyncratic - novel in Swahili literature. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [ASC Leiden abstract]
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