[Download] "Between Freedom and Self-Subjection: The Dilemma of Writing in an African Language/Tussen Vryheid en Selfonderwerping: Die Dilemma van Skryf in 'N Afrikataal." by comparative linguistics and literary studies Literator: Journal of Literary Criticism " Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
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- Title: Between Freedom and Self-Subjection: The Dilemma of Writing in an African Language/Tussen Vryheid en Selfonderwerping: Die Dilemma van Skryf in 'N Afrikataal.
- Author : comparative linguistics and literary studies Literator: Journal of Literary Criticism
- Release Date : January 01, 2006
- Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines,Books,Professional & Technical,Education,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 255 KB
Description
Abstract This article is an analysis of the dilemmas that confront an author who chooses to write in an African language. (Language choice remains a particularly vexing issue in African literature.) On the one hand a language that he is a master of gives him the freedom to assert himself and oppose the imperial way of thinking, which is liberating. On the other hand choice of language confines his work to a specific audience and a particular set of literary canons. Sometimes certain influential gatekeepers overtly prescribe boundaries and limit the possibilities of transcending them. On the other hand, as a case study of Sesotho literature shows, the literature itself manifests generic and thematic propensities that limit the freedom of literary expression. From the subjective and privileged position of being a writer in Sesotho himself the author in the end makes a number of suggestions on how to overcome this stifling status quo.