This paper applies a post-structuralist literary framework when looking at the philosophical implications of William’s Mkufya’s novel Ziraili na Zirani. The analysis focuses on a free-verse poem per-formed by a black bird in hell. Moreover, there is a focus on the different genre forms at play, such as free-verse poetry and the novel, and an acknowledgement that an understanding of the text relies upon a consideration of these different genre conventions. Ultimately the paper shows how a reading of the text as it is presented in the novel, as a performance, demonstrates a realisation of the different genre conventions at play, thus taking their significance onto a different plain of analysis. Furthermore, attention is drawn to the application of a post-structuralist framework and the various contributions this theoretical model can make to a reading of the poem, notably an emphasis on the resistance to fixed meaning in favour of instability. This results in an exposition of the relevance of a post-structuralist literary framework to Mkufya’s critical reflection upon epistemology as it is portrayed in the black bird’s enigmatic performance, and the novel as a whole.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:15398 |
| Date | 10 March 2017 |
| Creators | Rodgers Johns, Adam |
| Contributors | School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Universität Leipzig |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text |
| Source | Swahili Forum 23 (2016), S. 64-75 |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | urn:nbn:de:bsz:15-qucosa-220584, qucosa:15405 |
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