| dc.description.abstract | The emergence of Swahili fictional prose in the second half of the twentieth century can not be fully interpreted unless its relation to the Swahili oral narrative tradition is studied. Although many scholars point out the influence of oral literature on early works of Swahili fictional prose, there has been no systematic analysis of elements of Swahili oral narratives found in written works. It is critical to discuss the role of the oral tradition as a model in terms of the creation of written literature. Thus, the research into the transition from the oral to the written literature's enriches our understanding of the beginning of Swahili fictional prose.
The objectives of this study are to demonstrate the influence of the Swahili oral narrative tradition on early Swahili fictional prose works and to explain the ways in which the writers of early Swahili fictional prose manipulate the literary form using elements that originally belonged to oral literature. To achieve this goal, the studies of distinction between oral composition and creative writing are discussed as a theoretical framework and literature's on elements of oral literature in written texts are reviewed.
By analyzing Swahili oral narrative texts acquired through field research and from collections, the form and content of Swahili oral narratives are described. The investigation is focused on narrative patterns, characterization, themes and style. After discussing the major contributing factors to the emergence of Swahili fictional prose, this thesis explores elements of Swahili oral narratives in the early written works. The approach employed to examine Swahili oral narratives is applied to the investigation
into the early written works. The narrative patterns, characterization, themes and style
of the early Swahili fictional prose works are separately analyzed.
This thesis demonstrates various aspects of the influence of the Swahili oral narrative
tradition on the early written works of Swahili fictional prose. In the written texts,
narrative patterns often found in Swahili oral narratives are observed. The structural
repetition is an obvious feature in the formal structures. The characters of the written
works exhibit similarities to those of Swahili oral narratives, and the usual cast of
Swahili oral narratives provided a model for the writers. Common themes of Swahili
oral narratives are found in the written works, and the way in which the themes are
expressed is similar to that of Swahili oral narratives. Although lexical repetition almost
disappears and the descriptions are detailed and elaborated in the written texts,
stylistic qualities influenced by Swahili oral narratives are identified in the linguistic
feature of the early written works.
The early written works of Swahili fictional prose considered in this study reveal
affinities with the Swahili oral narrative tradition. It is clear that the writers of early
Swahili fictional prose modeled their works on Swahili oral narratives. | en |
