Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

1998

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Lewis, Krishnakali

Abstract

Chinua Achebe is one of Africa's most renowned writers. However, the excellence of his work is compromised by the assumptions of Western poetics, that is, mimesis. European critics contend African writing suffers from the prevalent use of proverbs, and obtrusive authorship, among others. But, Earl Miner, through his discourse on the poetics of the affective-expressive, challenges mimesis. He shows that only Western poetics is rooted in drama, all others are rooted in lyric. This fact reverses the table. African writing, rather than being an oddity, represents a global poetics. Miner shows new ways of analyzing literature by incorporating monogatari, re-evaluating the relationship between history and fiction, looking at points of attention, and examining a lyrical poetics. By taking another look at Achebe's work, particularly Things and Fall Apart and Anthills of the Savannah in the affective-expressive mode, Achebe's real genius as a writer is all the more evident.

Extent

97 p.

Comments

FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1998.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Identifier

FADT15526

Format

pdf

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