Literature for African Students

Introduction - Why study Literature

I was all smooth
I went silently in the fields
biting
everyone said I was a great fox
Oh, don't deny it
I was pretty good
and I had the whole wood to myself.

This only translates some of the meaning of the words; the relationship between the Scottish words and the whole effect of the poem cannot be translated. Thus it only makes complete sense among those who live in Glasgow, one city in Scotland.
What this poem means to you is that in places where English is a native language the everyday usage may be a variety or dialect which is different from standard English. Many people in Britain have to learn the standard variety at school, or pick it up from the radio and television. Some writers in Scotland claim that the language there is separate from English; others that it is a dialect. One, perhaps joking, definition of the difference has been made: a language is a dialect with an army and navy. Scots might have been a language but Scotland has not been an independent state since 1601.
Are these varieties "wrong English"? No, they are the vernacular languages of people. They may not be very useful for communication with people of other groups because Standard English is the variety which can be understood all over the world and is therefore the most useful variety. In West Africa there are several varieties of English which are useful for people communicating with other social groups within West Africa. If the listener understands what the speaker intends then communication has occurred and the language has been useful. It is only wrong if the listener doesn't understand. West African Pidgin would not be useful in London, where few people understand it. But it is quite all right in Lagos where most people understand it. If you write for people who use that variety of language (though it is more likely to be used on film, television or radio) there is nothing wrong about using it. Like all vernaculars it is limited to a certain area of the world. The skillful and experienced user of language can express himself in the variety which is right for the people and occasion. When standard English is called for he can use it; when another variety is suitable he will use that. The sensitive person will use the language suitable for the people he is talking to. Almost everyone in the world can understand and use several varieties of language. Most people in Britain can use more than one variety of English.

The Arts

Literature is one of the Arts. What do we mean by an art?
Students often talk loosely about arts. By the arts I don't mean the non-sciences. Many schools are divided into sections, one labelled arts, the other science, another perhaps commerce. The sciences we know: physics, chemistry, biology and so on. The arts students may be studying languages, literature, history and so on. When I use the word art here I don't mean that studying literature is not like studying science. The important thing about the arts is that they are things people do. (By the way, there is no law of nature which says that scientists can't be interested in literature: educational administrators sometimes make it difficult for science students to study literature, but they are wrong to do this. The truly educated person should be interested in everything.)
The arts are human activities in which something new is created. In a way this can be true also of the sciences: a scientist or engineer also creates something new. However, it is customary to exclude these from the list of creative arts.
The Arts are usually considered to include: Music, Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Ballet and Literature. Literature is made up of Poetry, Drama, and the Novel. These are the arts considered important in Europe and America. Sometimes newer arts such as Photography and Cinema may be included.
All of them may have popular and elite forms. Thus in western music there are the commercial forms - varieties of Pop (for Popular) - and the less popular but harder to learn forms including classical, instrumental and jazz. There is nothing to prevent someone liking all kinds of music but some of them require training and much practice to perform well - and a lot of study to appreciate when listening to them.
Traditional Arts
You might like to think about the traditional creative activities in your society. Do people carve wood or make things out of brass or bronze? These can be considered part of Sculpture - the art of making solid shapes. Do people paint designs on the walls of their houses? This is part of the art of

DVD to watch
Dead Poets Society
A teacher makes literature interesting for his students


Dead Poets Society

Der Club der toten Dichter - Special Edition

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