Epistolary role in East African literary works on HIV/AIDS
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Date
2016
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Namibia
Abstract
In East Africa, an epistle as a base for literary analysis is not common. It
appears, scholars who have analysed works of fiction or drama relating
to HIV/AIDS scourge, have not considered letters inserted in those works
as worth examining. Yet, letters inserted in such creative writings as a
style to expound different themes are often encountered. Written artistic
works on HIV/AIDS in both Kiswahili and English languages have
employed this style to illustrate the HIV/AIDS crisis, as lived by
characters in their fictional world.
Following Wolf Schmid’s theory on narratology, supplemented with
Rosenmeyer’s analytical framework (2003) the article uses an epistolary
analysis as a technique for identifying themes in a literary work. The
argument developed throughout this article is that epistles should be
taken as a point of departure in identifying and examining different voices
in the narratives on HIV/AIDS on one hand, and in understanding the
psycho-social challenges which fictional characters face in their creative
or imaginative world. Through this theory the epistles are juxtaposed to
the Kiswahili idiom: barua ni nusu ya kuonana (literally translates as “a
letter is seeing each other partially”). It would appear that the reader sees
fictional characters in HIV/AIDS creative works from a certain
perspective as focalized by the letters. The voices which the readers
hear from these characters are all directed the letters used. Following
this theory it appears that the themes related to HIV/AIDS are related to
or influenced by the inserted epistles.
Description
Keywords
Epistle, Epistolary analysis, HIV/AIDS, Kiswahili idiom, Narrative
Citation
Mutembei, A. (2016). Epistolary role in East African literary works on HIV/AIDS. JULACE: Journal of the University of Namibia Language Centre, 1(1), 100-115.