Tigrigna Language, Literature and Folklore

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Browsing Tigrigna Language, Literature and Folklore by Subject "Dime Novelits"

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    The Amharic • Dime Novelits Emeregence, Major Features & Significance (H49 - H66 E.C.)
    (Addis Ababa University, 1994-06) Zenebe, Girma; Gessese, Tesfaye (PhD)
    Writing small Amharic fiction became a dominant practice by the beginning of the second-half of the present century. These works, derogatorily known as Amharic "dime novels", constitute a large portion of the prose fiction in the language. If not identical many of them have conspicuous similarity in their format. They also share some attributes with regard to their techniques and subject matter. Amharic "dime novels" are often criticized for their poor literary standards and there are tendencies to ignore their significance in Amharic literature. Except for a few brief remarks no serious attempt has been made so far to study them. The purpose of this thesis is, therefore, to have a closer observation of the major features of these works , and to pin-point some of their contributions to Amharic literature. Descripftive and explanatory as it is , the thesis illustrates the creative aptitude and technical performance demonstrated in these works.A:v' l a ~ic L d~~i',e novels", themselves being the product of a literdture in a process of c hange, have in turn been the cause for the tra nsition. They have pl ayed a rol e in p r omoting Amharic prose fiction into a different s t age - helping it to break away from traditional practice and movetoward modernity. Even though they continued to be highly infulenced by the old authors, they nevertheless introduced new elements of modern narrative techniques. Apart from their significance in depicting the socioeconomic and cultural color of their time, these works have undoubtedly enriched Amharic literature with more experience in fiction writing. I n brief , the study enunciates the nature of the firs t large scale literary production which reflects the creative temperament t o f a new gene r a ti on of writers t ha t cropped up i n t he 1950s and 1960s E.C.