The Roles Of Narrators in Geez Narratives and Early Amharic Didactic Prose Fiction
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Date
1993-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Many foreign and Ethiopian scholars (for example, Kane (1975),
Molvaer (1986), Amsalu (1976), Asfaw (1973) ...)claim that most
of the early Amharic prose fiction writers have in one way or
another been influenced by Geez religious literature. Some
literary scholars have even pointed out specific influences like:
Overt patronization of the reader (Kane 1975), preoccupation with
religious and moralistic issues (Amsalu (1976), Kane (1975ยป) and
the like.
In spite of their claim that Geez religious literature has
exerted considerable impact on early Amharic prose fiction, the
scholars have not substantiated this with independent textual
studies. There is no research conducted so far to show the
influences of Geez narratives upon Amharic didactic prose
fiction. Due to this, the need for conducting such a study is
therefore obvious.
The aim of the study is thus, ~o trace possible influences of
Geez narra~ives on early Amharic didactic prose fic0ion in the
roles of narrators.
The thesis has four parts: the first chapter is the theoretical
part which deals with the concept "narrator" and ~he roles of
narrators in fiction. The second chapter is devo~ed to the roles
of narrators in Geez narratives. The third chap~er is con.
iv
with some influences of Geez narratives on early Amharic didactic
prose fiction in the roles of narrators. The fourth chapter is
the conclusion.
The researcher has described the influences of Geez narra~~ves on
early Amharic prose fiction in terms of content and form. In the
case of content, the influences concern preoccupation with
religious and moral themes as seen from the point of view of the
Orthodox church. In the case of form, the influences concern the
identification of character and setting, description of
character, preoccupation with summary, report and commentary,
direct addressing narratee, wavering of point of view,
intercalation, heading and content, and "sacred", traditional and
figurative languages. With respect to these thematic and formal
aspects, the objectives of narrators in using the techniques, and
the manner, extent or frequency of the techniques used in the
narratives are taken into account.
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Keywords
Early Amharic Didactic Prose