Socialist Realism and its Implications for the African Writer
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Date
1986-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
When we go back into the history of socialist countries we find
that at the birth of socialism , during t he transition period , literature
had a vital rol e to pl ay. To be more prec is e, the socialist realist
met hod contributed to the coming of soc i a li sm. This 50cialist realist
method , fi ll ed with optim i sm, was commi tted to th e worki ng class.
Hany countries in th e Afr ic an continent are now going through
a transition period towards socialism. A transition period, as stated
above , is a very important period in which the African writer has a
gr ea t role to play to haste n the coming of socia lism. So far , most
Af ri can writers , using t he critical re ali st method, have only gone as
far as merely depi ct ing society. Soci ety in turn , has been presented
in a deterioratin g state . {\part from th i s, no pl ace has been given
for the optimistic rising class the working cl ass .
Learning from the ex peri e nc e of socialist write rs , a new Afri ca n
writer is eme rgin g. Ng ugi , t ake n as an examp l e, has been greatly influenced
by Gorky's Moth e r , a socialist realist nov e l . Furthermore , as the African
writer is li ving in a transition period , he is working towards socialism.
This indicates that th e socialist realist method has some implic ations
that are us eful to the Af rican \~riter . Th es e implic ation s will help
the Af rican vlr itH as a mea ns for the advanc ement of soci alism , which
in turn , will imp ro ve the African nov el .
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Keywords
Socialist Realism