INTRODUCTION
Literature
being a multifaceted phenomenon has never been given a univocal definition,
nether is there any catholic or conventional explanation for it. Over the
decades, literature has meant different things to different people. Literarily,
literature is seen in its broadest sense as any written piece or document. This
aforementioned position of what literature entails does not put into
consideration the aesthetic content of such written piece, hence it
(literature) could be political, scientific, economical or historical
documentations. However, to myriad of scholars, literature is believed to be
any form of aesthetic and artistic expression whose purpose of existence is to
mirror and reproduce the society, by reflecting life: its paradoxes, ironies,
tragedies, mysteries and events in totality. It is believed to be a set of
imaginative creation engendered from the author’s cognition which draws heavily
from the society surrounding men. To a very large and considerable extent,
literature is primarily seen as the work of art which entertains and educates.
Unequivocally,
literature as a field of study goes beyond an ordinary written document which
may contain specific set of information on a particular phenomenon, rather it
suggests an aesthetic and artistic creation verbally or literarily reflecting
the multifarious human society. Without further ado, we must understand in
lucid terms that literature does not exist arbitrarily, but being such an
indispensible fragment of humanity, it serves some very crucial and
overwhelming purposes. Among these functions are its affective/emotive,
entertaining, biographical, historical, and didactic functions. The main focus
of this paper however, is to expatiate explicitly yet in succinct terms the
didactic, entertaining and emotive functions of literature.
Methodology
Being
a literary research, this work is mainly library based. It draws heavily from
the ideologies of various scholars published in various articles, reviews,
books internet materials and interviews. The paper is therefore intended to
provide ample pieces of information on some salient functions of literature.
LITERATURE SERVING DIDACTIC FUNCTIONS
Disambiguation of Nomenclature
In
the first premise, what is didacticism? Didacticism simply denotes the
instructional qualities embedded in a particular thing. Didactic literature by
implication portends a work of art intended to dispatch information and teach
certain ideology most times on morals and ethics. Didacticism is a philosophy
that emphasizes instructional and informative qualities in literature. In other
words, didactic literature is a kind of literature which is intended to
communicate a moral theme or other rich truth to the audience. Didacticism will
therefore be considered concisely in oral and written literature.
DIDACTCISM IN ORAL LITERATURE
Oral
literature is used to cover a wide range of religious, social and cultural
activities that sprout from the historical and social experiences of the
pre-literate people which in turn make up their world view and philosophical
orientation. Oral literature, according to someone like Ruth Finnegan, refers
to the totality of unwritten form of believe and values of a people which are
given expression to through myth, legend, folk traditions, proverbs, festivals
etc.
Didacticism
is incontrovertibly more pronounced in oral literature than the written form. Borrowing
Pio Zirimu, a Uganda scholar’s terminology, “orature” (i.e. Oral Literature)
apart from being a very vital tool of meeting the people’s aesthetical desires,
it vehemently establishes itself as a pivotal source of passing salient
information to the audience acquainting them with certain norms and acceptable
ethics of a given society.
Just
as Bode Ajuwon hinted in his essay: Oral and written literature in Nigeria,
“Telling stories is used by narrators to instruct the young and teach them to respect
the dictates of their custom: as a result, a large body of moral instruction,
of societal values and norms are preserved for posterity.” George Joseph
similarly in his African Literature in Understanding Contemporary Africa posits
thus: “Literature does not imply an artistic use of words for the sake of art
alone… traditionally, Africans do not separate art from teaching. Rather than
write for beauty in itself, African … use beauty to help communicate important
truths and information to the society. Indeed, an object is considered
beautiful because of the truth it reveals and the communities it helps to build.”
Palpably, oral literature in Africa plays a crucial role in educating the
populace about African cosmology and philosophy. Finnegan espouses this in her
lauded book, Oral Literature in Africa by expounding on the fact that
morality is inseparable even from daily life of an average African society. The
moonlight stories, festivals, ceremonies etc are fundamental sources of
communicating to the younger generation the essentials of a given society.
DIDACTCISM IN WRITTEN LITERATURE
Didactic literature are set of literary works
created with the intention of teaching morals, relaying certain instructions
the author deems crucial, exposing certain things for the purpose of educating
its audience. Around the 19th century, didacticism became a term in criticism
used to denote works that are over-burdened with instructive, factual or
otherwise educational information. Though contrary to Allen Poe ideology (in
his The
Poetic Principle) about didacticism being the worst heresy, didactic
literatures are often times characterized with idiosyncrasies. That is, as
societies varies so do its set of believes varies.
However,
literature being an aesthetic expression is a versatile ground in which writers
from inception recourse to establish their moral believes, academic
philosophies, sociopolitical ideologies and even economic idiosyncrasies. Some
of such didactic literatures are John Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progress (1878)
and Alexander Pope’s An Essay on Criticism (1711). Alexander Pope for instance
advises about the critics and criteria that are best adopted in scholarly
researches. On the other hand, Bunyan in his allegorical literature establishes
vehemently the Christian values, moral uprightness, and the just judgment of
the most high and holy God. Consider the extract below from Bunyan’s Pilgrims
Progress
“In my own eyes and the eyes of
others, I was once an honest and flourishing professor of faith. I consider
myself a good candidate of Celestial City and at that time, I even had joy of
living there…I am now a man of despair…I have stopped being alert and self
controlled…I let loose the reign of my desires. I sinned against the Light of
the Word and the good God. I’ve provoked God to anger and he has left me. I
have hardened my heart that I cannot repent. I’m guilty of crucifying Him
again. I’ve despised his position, I’ve hated His righteousness, and I’ve
treated His blood as an unholy thing. I’ve insulted the Spirit of Grace. So
I’ve excluded myself from all the promises and now there remains for me nothing
but threats, which will devour me as an enemy of God” pp
42-43
It
is crystal clear from the aforestated extract that Bunyan with no intrepidity intends
to acquaint his audience with the unbearable and insufferable pangs of being
separated from God. Surmising it all, didactic literature are literary works
with instructions aimed at influencing people’s disposition to certain things.
Example of didactic literature include: Sophie’s World (1991) by Jostein, The
Adventures of Nicholas Experience by Ignacy Krasicki (1776) and John Bunyan’s
Pilgrims Progress (1878).
Unequivocally,
Babatunde Omobalawe caps it all by affirming that “two things at least are
indispensible to the creation of work of art. The first is it is the
representation of life whose creation is propelled by a host of other factors.
Second, it is created to serve a pragmatic purpose, which is usually didactic
in nature”
LITERATURE AS A MEANS OF
ENTERTAINMENT
Disambiguation of Nomenclature
Indubitably,
entertainment in its broadest sense is a form of activity that holds the
attention and interest of an audience, or gives pleasure and delight. Moreover,
entertainment in literature goes beyond just activities which sustain the
interest of an audience, entertainment being a multifarious fragment of
literature gives life and vitality to literary artifacts. Hence, we have
scholars of ‘Art for Art sake’ and
crusaders of ‘escapism’ who rigidly
insist on the artistic quality of any literary piece. It is expedient to state
that a total demystification of the term ‘entertainment’ is practically
impossible but without mincing words, literature remains to a great extent an
unparallel medium of meeting the peoples’ creative desires.
ENTERTAINMENT IN ORAL LITERATURE
‘Orality’
being the forbear of the world literature has at its core the important
rudiments of entertainment. The legacy of the bards, the raconteur, the griot,
the masque motif performance has entertainment as its basis and fundamental
purpose of existence. Bode Ajuwon exposes this in his essay Oral
and Written Literature in Nigeria thus:
“Pre-literate
society once enjoyed a verbal art civilization which at its high point was
patronized by traditional rulers and the general public… The Oral artists,
freelancers or guild-associates, enjoyed reference as the keepers of the
people’s ancient wisdoms and beliefs. The Oral artist frequently entertained
their audiences dramatically, providing relaxation and teaching moral lessons”
In
nexus with that, Peter Widdowson observes that:
“West
African audiences participate noisily and bodily in some genres, commenting
upon the poet’s style and behaviour of the fictional protagonists; in other
genres, they are required to be silent while the drummer set the rhythm and the
syntax for the performers to follow.”
Oral
literature is a form of entertainment which fosters the feelings of solidarity
with others who have similar experiences. Being the repository of artistic
expression in the society, its beauty resonates cultural frontiers.
ENTERTAINMENT IN WRITTEN LITERATURE
“If
I am not entertained by a book to some level, I’m not reading it.”
_____Mirabell,
in (World Literature Forum)
It
is neither strange nor arguable to affirm that literature offers a great deal
of entertainment and relaxation to its audience. Many a times, people recourse
to literary text for the pleasure and the fun of it. As a matter of fact, there
are literatures created solely for the purpose of entertaining the audience.
All the comic plays of Olarotimi such as Our Husband has Gone Mad Again and Grip
Am and the farce of Femi Osofisan such as Midnight Hotels, Yungba-Yungba
and the Dance Contest etc are good examples of such works which readily
comes to mind.
The
musico-dramaturgical presentations of Osofisan for instance have been lauded
over the decades for the wide range of satirical entertainment it offers. Just
as Kole Omothosho reveals in his Theatrical into Theater, good
theatrical presentations are often interpolated with musicals, dance and every
other forms of aesthetic extravaganzas for the amusement and enjoyment of its
audience. No wonder Thomas Ligotti in an interview posits that “literature is entertainment or it is
nothing.”
Just
as the Roman Poet, Horace says, “Literature
is sweet and useful”, and it has even progressed from providing mere
pleasure to its audience to offering an escape route from mental pressure,
situational distresses, emotional traumas and conditional depressions. The school
of thought who holds such ideology has been termed escapism.
Escapist
fiction is the fiction which provides a psychological escape from thoughts of everyday
life by immersing the reader in exotic situations or activities. Escapism as a
literary term is the mental diversion by means of entertainment and recreation,
as an “escape” from perceived unpleasant or banal aspect of daily life. Without
doubt, literature occupies the leading role of relieving people of persisting
feelings of depression or general sadness.
AFFECTIVE AND EMOTIVE FUNCTION OF
LITERATURE
Disambiguation of Nomenclature
Affective
and effective quality of anything (be it an idea or action) is solely
determined by the external expression, psychological reaction and emotion
response it is capable of effecting in its recipients.
Overtly,
literature is one thing which affects the conducts of man, and contributes
immensely to the construction of certain ideology and world view in the
society. Diachronically, literature, right from time immemorial, has in no small
measure affected humanity; their inter-personal relationship, perception of
their cosmology and divinity, sociopolitical conceptualization of their
immediate environment and understanding of their personal and corporate
existence.
Taking
a cursory look at the rich works of the 5th century BC of the ancient Greece
such as the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes, or the
artistic works of the Old Roman Empire which include the works of Horace,
Luvius Andronicus, Gnaeus Naevius and Seneca, it is readily obvious why the
general belief and ideology then is that of predestination. Sophocles’ King
Oedipus for example re-emphasizes the fact that man is a victim of fate
and destiny.
With
the conception of such geniuses like William Shakespeare and John Milton in the
literary scene, this idea is gradually decimated and finally dilacerated with
the works of such Victorian writers like Thomas Hardy, James Joyce, Oscar
Wilde, T. S. Eliot, D. H. Lawrence, Katherine Manfield, Viginia Woolf and
George Orwell. Just as a critic once commented:
“Literature
in the period 1870-1945 reflects a world in transition, but literary writing in
itself became a force in changing the way that world could be represented,
valued and reflected on. This was also the era in which artists revolutionized
the forms of their arts and in relation to the society, tradition and reality.
Then, issues which continues to define our times ___ access to education,
question of democracy, gender equality, race and imperialism, sexuality,
individualism ___ were at the core of social upheaval. And at this time, ideas
which have dominated twentieth century intellectual life___ including the
thought of Darwin, Marx, and Freud ___ first entered the wider cultural and
political areas.”
Even
apart from literature being capable of transmogrifying man’s perception of his
cosmology, it can also instigate such emotional response like bravery, fear,
cowardice, pity, empathy, sympathy, resentment, affection, etc in the audience.
However, these responses are determined by the author’s dexterous use of words
and ability to communicate his heart and intentions effectively. For example,
one could hardly read Sophocles’ or Aeschylus’ plays without being caught up in
perpetual fear of the unknown. Neither is it usually possible to come in contact
with the divine afflatus imbedded in Shakespeare’s plays without loving his
artistry and choice of words. Most of Achebe’s novels have also been deemed to
initiate a feeling of empathy in the reader as it acquaints them with the
situational dilution and confusion of a given ‘geographical expression.’
Similarly, Femi Osofisan’s comic histrionics, scatological jokes and
musico-dramaturgy has been a good source of massive relief to his audience and
admirers.
Therefore, the judgment of a literary
piece based on its effectiveness in terms of how it affects the audience’
emotion remains the domain of psychoanalytic critics. However, contrary to the proponents
of
impressionalist fallacy, who argues that the readers’ response to a
literary piece is the ultimate indication of its value, critics like W. K.
Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley came up with the idea of affective fallacy (a term
used to refer to the suppose error of judging or evaluating a text on the basis
of its effects on the reader.) For Wimsatt, a view of literature based on his
putative emotional effects will always be vulnerable to mystification and
subjectivity. It is believed that such impressionistic approach poses practical
and theoretical problems. Nevertheless, the extremism of Wimsatt’s approach is
ultimately judged untenable by a number of critics.
CONCLUSION
A conscious effort has been made to
expatiate on the didactic, entertainment, and affective function of literature
though in a very concise and precise language. However, as they showed it in this
paper, the aforementioned function of literature remains the ‘major’ reason for
its continuous existence. Literature is the most effective tool of educating,
entertaining and affecting the world.
WORKS CITED
| Abrams, M. H. Glossary of Literary Terms XGRM1565 |
Abrams,M. H. Glossary of Literary Terms
Ajuwon,
Bode. Oral and Written Literature in Nigeria
Bunyan,
John. Pilgrims Progress (1878)
Finnegan,
Ruth. Oral Literature in Africa
Joseph
George. African Literature in Understanding Contemporary Africa
Jostein
(1991). Sophie’s World
Krasiski,
Ignacy (1776). The Adventure of Nicholas Experience
Ligotti,
Thomas. Literature is Entertainment or it is Nothing: An Interview with Thomas
Ligotti by Dr Bentham (8/13/2005)
Obafemi,
Olu. 50 years of Nigerian Literature (2012)
Omotosho,
Kole. Theatrical into Theater
Osofisan,
Femi. Midnight Hotels
Osofisan,
Femi. Yungba-Yungba and the Dance Contest
Owonibi,
Sola. The Political Consciousness in African Literature: A Critical Analysis of
Selected Plays of Femi Osofisan: Emerging Perspective.
Oriakhi,
Braimah. Introduction to Theater and Drama
Poe,
Allen. Poetic Principle
Pope,
Alexander. An Essay on Criticism (1711)
Rotimi,
Ola. Grip Am
Rotimi,
Ola. Our Husband has Gone Mad Again
Wehmier,
Sally. Oxford Advance Learner Dictionary
Wimsatt.
W. K. with Monroe Beardsley (1954). The Verbal Icon: Studies in the Meaning of
Poetry. University of Kentucky Press.
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