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كاتب الموضوع :
محمد صالح بحرالدين محمد ص
المنتدى :
منتدى اللغات
Recalling my Old( The Dew Wall-magazine-56
بتاريخ : 04-14-2015 الساعة : 10:46 AM
The magic hall within which the masque is staged, the phantom orchestra, and the ultra-beautiful
Ladies are all described with engaging case and ample imaginative detail. The last arrivals at this colorful pageant are the six fearful ostriches who wear white shoes on their hooves and cover their faces with masks. The image conjured up by the entire masque is one of great variety of color and ornament and a sort of fairy-tale ballet whose effect is increased by the knowledge that hidden in an obscure corner, ready to pounce at any moment and dissolve the whole scene, is the implacable Satyr. The ability to produce fascinated response behind which there is a background of dread and horror is one of the most outstanding qualities of Tutuola's genius as a storyteller.
Finally, an aspect of his writing that has intrigued many readers is the incorporation of several elements from modern culture. In the dark jungle, time is measured in hours and minutes, as though the protagonists are carrying their pocket watches, distance is gauged in miles, and business is conducted in pounds, shillings, and pence. The skulls chasing after the Drinkard are likened to a thousand petrol-drums pushing themselves along a hard road. Bombers, buoys, Technicolor, telephones, electric switches, and the other paraphernalia of modern civilization, all find their way into these stories. A bewildered German reader asked me why this is so and even compared Tutuola's stories with those of the Brothers Grimm to show that "pure" examples cannot incorporate "foreign" cultural elements.
An explanation for this phenomenon must be sought in the nature of the traditional African folktale. It is a very free narrative form and the narrator has ample scope to incorporate whatever elements within the experience of the community he thinks will make his story effective, especially since these elements do not alter plot, setting, or moral purpose. Even though Tutuola's stories (like all traditional folktales) refer to remote age, the fact that he was writing in the second half of the twentieth century meant that he would have to incorporate some modern elements that have become part of the everyday reality of Nigerian life. Even an illiterate person in the streets of Lagos has seen a clock, a petrol-drum, and a torch, and may have heard of bombers, telephones, and Technicolor. Tutuola's life in the capital must have made him aware of the buoys in the harbor, and his Christian education must have familiarized him with angels, and so on.
These things cannot correctly be regarded as "foreign" and are as much part of the composite culture of modern Africa as are the purely traditional elements. In the words of Kofi Busia: "Survivals of extremely old cultures can be found alongside recently borrowed inventions and ideas. The old and the new are both a part of Africa as it is today.
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