A critical analysis of the gor mahia epic

Abstract

It has been the practice of scholars such as Taban Lo Liyong and Hans-egil Hauge to do a shoddy collection of oral materials and ignore their literary potential. with the Gor Mahia epic, the tendency has been to parade it as one of the anthropological pieces adding on to the store of African heritage expressed in 'folktales' (Hauge, 1974:89) or 'popular culture' (Taban, 1972:iv). This thesis aimed at correcting the above-mentioned anomaly by diligently collecting and recording the Gor Mahia epic and then giving it a critical appraisal. The objective was subject the Gor Mahia epic to a critical analysis and thereby establish its literary status. The first step in this undertaking was to set up theoretical and methodological procedures for collection and recording of the narratives. The collection and recording of these narratives has been scrupulous enough to fulfill the first objective of this thesis. The narrators' of the texts were ·found to have deliberately employed various literary devices in order to put across the intrinsic messages of the legend. Consequently, the Gor Mahia epic is a work of art in which themes, style and structure are fused. The thesis challenges other researchers to record and critically analyse further not only the Gor Mahia epic but also other heroic narratives whose literary potential has been ignored