Vices Of Religious Leaders In Wole Soyinka’s The Trials Of Brother Jero.
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CHAPTER TWO
THE REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
In this chapter, the review of related literature will focus on the following under listed headings:
1. The concept of literature;
2. Literature and human society;
3. Vices and literature in the act of reformation of human beings in society.
2.1 The Concept of Literature
Meyer and Jim (1997:41) are of the potion that literature in its boarders sence, is any kind of written piece of work. In more restrictive form, it is an art (imaginative expression of ideas of feelings) or intellectual value in respect to its language which is highly elevated from the ordinary usage.
Etymologically, the term is rooted from the Latin word literature/literature, which derives itself from littera meaning letter or hand writing. It was used to refer to all written accounts.
For the fact that our contemporary society is dynamic in terms of knowledge. The concept of literature has changed in meaning. It has come to embrace non- written verbal art forms, and thus, it is difficult to agree on its origin which can be paired with that that of writing itself.
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The definition of literature various over time. According to Meyer and Jim (p.41), It is because it has no specific meaning gene rally recognized by scholars in the world. There have been various attempts to define literature by various authors based on their views and perspectives on literature. Simon and Delyse Ryan begins their attempt to give answer to the question, ‘ what is literature?’ with the observation that:
The quest to discover a definition for literature is a road that is much travelled, though the point of arrival, if ever reached, is seldom satisfactory. Most attempted definition are board and vague, and they inevitably change over time. In fact, the only thing that is certain about defining literature is that the definition will change. Concepts of what is literature changes over time as well (p.2).
Drawing an inference from the assertion above, it has been observed that the definition of literature varies over time. It has culturally relative definitions.
Prof. D. Motaze postulates that literature is an artistic work that accommodates a flexible and heterogeneous class of language that can be found in prose, drama, essays and biographies, according to the various epochs to this except, it can be said that literature as a flexible and heterogeneous class of language which can be found in genies of literature is in correlation with Sapir –Worf hypothesis on the relationship of language and culture. Language and culture are inseparable (closely related) ording to D. Eka (2000:31), This is because a specific human communication is legitimately an inseparable part of a people’s general ways of life in sociological or anthropological terms: Therefore, literature accommodates a flexible and heterogeneous class of language in the sense that the nature of our society, in terms of culture, traditions, beliefs and others, are rightly expressed and reflected in language.
Another way defining literature is to limit it to great books, books which, whatever their subject, are notable for literary form or expression. Here the criterion is either aesthetic worth a lone or aesthetic worth in combination with general intellectual distinction. Within lyric, poetry, dram, and fiction, the greatest works are selected on aesthetic grounds; other books are picked for their reputation or intellectual eminence together with aesthetic value of a rather narrow kind: style, composition, general force of presentation are the usual characteristics singled out. This is a common way of distinguishing or speaking of literature. By saying that, this is not literature, we express such a value judgment; making the same judgment when we speak of a book on history, philosophy or science as belonging to literature. In addition, they concluded that the term literature seems best if limited to the art of literature, that is, to imaginative literature (p.20-28).
Since value judgment definition of literature considers exclusively those writings that posses high quality or distinction, forming part of the so-called belles-lettres (fine writing) tradition, being the sort of definition used in the Encyclopaedia Britanica Eleventh edition (1910-11) when it classifies literature as:
The best expression of the best thought reduced to writing. The problem in this view is that there is no objective definition of what constitutes literature. Anything is written form can be literature, and anything which is universally regarded as literature has the potential to exclude since value judgment can change overtime.
Ultimately, when we consider or look at what the author writes or says, and how he says it, we may gain understanding of the concept of literature. We may interpret and debate an author’s message by examining the words he chooses in a given novel or works, or observing which character or voice serves as to connection to the reader. The act of text decoding is usually achieved though literary theory: using a mythological, sociological, psychological, historical, or other approach to better understand the context and depth of a work.
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