The majority of oral artists and performers undergo extensive training to achieve the level of competence and skill which gain them respect and popularity as performers and creators. Despite the fact that many of the tales performed in oral literary practices have indeed been passed down from generation to generation, the oral artist does not simply repeat these tales. Rather each performer brings to the tale his or her own style and interpretation, which often drastically rewrites the script. The performer thus has an important role as an artist and as a creator, not simply as the teller of an already formulated tale. Likewise, the performer must adapt tales to the specific needs of the community and audience. Much research has shown that similar tales are told with different morals, explanations and emphases depending on the community, the audience present and change over time. The role of the audience is especially important because in the majority of oral performances the audience plays an active role, responding to the performer, directing the tale and correcting the performer when he or she makes mistakes. Oral literature is not simply the telling or re-telling of tales. It is important that one not focus so much on the content of oral literature that one ignores the diversity of oral art forms, the intricacies and sophistication of stylistic devices and structures, and the importance of music, dance and costume to the overall performance. Indeed oral literature is a living art which should be treated as such.
The use of oral literary techniques, forms and themes by contemporary African writers can be rightly seen as a "vindication of traditional African culture," an attempt to revalorize the tradition and to lift it out of the realm of purely sociological and anthropological discourse and place it back in the realm of artistic and cultural practices and productions. It should also be pointed out that the adaptive - what I have been calling 'living' - nature of oral literature makes it malleable to new forms. Drawing on oral literature in written texts is not simply a revival of an old tradition, nor an appropriation of it; rather, it is a new version, adapting oral literature to contemporary written art forms - it is, in a sense, a new twist to an old tale. This is not to suggest that oral literature should now be contained in written literature, or that there is any sort of necessary �evolution" from one to the other. Oral literature continues to exist, but the use of many of its techniques and themes in written literature is simply a new way in which the artist draws on the heritage to create new art forms. Using oral art forms in written texts is not in any way contradictory, but rather an example of the adaptiveness of oral literature which need not be viewed solely as a �traditional" art of the past but as a living art of the present.
There are a variety of ways in which oral literature has been used in written literature in Africa. Firstly, there has been an attempt at direct translation, in which tales or poems, are recorded in a written format while preserving as much as possible of the oral performance. Secondly, there has been an attempt to adapt forms of oral literature to written forms such as novels and in particular modern drama. This type of adaptation can be seen clearly in trends of "cultural revivalism that followed the political independence of several African countries. " It is part of an attempt to revalorize and revitalize African culture as a means of challenging the colonial ideology of the superiority of bourgeois European culture.
In drama, this trend is exemplified by the work of the Ghanaian Efua T. Sutherland in drama. Sutherland has adapted tales from oral literature and attempted to preserve much of the oral narrative performance in a written modern dramatic form. Drawing on the Ghanaian tradition of Anansesem (Ananse stories), a body of tales based on the trickster figure, Ananse, her play, The Marriage of Anansewa , preserves elements of oral literature such as the storyteller, the participation of the audience, choruses, song and dance. Sutherland's work has had a great impact on modern Ghanaian drama. She was instrumental in creating the Ghana Experimental Theatre in 1958, creating the Drama Studio, and instituting the School of Music and Drama, as part of the Institute of African Studies, at the University of Ghana in Legon. Not only did Sutherland play an important role in revalorizing oral literature and aiding in the development of Ghanaian theatre, but also she played an important role in influencing future generations of Ghanaian playwrights. Sutherland, however, is the object of Armah's savage critique in Fragments where she is satirized in the character of Akosua Russell as a writer of no talent who manipulates oral literature for her own material gain. Armah, here, does not critique the use of oral literature in contemporary written literature as such, but rather, he critiques the way in which elements of traditional culture are hypocritically promoted for personal gain. He portrays the figure of Akosua Russell as someone who has no desire to revalorize traditional African culture but rather who sells poorly crafted rewrites of African oral narratives to the highest bidder. As Baako says later, "'The myths here are good, . . . Only their use....'"
Sutherland no doubt exerted some influence on Ama Ata Aidoo, ("although such influence should not be overstated" ) who studied at the University in Legon and whose literary debut,The Dilemma of a Ghost , was first performed at the University. Aidoo, like Sutherland, draws on the oral literary heritage particularly in her first two plays, Anowa and The Dilemma of a Ghost ; unlike Sutherland, Aidoo does not so much adapt oral narratives to modern dramatic forms, as uses them to express contemporary social and political �dilemmas" and problems. In a sense she uses oral literature in a way that is often subversive and that radically Changes traditional meaning, responding directly to contemporary political and social issues. Aidoo's use of oral literature is thus radically different from that of Sutherland, as she does not simply rewrite oral narratives, but insists on the dynamic relationship between oral and written traditions.
[These materials have been adapted from an honors thesis written by Megan Behrent, Brown University, 1997]
Last Modified: 29 April, 2002