Limit search to available items
Book Cover
E-book
Author Pointer, Fritz H

Title African oral epic poetry : praising the deeds of a mythic hero / by Fritz H. Pointer ; with a translation of The epic of Kambili (as recited by Seydou Camara) ; translated from Mande into English by Charles S. Bird, with Mamadou Koita and Bourama Soumaoro ; with a foreword by Daniel Kunene
Published Lewiston : Edwin Mellen Press, 2013

Copies

Description 1 online resource (xiv, 301 pages)
Contents Some background on the epic -- Griots and griottes : composers and performers -- Kambili and history -- The hero of the epic -- Poet and accompanists -- Modes and methods of composition in Kambili -- Praise songs, traditional religion and Islam -- Birth, tasks and triumph of Kambili -- In praise of Kambili Sananfila -- The story : a synopsis -- The epic of Kambili
Summary Professor Pointer is the first person to offer an English translation of the Epic of Kambili, an African heroic myth. The book is careful to point out that this text deserves to be read by myth scholars and shows that the literary tradition of epic myth-telling extends to Africa through its oral folklore. The author argues that the story should be treated as an epic myth that was pieced together by different authors over several centuries, which may or may not have been the result of observing real events. It may have been an imaginative narrative representing cultural norms with verbal symbol
Notes Published in 2012, with Pointer rather than Bird credited as translator, under the title: A translation into English of the epic of Kambili (an African mythic hero)
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes English, with English translation from Mandingo
Print version record
Subject Epic poetry, Mandingo.
Epic poetry, African.
Mandingo poetry -- Translations into English
Oral tradition -- Africa, West
Griots -- Africa, West
Heroes -- Mythology -- Africa, West
LITERARY CRITICISM -- African.
Epic poetry, African
Epic poetry, Mandingo
Griots
Heroes -- Mythology
Mandingo poetry
Oral tradition
West Africa
Genre/Form Translations
Form Electronic book
Author Bird, Charles S. (Charles Stephen), 1935-
Koita, Mamadou
Soumaoro, Bourama
Kamara, Seyidu. Kambili. English.
Pointer, Fritz H. Translation into English of the epic of Kambili (an African mythic hero)
ISBN 9780773444331
0773444335