Reading Ayi Kwei Armah’s Why are We so Blest?

This paper is a revised version of a 1974 essay I wrote on the novel when it was first published in the early 1970s. The changes I have made for the present publication are not substantial and in the main the original impression remains undisturbed, the primary objective...

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Main Author: Albert A. Sackey
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Ghana 2014-05-01
Series:Legon Journal of the Humanities
Subjects:
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author Albert A. Sackey
author_facet Albert A. Sackey
author_sort Albert A. Sackey
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description This paper is a revised version of a 1974 essay I wrote on the novel when it was first published in the early 1970s. The changes I have made for the present publication are not substantial and in the main the original impression remains undisturbed, the primary objective of the current exercises, now as then, being to guide the reader in a generic reading of the novel. An amazing novel steeped in a complex maze of philosophies, ideologies and ideas, Why are we so blest? presents a perplexing mix of literature, history, and myth, and part of my undertaking in this article is to attempt a mining of the novel’s treasures for the benefit of the ardent reader. The focus of this paper is thematic but the approach is mainly semic; hence most of my investigation revolves round character study and the relevance of character in the semantic vision of Armah.
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spelling doaj.art-432a39d8c345450cbe8235fbf5045b242022-12-21T18:10:39ZengUniversity of GhanaLegon Journal of the Humanities2458-746X2014-05-01257610310.4314/ljh.v25i1.5Reading Ayi Kwei Armah’s Why are We so Blest?Albert A. Sackey0University of Ghana, LegonThis paper is a revised version of a 1974 essay I wrote on the novel when it was first published in the early 1970s. The changes I have made for the present publication are not substantial and in the main the original impression remains undisturbed, the primary objective of the current exercises, now as then, being to guide the reader in a generic reading of the novel. An amazing novel steeped in a complex maze of philosophies, ideologies and ideas, Why are we so blest? presents a perplexing mix of literature, history, and myth, and part of my undertaking in this article is to attempt a mining of the novel’s treasures for the benefit of the ardent reader. The focus of this paper is thematic but the approach is mainly semic; hence most of my investigation revolves round character study and the relevance of character in the semantic vision of Armah.UtopialoveraceviolenceAfrican liberation
spellingShingle Albert A. Sackey
Reading Ayi Kwei Armah’s Why are We so Blest?
Legon Journal of the Humanities
Utopia
love
race
violence
African liberation
title Reading Ayi Kwei Armah’s Why are We so Blest?
title_full Reading Ayi Kwei Armah’s Why are We so Blest?
title_fullStr Reading Ayi Kwei Armah’s Why are We so Blest?
title_full_unstemmed Reading Ayi Kwei Armah’s Why are We so Blest?
title_short Reading Ayi Kwei Armah’s Why are We so Blest?
title_sort reading ayi kwei armah s why are we so blest
topic Utopia
love
race
violence
African liberation
work_keys_str_mv AT albertasackey readingayikweiarmahswhyarewesoblest