Narrator as Interpreter

Narrator as Interpreter

ISBN 978-3-89645-102-6

Narrator as Interpreter

Stability and Variation in Hausa Tales

Author: Said Babura Ahmad. Series edited by: Herrmann Jungraithmayr, Norbert Cyffer.

Series: WeStu Westafrikanische Studien Volume 15

1997
249 pp.
3 tables, appendix: 20 Hausa tales and English translation
Text language(s): English, Hausa
Format: 160 x 240 mm
420 g
Paperback
€ 39.80

Introduction:
General - Themes - Plot structures - Variability and Stability in Versions of The Tale - Performance and Performer - Review of the Literature on Hausa Tales.

The Position of Tales and Tale-Telling in Hausa Society:
Factors which Militate Against Oral Tradition - Factors which Promote Hausa Tales

Thematic Classification of Hausa Tales:
Unfair Treatment of Members of the Family - The Theme of Reprehensible Behaviour of the Ruling Class - Personal Virtues and Virtuous Behaviour - Deceptive Behaviour

Structural Classification of Hausa Tales:
The Simple Tale - The Compound Tale - The Complex Tale

Variability and Stability in Versions of Stories covering Four Thematic and Three Structural Categories:
The Shared Core of the Stories “A Girl and her Father” and “A Girl and her Elder Brother” - The Shared Core of the Stories “Gizo and the Birds” and “Gizo and the Cranes” - The Shared Core of the Stories “The Poor Man Picked up by a Dove” and “The Man who had a Gown of Fronds of Dum-Palm” - Variation in the Presentation of the World of the Tale Aspects of Narrative Technique in the Performances of Hajiya Saude, Kubura Magaji and Hececi: Hajiya Saude’s Performance - Kubura Magaji’s Performance - Abdu Gala’s Performance.


Accompanying material:

Cross-reference:

Reviews

The aim of the book is an examination of the Hausa tale (tatsuniya) in all its aspects: by no means is it restricted to the problems of stability and variation as indicated in the title. It is based on a collection of 150 tales recorded from parts of Kaduna, Kano and Sokoto States of Nigeria. [...]
Undoubtedly, the book is an important step in the research efforts on Hausa oral literature. Although its essential part counts only 103 pages, it discusses a gamut of problems connected with tatsuniya. Its appendices are not only samples of source materials but can also serve as an anthology of Hausa tales and be used in teaching.

Stanislaw Pilaszewicz in Afrika und Übersee, 81/1998, 154–156

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