Between No Longer at Ease and A Man of the People: problematizing the analytical methods. Issue 3 (30th November 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Eze, Virginia Obioma
• Is Part Of: Journal of the African Literature Association. Volume 16:Issue 3(2022)
• Page Start: 512
• Page End: 524
• Publication Date: 2022-11-30
• Subjects: African literature -- analytical methods -- depth semantics -- poetic metaphor -- explanation -- interpretation; African literature -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; African literature; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 809.896
• DOI: 10.1080/21674736.2022.2111778
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2167-4736

Abstract

Abstract: This article interrogates those analytical approaches to Chinua Achebe's No Longer at Ease and A Man of the People, which evaluate the worth of the texts based on assumptions, on one hand, and on the structures, on the other. The study posits that these kinds of analyses are insular and reductionist because they hinder the discovery of the potential hidden in the depths of the works. Using Paul Ricoeur's hermeneutics depth semantics theory with its systematic and rigorous methodology of explanation and interpretation of poetic metaphor in the text, the texts' structures and references are explained and the existential issues they raise exposed.