The 2010 concentration on Lyrical Traditions in Poetry is a
continuation of past year aspects of the study of poetry and music but one in which all the elements of lyrical composition are channelled in a didactic and aesthetic movement to artistic competence, literary entertainment and the purposeful elevation of intellect for greater
communal benefits. This lyrical tradition of African Verse draws from oral as well as western educational sources and constitutes, in fact, the totality of African experience in elevated linguistic utterance, poetry or musical renditions. It has strong musical and performance
overtones, centres heavily on public, as against private, domains of artistic communication and invokes the ancient psychic and psychological spiritual processes of African art.
In addition to literary and cultural influences, and the mutual interactions of poetry, song and performance, critics should examine the sense of loss or achievement that catalyzes contemporary poetic expressions from Africa. Further, the tendency to a psychological concept of art and neurosis may be further exemplified in the dirge
and oratorical praise traditions of modern African poetry.
Situating the creative art as a by-product of depression, occasioned by the interrogation of the ties and purpose of existence with which we question the stability of meaning, and celebrate loftiness or banality of expression is a welcome tangent that is expected to call into question how much of contemporary rage, or sublimation, is etched upon the generation of African artists today.
For this year therefore, we expect a more critical scholarship as against merely descriptive or tabulated observations on some linguistic or thematic codes. As scholars of tradition argue, the creative genius in African literary tradition is greatly indebted to his immediate environment or larger society. Here the artiste’s
participation in the African environment and history should be the signpost of many critical oeuvres for this edition.
Finally, contributions that strive to assess the artiste's ability to effect some variations on this body of existing traditional sources at his disposal and credit the African society that provides the linguistic and literary traditions in terms of a common language or dialect and the range of imagery available to the artists and their
craft will be accorded positive consideration.
Submissions Guidelines:
Original abstracts of no more than 600 words showing topic, intended arguments and their relevance to the discourse theme or subcategory should be submitted by Microsoft Word attachment for approval to
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