ARTS

Permanent URI for this collection

https://kubanni.abu.edu.ng/handle/123456789/23

Browse

Browsing ARTS by Author "ABOLUSAWU-SEKULA, HALIMAT"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Item
    WOMEN ON WOMEN: THE STEREOTYPING OF FEMALE CHARACTERS IN THE POPULAR FICTION OF NORTHERN NIGERIAN WOMEN WRITERS.
    (2000-12) ABOLUSAWU-SEKULA, HALIMAT
    In recent years, there has been a proliferation of writing by women authors in Northern Nigeria. This energetic spurt of creative activity is especially noticeable in what is called popular fiction. It has been asserted that Nigerian female writers often react against the chauvinist - cast character stereotypes of women in the male dominated Nigerian literature. For example Flora Nwapa's Efuru and Idu are direct reactions against writers like Chinua Achebe's inadequate portrayal of lgbo women in eastern Nigeria. If Nigerian female writers like Flora Nwapa, Buchi Emecheta and Zaynab Alkali have tried their utmost to correct the Nigerian male literary hegemony's stereotypes, how have the writers of popular fiction fared? Popular fiction appears to be a genre of creative writing usually ignored by critics. Perhaps due to the fact that it does not consciously aspire to 'elitism' in its literary styles. Critics who give it attention do so in order, it seems to castigate its forms as inferior creative writing. This thesis attempts to explore northern Nigerian women's popular writing in an attempt to evaluate the significance of heroine stereotyping and also it intends to explore aspirations as portrayed in the fiction studied. A cursory glance at some popular texts written by these female writers indicates that popular heroines, despite their apparent show of a certain individuality, tread the usual line of love, a knight in shining armour and they lived happily ever after path. The audience usually leaves these heroines as happy housewives or potentially happy housewives. But rarely as women whose lives and decisions affect the larger society around them. This is not an exegesis against marriage but it is an attempt to expose the 'formulaic' writing of northern Nigerian female writers as prescribing love and marriage as ends in themselves, most times to the exclusion of careers and economic survival. The thesis intends to explore the hypothesis that the over emphasis placed on marriage for literary heroines de-emphasizes and relegates to a place of less importance, the role and contributions of the northern Nigerian woman to the larger society within which she lives. Chapter one offers an introduction to popular fiction in Nigeria and also, a critical analysis of available literature on popular fiction in Nigeria. Chapter two explores Gynocriticism as a theoretical framework for analysing women's writing in Northern Nigeria. Chapter three examines thematically the five texts chosen. Chapter four explores the stylistic ranges of the texts analysed while Chapter five discusses conclusions drawn from the research work.