MYTH CRITICISM AS AN APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF MYTHOLOGY, MYSTICISM AND MADNESS IN THE SELECTED NOVELS OF TONI MORRISON AND BESSIE HEAD

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dc.contributor.authorKOFOWOROLA, KAYODE GBOYEGA
dc.date.accessioned2014-02-13T15:19:58Z
dc.date.available2014-02-13T15:19:58Z
dc.date.issued2013-04
dc.descriptionA DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA, IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (PH.D) IN LITERATURE APRIL 2013en_US
dc.description.abstractThis study provides a comparative approach to illustrate how two female authors; Bessie Head and Toni Morrison from different literary and historical traditions have appropriated the novel genre as a medium for explicating the issues of mythology, mysticism and madness. In particular, the study unearths their portrayal of the symbiosis between mythology, mysticism and madness to explore human experience in fragmented social contexts. This study establishes the veracity of myth criticism as a tool for excavating certain archetypes that underline the writings of these authors and in the process broaden the understanding of our common humanity and enables us cross the boundaries of time, place, nationalities, languages and cultures. This thesis, which employs myth criticism as a framework for the analysis of mythology, mysticism and madness in the novels of Head and Morrison, is broken into five chapters. This thesis deconstructs Bessie Head’s use of mythology and exegetes the depiction of madness in her writings. It establishes that Head utilizes mythology and mysticism as essential ingredients of human existence and foregrounds madness as necessary for humanity to come to a point of self acceptance. It submits therefore, that myth or mythology is essentially the foundation of most thematic and stylistic discourse in the works of Bessie Head. Through various examples it shows that Head’s discourse on mythology, mysticism and madness is inter-textually woven and thus explores the inter-relatedness of these themes as a synchronization of mythology. In addition, this study argues that nature, nurture and the absence of nativity are crucial to the psychosis, mythopoesis and mysticism of Toni Morrison’s early novels. It affirms that Morrison’s concern with mythology, mysticism and madness can aptly be excavated by an intense attention to how she balances the contentions between nature, nurture and nativity as key ingredients for the construction and deconstruction of myths which is the structure of her narratology. Finally, the study establishes that areas of divergences and convergences which ultimately bear significance on the presentation of mysticism and madness exist in Morrison and Head’s pee-occupation at either constructing or deconstructing myths in their writings. The study submits that mythology mysticism and madness for both authors were not just themes but were also in fact instruments of style in the rigorous exploration of human complexities. The insight which this study provides about how invaluable myth criticism, an otherwise neglected critical tool, is for in-depth comparative analysis of literature by writers from different backgrounds and continents is a boost to existing literature on myth criticism. By providing a basis for further investigation into the impact and significance of myths and mythology as a structural organizing principle in many writers narrative structure today, this study is considered a step further away from previous attempts towards the balkanization of existing writings and writers into rigiden_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/123456789/1476
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.subjectMYTH CRITICISM,en_US
dc.subjectAPPROACH,,en_US
dc.subjectSTUDY,en_US
dc.subjectMYTHOLOGY,en_US
dc.subjectMYSTICISM,en_US
dc.subjectMADNESS,en_US
dc.subjectSELECTED,en_US
dc.subjectNOVELS,en_US
dc.subjectTONI,en_US
dc.subjectMORRISON,en_US
dc.subjectBESSIE,en_US
dc.subjectHEADen_US
dc.titleMYTH CRITICISM AS AN APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF MYTHOLOGY, MYSTICISM AND MADNESS IN THE SELECTED NOVELS OF TONI MORRISON AND BESSIE HEADen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
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