africa
african culture
african literature
african people
african tribesmen
anthropology
bantu
banyanga
bilingual text
Category=DS
Category=JHM
classic tradition
comparative studies
cosmology
cultural heroes
eastern zaire
english translation
epic heroes
epic stories
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
folk heroes
folk literature
folk songs
forest region
hero stories
heroic feats
linguistics
mwindo
nyanga tribe
oral tradition
poetic story
prose epic
proverbs
regional literature
remote regions
social structures
songs
value systems
zaire
Product details
- ISBN 9780520020498
- Weight: 272g
- Dimensions: 140 x 210mm
- Publication Date: 02 Nov 1989
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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The feats of the hero Mwindo are here glorified in the bilingual text of an epic which was sung and narrated in a Bantu language and acted out by a member of the Nyanga tribe in the remote forest regions of eastern Zaire. Admirably structured, coherent, and richly poetic, the epic is in prose form, interspersed with song and proverbs in verse. An example of the classic tradition of oral folk literature, the tale has important implications for the comparative study of African culture, as the text provides profound insights into the social structure, value system, linguistics, and cosmology of this African people.
