THE EMERGENCE OF EARLY IGBO NOVEL: THE ROLE OF IGBO ORAL LITERATURE

Abstract

This paper examines the Igbo oral forms that are incorporated in selected early Igbo novels and the extent to which they have contributed to the emergence and development of Igbo written literature. Unlike the contemporary Igbo novel writers, the early Igbo novel writers such as Pita Nwana, D.N. Achara, TagboNzeako, UdeOdilora among others made extensive use of Igbo oral forms in their creative works. Unfortunately, the Igbo oral forms employed by these writers are not fully exploited by the readers especially the Igbo youths. This is as a result of their poor reading culture and apathetic attitude towards the Igbo language. Therefore, this study aspires to identify some Igbo oral forms represented in the selected early Igbo novels with the view of determining their implications and impact in emergence of literary works in Igbo.To get about this, some early Igbo novels were studied.Related literatures were reviewed. Most of the data collected from library and literary works were interpreted and analysed descriptively. From the analyses, it is revealed that the phenomenon of incorporation of elements of the oral form into the early Igbo novel is real and this has positively impacted on the emergence and development of modern Igbo literature.