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ABSTRACT
This research investigated and
analysed works of two outstanding modernist writers in Africa and Europe. The
work was carried out with specific objectives which are; to highlight the basic
features of modernism, to discuss
the reasons for writers in this vogue deviating from earlier trends and placing
emphases on newness. It outlined and analysed these basic features in the
texts, Anthills of the Savannah and The Trial. In the course of these
analyses, the researcher highlighted seven features of modernism. This formed
the Data and Textual analyses in this work. From these analyses, the study
succeeded in situating these novels within the fold of modernism. It looks at
the major thematic preoccupations of the novels and how they reflected the existence
of humans in modern society, which is the concern of the modernist writers.
Once more, the research has proven that modernism and any other literary trend
is not an exclusive preserve of the West. It is possible to adopt the style in
any other part of the World as Achebe and Kafka have done.
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.0 Background
to the Study
Literature is often seen as a
representation of man’s experiences in the society. These experiences are not
represented abstractly but rather in line with the factual and visible happenings
in our society. Over the years, every literature produced is meant to portray
or address a particular issue in our society. The nature of life and man himself
is dynamic and is reflected as such in literature.
Both the traditional and modern man
has found literature entertaining and has consequently preserved it. It is
because man in his early society recognizes the entertainment values of
literature that he developed it. The modern man has also continued the
tradition of entertaining himself through literature in form of songs, drama,
and storytelling that accompanied traditional rituals. The National Teacher Institutes NCE/DLS course book on English language
cycle 1 gives three ways by which literature keeps the society entertained.
These are psychological escape; entertainment through indulgence of our sense
of humour and entertainment through our sense of beauty (225-226). Literature
thus is an inspiration of societal happenings. These happenings are segmented
into epochs, and modernism happens to be a literary movement that is currently
in vogue. What used to be the trend at a particular time will not necessarily be
in another. For instance, during classical era from the fifth A.D. onwards it
was old English literature or Anglo-Saxon literature. Literature at that time
consisted of spoken verse and songs or poems such as epic poems composed
orally. The purpose of these forms of literature was to pass along tribal
history and values to a population who could not read or write.
The Renaissance was a period when
there was a rebirth of Greek and Roman literature as well as other forms of
classical knowledge. The discovery of the works of classical scholars like
Aristotle and Plato exerted unprecedented influence on the Renaissance man’s
thought; that is secularisation of classical learning.
The Romanticism era was a time of war,
notably the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars. These wars along with
the political and social turmoil that came with them served as the background
for the literature of this period. Their concerns were the free expression of
feeling of the artist and their thematic preoccupations were the lives of the
ordinary people (as opposed to classical period) and the poet‘s feelings about
nature etc.
Towards the end of the nineteenth
century, globalization and industrialization coupled with the first and second
World Wars brought a new literary movement into existence. This was a break
away or departure from the earliest trends such as classicism, medievalism,
neoclassicism, romanticism and realism. This new movement was called modernism.
The era placed emphasis on newness. Modernist movement originated in Europe and
North America. The proponents of this movement were mostly influenced by
Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, Joseph Conrad, and D. H. Lawrence among others who
tended to question how rational the human mind operated. They also believed
that life does not always follow the right road; instead it was rough and quite
unpredictable. Therefore, their ideas were completely new and appealing to the
writers of the time.
In its broadest definition, Modernism according
to Hofmann “is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the
term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array
of associated cultural movements originally arising from wide-scale and
far-reaching changes to western society in the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth century’s” (12).
According to Bill Ashcroft et al,
Modernism “is a twentieth century European movement in the creative arts that
sought to break with the dominant conventions of nineteenth century art, such
as realism, linear narrativity, perspective and tonality” (143). They posit
that, although modernism is usually defined as a European movement, it has been
argued that the encounter with African cultures in the so called ‘scramble of
Africa’ period of 1880s and 1890s was crucial to the development of modernist
aesthetic (114). These were the periods that the European powers were engaged
in violently oppressing the ‘uncivilized’ cultures of Africa.
In general, the term modernism
encompasses the activities and out-put of those who felt traditional forms of
art, literature, religious faith, social organisation and daily life were becoming
outdated in the new economic, social and political conditions of an emerging
fully industrialised world.
While literature differs according to
the different eras or periods it is produced, it also differs in regions. Due
to the incessant colonial conquests of African nations in the 17th
century, a literary piece coming from an African writer may tend to treat
issues that are peculiar to the dilemma and predicament suffered by Africans in
the hands of the colonisers. As a matter of fact, this is the major
preoccupation of most African literary pieces in the earlier stage of African
literature. A typical example of such
work is Chinua Achebe’s Things fall Apart.
Anthills of the Savannah treats the
combined themes of corruption and misguided leadership occasioned by a brutal
military dictorship. This comes out from the witnesses of Chris Oriko, Ikem
Osodi and Beatrice who are all participants in the events presented. There is
disorder in the novel which resulted to different evil practices such as
gossip, political agitations among others. Also, Kafka’s The Trial centres round K.’s condition under arrest and his final
death. It treats humanistic issues such as guilt, freedom, alienation, etc. The
first two people that came to arrest K., Franz and Willen robbed him first of
his breakfast and later tried to rob him of his clothes. The second sentence of
the opening chapter refers to Josef K.’s breakfast “…it is only this morning
that the land-lady’s cook does not bring Josef K.’s breakfast. That never
happened before.” (2) Josef K. also emphasizes the importance of the breakfast
when he talks to Frau Grubach.
... I judged the whole thing still
more severely. There’s nothing learned about it. It is completely null and
void. I was taken by surprise that was all. If immediately on waking I had got
up without troubling my head about Anna’s absence, and had come to you without
regarding anyone who tried for my way, I could have breakfast in the kitchen for
a change and could have got you to bring me my clothes from my room; in short,
if I had behaved sensibly, nothing further would have happened, all this would
have been nipped in the bud. But one is so unprepared”. (2)
A closer look at this novel however
reveals there is in fact no trial but what we can call interrogation. This
trial is questionable because what exactly is K. charged with? In other words,
what is this trial all about? “It’s true
that you’re under arrest, but that shouldn’t stop you from carrying out your
job. And there shouldn’t be anything to stop you carrying on with your usual
life”. (18)
The trials in the novel are; man under
trial, law and justice under trial, the society under trial and trial of life.
The novel shows the nature of man in the society and his fate as a human being
as it provides a lot of humour meant to make us laugh as underneath, it lies
some serious messages. Kafka is here telling us that all people are guilty of
something and the punishments are in inverse proportion to the sin. The atmosphere
presented in the texts is consistent with modern literature.
Other works from outside Africa
however may treat different issues ranging from socio-political, economic and
cultural issues, but the umbrella of modernism cuts across races, geographical
regions and languages. Therefore, writers writing from a perspective of
modernism have a similar goal which the movement stands for.
With the aim of bringing to the fore
the meaninglessness and the lost of man’s faith in religion, modernist movement
was established to raise the obvious point that the way man is living in modern
times, humanity is heading towards nowhere but doom. The increase in
industrialization which led to the technological advancement also contributed
in giving rise to the movement. The first and second world wars also lend a
hand to the birth of the movement as the uncertainty of life and the brutality
of the human mind came to the fore. People started seeing life as it were. The
realities of life started dawning on many people, some started questioning the
future of humanity as weapons and machines were specially created by man to
annihilate his fellow man. Writers started questioning this by capturing these
situations, the future of humanity and their very existence in their works.
Chinua Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah and Franz Kafka’s The Trial are modernist novels in that they attempt to capture the
realities of man and humanity in general. These books portray the features that
accompany a modernist novel as Achebe and Kafka happen to find themselves in
the era of modernist writers.
The literary themes that are prevalent
in the modernist novel are those that are related to the society. Their themes
tend to be those of fractured, disorganized, broken and fragmented society due
to the action of man. This is seen in Anthills
of the Savannah where the bid to take over power (coup) led to the killings
of many people. Societal problems like corruption, brutal military dictatorship
which are replicas of the Nigerian society are highlighted. Also, Kafka tries
to picture the meaninglessness of life through the character of Josef K. where
K. is arrested and charged to court without knowing the gravity of his offence.
Kafka here is saying the law is not accessible to everyone as not everyone
receives justice. The society is
presented as disorganized as people are assassinated, and it is associated with
ills such as gossips and rumours. These issues are consistent to modernist
literature as modern writers’ attempts to capture issues that affect the
society negatively.
Anthills
of the Savannah and The Trial have no continuous flow of
content from page one to the end. There is discontinuity of narration from one
chapter to another. This is an essential feature of modernist novels. While one
person /character narrates their story, the other character takes up from the
next chapter thereby distorting the continuous flow of narration. The authors
have achieved this thereby making their work to be called modernist novels.
Anthills
of the savannah and The Trial therefore, are modernist
novels because they have succeeded in incorporating the features that are known
with modernist literature. Thus, Chinua Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah and Franz Kafka’s The Trial are novels that have been captured through the modernist
lens.
1.1 Statement
of the Problem
This research work seeks to capture
the various features of modernist literature in Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah and Kafka’s The Trial. It places the texts in the modernist lens which figures
out the concerns of modernist writers. The research seeks to relate the
features of the modernist novel as they relate to the novels, Anthills of the Savannah and The Trial. The researcher will also
explain why the novels fall under the category of modernist text taking into
cognizance the themes as well as the general structure of the novels; how they
have been artfully incorporated by the authors to qualify the books as
modernist novels. This problem is important, in that it would aid the students
of literature to know the placement of a text in a particular dispensation of
the literary era.
TOPIC: PLACING CHINUA ACHEBE’S ANTHILLS OF THE SAVANNAH AND FRANZ KAFKA’S THE TRIAL IN THE MODERNIST LENS
Format: MS Word
Chapters: 1 - 5
Delivery: Email
Delivery: Email
Number of Pages: 65
Price: 3000 NGN
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