Abstract
This study entitled Analysis of Yvonne Owuor’s Dust from the Perspective of Socialist Realism Literary Theory attempts to read a Contemporary Anglophone Kenyan novel through the lens of Socialist Realism. Socialist Realism appeared for the first time in a speech of 17th May 1932 by Ivan Gronsky, and gaining worldwide recognition with postcolonial literary works, has been a focal point of different scholarly studies. In Kenya, the author such as Ngugi wa Thiong'o wrote literary works which can be seen in Socialist Realist eyes. The motivations behind taking up this topic are to fill the research gap in reading a novel from Kenya and to observe the trend in the practice of Socialist Realism. The paper aims to show the re-emergence of Socialist Realism literary theory and the presence of Socialist Realist authors; after it was considered an outdated literary theory. And how the novelist from Kenya has applied the features that Socialist Realism is known. One novel has been chosen for this study, Dust. The novel was published after 2000 G.C. To read the novel, the theoretical framework forms at using Socialist Realism different features theorized by critics. The study concludes by finding major features of Socialist realism in the novel. These are optimism, socialist Humanism, class-ness, people-ness, Romanticism and positive hero. And the novelist in Kenya used Socialist Realism associating it with their contexts, connecting it with their respective historical background, shared current statues, commenting on existing economic, social, and political situations.
Highlights
Background of the Study Socialist Realism is a social force that is imitated by Kenyan authors from Westerns since Ngugi’s era
This study has attempted to explore the implementation of Socialist Realism in selected Contemporary Anglophone Kenyan novels
Though Socialist realism is an outdated approach to novel writing at the moment, this study focuses on the Kenyan experience of employing it in very recent years and its re-emergence
Summary
Background of the Study Socialist Realism is a social force that is imitated by Kenyan authors from Westerns since Ngugi’s era. The term Socialist Realism appeared for the first time in a speech of 17th May 1932 by Ivan Gronsky, chairperson of the Organizing Committee of the Union of Writers, in process of formation. In Kenya, a social vision was present in the work of Ngugi wa Thiong'o from the first. His endorsement of socialist principles and the patent influence of Marxism on his work come across most strongly in works like Petals of Blood (1977) and Devil on the Cross (1982), written after his celebrated novel A Grain of Wheat (1967). Abiye [2] mentioned that some societies are in the capitalist formation and experiencing its highest form called imperialism. After 40 years, many African countries are in the capitalist system. The end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century was theperiodofcapitalism
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