Literature as a Reflection on Socio-political Realities: An Examination of Three Nigerian Writers

Abstract

Considering the degree of resemblance between literature and human societies, one is convinced that literature is not just a social construct which is rooted in mere ideas, imaginations or imaginary situations. Instead, it is a social institution; a form of tradition, which has existed for a long time and is accepted as a vital component of a given society to perform certain functions. In this paper, we see literature as a social reality, which presents the state of things as they are, rather than as they are imagined to be. In the selected literary works for this study, the three writers expose and condemn the harsh and hostile social and political realities which confront the African society at different periods of its evolution. Premised on sociological approach to literary criticism, this paper justifies that literature can be employed in working out national reconstruction being a tool that can make people co-operate with one another through information sharing and dissemination. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:Table Normal; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:Calibri,sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Times New Roman; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}