LITERATURE AND SOCIETY: A STUDY OF ARMAH, SEMBENE, AND BA / SEMBENE OUSMANE: LES BOUTS DE BOIS DE DIEU

Abstract

The relation between literature and society is highly complex and difficult to determine which elements of society has exerted what influence on literature. This paper uses the reader response theory to examine the social processes including material, conceptual, emotional, and institutional elements regarded as containing the potential influences which direct the character of literature. The study aims to contribute to the scholarship on the relationship between literature and society. The authors discussed in this paper are Ayi Kwei Armah: The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born, Fragment, and KMT: In The House of Life, Ousmane Sembene: God’s Bit of Wood, The False Prophet (short story) and Mariama Ba: So Long a Letter. The discussion gives a summary of their work and how they approach social issues through their writings. The findings reveal that literature does not exist in vacuum but is closely interconnected with real life society