Festus Iyayi’s “Violence”. A Novel of Social Realism?

Akademische Arbeit aus dem Jahr 2014 im Fachbereich Literaturwissenschaft - Afrika, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: This study interrogates the deployment of Social Realism in Festus Iyayi's "Violence" (1979). While some scholars hail Iyayi's "Violence" as an accomplished novel of Social Realism, others do not accord the novel this status. This critical conflict of opinion presents an interesting subject of study. This paper examines whether or not "Violence" should be considered accomplished in accordance with the popular beliefs about works of Social Realism. Towards this end, the concept of Social Realism and its tenets are discussed and applied in the assessment of Iyayi's "Violence". The weaknesses and strengths of Iyayi's deployment of the concept in the novel are thereby identified and discussed. The paper thus concludes that although Iyayi's "Violence" is significant in its treatment of corruption and injustice in society, the novel has some significant flaws in handling the techniques of Social Realism.