ARMAH’S TWO THOUSAND SEASONS, OSIRIS RISING AND KMT: IN THE HOUSE OF LIFE AS A SINGLE PAN-AFRICAN EPIC STORY

ABSTRACT

The epic is quite familiar in literary study and criticism. Its Western as well as African

variants well-known among scholars and students of literature all over the world. African

versions of the epic such as Mwindo, Chaka and Sundiata give us some ideas about the

African epic. But is there any such thing as the pan-African epic, and do Armah’s Two

Thousand Seasons, Osiris Rising and KMT: in the house of life belong to this category?

The choric characterization, the strong female characters in prominent roles, the

monolithic setting, the concept of heroism, the nature of warfare and the message of a

seamless Sub-Saharan African nation being propagated by these novels suggest the

genesis of a new form of the African epic–the pan-African epic. This peculiar approach

calls for a critical study of the aforementioned novels. This research, therefore, examines

the three novels as pan-African epic novels, analyzing features such as focalization,

character, diction, setting, and themes while exploring the nature of their relationship

with one another in the propagation of Armah’s pan-African message. It also explores the

difference between Armah’s epic and the African epic. The thesis concludes that Two

Thousand Seasons, Osiris Rising, and KMT: in the house of life share a complex

relationship within a politico-literary pan-African epic form and that this form is a

modification of the African epic that makes a significant contribution to literature in

general, and the African epic in particular.

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