YOUTH AND CHILDREN IN AFRICAN LITERATURE: AN ORAL LITERARY ANALYSIS OF OGBALU’S MBEDIOGU

Abstract

The emergence of written African literature from the colonial experience has created a gap for divergent literary views and this necessitates that scholars should address many of these issues, especially those bordering on youth and children. On the one hand is the problem of proper delineation between youth and children; on the other is the problem of the best medium of contact/communication to reach this class of people, while the question of literature, its nature, functions and meaning is on the extreme. This paper delves into these problems, using the oral literary approach, to analyze the selected text of F.C. Ogbalu’s Mbediogu. Published in Igbo language in 2006 as a collection of folktales, the study examines the divide between the youth and children audience as well as the best type of literary writing to reach this class of people and concludes that the whole stories in Ogbalu’s Mbediogu are intended to educate and inform the Igbo children and entire audience on the age long morals and wisdom of Igbo race.