A Yorùbá novelist’s Perception of Courtship: An Examination of Fágúnwà’s Novels

Abstract

This paper investigates Fágúnwà’s perception of courtship as depicted in his five novels. His work is chosen because the work top the list of the early novels published in Yorùbá language. Although there is much work on the novels, there is little or no work that is exclusively on the novelist’s perception of courtship the gap this work tends to fill. Our theoretical framework is based on sociology of literature. Sociology of literature is an attempt to understand the inter-relationship between literature and society. Our findings show among others, that the novelist supports unrelenting persuasion and closeness to each other during courtship. According to Fágúnwà, letter and test-related types of courtship which are alien to Yoruba community should be imbibed into Yorùbá culture while condemning cohabitation. The paper reveals that the novelist does not support the use of Alárenà (matchmaker) between a man and a lady that want to go into courtship as he wants everyone to express his or her love to the opposite sex. The paper also reveals that Fágúnwà’s exposure to foreign culture is responsible for his ability to depict the pros and cons of imbibing foreign culture into Yorùbá culture and at the same time making move for removal of Yoruba culture that allow only men to initiate proposal. The paper concludes that the Yorùbá society should complement the Yorùbá courtship process with good foreign courtship processes to meet the demands of the present day society.