Le décepter dans la littérature orale de l'océan Indien : étude comparée
Master Thesis
1993
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University of Cape Town
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Abstract
This thesis examines the figure of the Trickster In the traditional literature of the Indian Ocean islands of the Seychelles, Mauritius and Reunion. Originating from a unique blend of cultures, the popular literature of these islands lend itself to a comparative study with other folklore. The first chapter considers various Interpretations of the Trickster and examines this figure in other traditional cultures. In this regard, we consulted the major works done on the Trickster in order to draw, in the second chapter, comparisons between the Trickster figures In these cultures and in that of the Indian Ocean Islands. The third chapter sets out the various structures of the African Trickster-tales as presented by certain theorists. These same structures appear, either wholly or in slightly altered ways, in the Trickster-tales of the Indian Ocean. The fourth chapter, therefore, is a structural analysis of the Indian Ocean tales, which accounts for the similarities and differences that exist between these tales and the African ones. The African and Indian Ocean folktales share a common function: they serve to Instruct and to Impart knoYJiedge. Thus the fifth chapter examines the lessons conveyed by the Indian ocean Trickster-tales and discovers that they can be of a practical, moral or linguistic nature. Certain themes and motifs which appear in the Indian Ocean tales are also recurrent in European and African folktales. The final chapter deals Ylith these themes and shows how they have been appropriated and assimilated into the social and cultural framework of the Indian Ocean islands. Having found that the Trickster appears in all cultures, we conclude this study by establishing reasons for the popularity and universality of the Trickster figure.
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Bibliography: pages 122-126.
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Somers, S. 1993. Le décepter dans la littérature orale de l'océan Indien : étude comparée. University of Cape Town.