Reflections of orality in contemporary Angolan literary narratives: reading Boaventura Cardoso

Abstract: This study presents reflections on the symbolic capital of oral Angolan tradition, attesting to the proximity between orality and writing in Boaventura Cardoso’s narrative fiction. To this end, the works Fogo da Fala: um conjunto de contos and A Morte do Velho Kipacaça were selected for analysis. A structuralist approach was adopted as a theoretical framework for the investigation. However, the central aim of the article is to highlight the impact and the importance of orality in the contemporary narrative of Angolan literature, with Boaventura Cardoso as a starting and ending point. The article argues that orality is imposed not only as a source and a substrate, but also as an affluent and confluent of literary production engaged with references of Angolanity. The study also seeks to establish guidelines for a more theoretical study of oral literature in Angola and beyond.

Keywords: orality, writing, Fogo da Fala, A Morte do Velho Kipacaça, Boaventura Cardoso.

Article posted to Journal of the British Academy, volume 10, supplementary issue 6, Language, Culture and Society in Postcolonial Angola.