Literature: A vehicle for cultural transmission

Abstract

Roberts (2010) defines literature as compositions that tell stories, dramatise situations, express emotions, and analyse and advocate ideas. The Scribner Literature Series (1989) compares literature to a great number of windows through which readers can see different parts of the world. Among its many functions, literature links readers to the broader cultural world of the society in which they live. Culture is the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief and behaviour. Every society has its own particular culture. With the diminishing practice among Africans of oral literature, a decline in the transmission of culture from one generation to another is being experienced. The purpose of this article is to investigate the importance of literature as a vehicle for the transmission of culture.

South African Journal of African Languages 2012, 32(2): 189–194