Technè, Dianoia and Mythos: Heirlooms to Comparative Study of Literature

Abstract

Critics have always declared the ‘advantage’ of comparative study of literature, namely, that it enhances the emergence of insightful and germane meanings. Yet they pass over the indispensable elements that make doing comparative criticism possible without the knowledge of the language of the various literary cultures of the works compared. To a great extent, the advantage of comparative criticism depends on the three Aristotelian concepts of techné, dianoia, mythos and their consequent interrelationships as handed down by literary traditions across genres and ages. This research, therefore, seeks to account for how these concepts enhance the comparative study of literature. It also, with an eye on these concepts, seeks to account for the influence of oral traditions on written literature from Hellenic Greek works to Nigerian literature today. Through the comparative discussion of some narratives belonging to the Nigerian literary tradition, with focus on the resilient strain necessary for comparison, this article concludes that the interaction and the bearing ofthese concepts within a particular creative space almost unconsciously influence an artist from whom future artists also inherit their literary codes. All these have lead to the advantage attributed to comparative study of literature, an advantage Nigeria literature today also gains from