FINDINGS
The documentary aspect of the African novel cannot be overestimated. Infact, to a large extent, the traditionalist African novel is compensating for the lack of written historical record. Vital information on the traditional African way of life, and a conception of the spiritual and temporal universe which throws light on the African’s attitude and reaction toward nature, his fellow man and the metaphysical world, comprise the substance of the traditionalist novel.
From our findings, the authors aim is to idealize and glorify the African tradition with the aim of making it a source of pride and inspiration for the young African and the author aim is to disapprove the assertion of those who deny Africa’s claim of history and civilization.
The task of modern traditionalist writers as a whole is to reconstruct the African cultural unity. Camara Laye chooses the African family as his main theme and describe the power and authority of parents, totems and etiquettes which govern family relation in the African Child (1953). In his second novel, The Radiance of the King (1954), the monarch is concerned as a loving father of his subjects.
It is the belief of the Africans that their lives are guided by the supernatural forces. Old Laye in The African Child (1953), reference the ancestors before he transformed gold into trinket in his workshop. It is these forces that aid him throughout the operation. The presence of the black snake also represent his ancestors. Laye’s mother is endowed with supernatural power which is her totem, this enable her to fetch water from the crocodile river.
Africans hold tenaciously to initiation and circumcision rites. It is a rite that revived the ancestors. It is the traditional way of acceptance into the clan of elders. This process build an individual physically, morally and aesthetically in the community. Initiation ceremony reveals the mysterious tradition of African ways of life. The song of the uninitiates after the ceremony is in consonance with the traditional aesthetics. Circumcision is a rebirth, a transformation that passes all understanding. The blood that gushes during the ceremony serves as a link between them and their ancestors. This symbolizes the birth of a new Malinke.
The Radiance of the King (1954) posits on the African land as the centre of the novel. The land where its ancestor lived. The land that cannot be given or sold away. The Radiance of the King (19540 is considered to be one of his most important works. The novel was described by Kwame Anthony Appiah as “one of the greatest of the African novel of the colonial period”. The novel confronts mystical and philosophical issues through a quest that might be read as an allegory of the human condition. However, Africa has become for Clarence, the white protagonist, a sort of code.
The novel becomes a quest, leading Clarence through round about paths to finally realize his goal of serving the King.
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