The Narrow Path (novel)
The
Narrow Path is a 1966 autobiographical novel by Ghanaian novelist Francis
Selormey. The novel was part of Heineman's African Writers Series. The novel heavily focuses on recounting the unhappy and
painful experiences of a child, Kofi, attending a Catholic mission school in
Ghana, and the contrasting traditional education he receives. The novel, that
has many of the developmental features of a bildungsroman, but utilizes an adult narrator to observe the development
of the child focal character, Kofi. The novel is also unique because of its
focus on the childs' primary education, only retelling the elementary years.
Critic
Chris Kwame Awuyah compared the novels themes and structure to Joseph Abruquah's The Torrent (1968) and Amu
Djoleto's The Strange Man (1967) and notes similarities to other novels like James
T. Farrell's Father
and Son and Ngugi Wa Thiag'o's Weep not, Child. Awuyah said that the "major artistics strengths of
[the novel] are its direct and concrete language presented with an unreflective
and confessional narrative voice".[1]
References
· Awuyah, Chris Kwame (2004-11-30).
"Selormey, Francis (1927-88)". In Eugene Benson, L. W. Conolly
(eds.). Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English. Routledge.
p. 1419. ISBN 9781134468485.
·
Gerard, Albert S. (1986). European-language Writing in Sub-Saharan
Africa. John Benjamins Publishing. pp. 831–832. ISBN 9630538342.
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