The Roles Of Narrators In Geez Narratives And Early Amharic Didactic Prose Fiction

Many foreign and Ethiopian scholars (for example, Kane (1975),rnMolvaer (1986), Amsalu (1976), Asfaw (1973) ...)claim that mostrnof the early Amharic prose fiction writers have in one way orrnanother been influenced by Geez religious literature. Somernliterary scholars have even pointed out specific influences like:rnOvert patronization of the reader (Kane 1975), preoccupation withrnreligious and moralistic issues (Amsalu (1976), Kane (1975») andrnthe like.rnIn spite of their claim that Geez religious literature hasrnexerted considerable impact on early Amharic prose fiction, thernscholars have not substantiated this with independent textualrnstudies. There is no research conducted so far to show therninfluences of Geez narratives upon Amharic didactic prosernfiction. Due to this, the need for conducting such a study isrntherefore obvious.rnThe aim of the study is thus, ~o trace possible influences ofrnGeez narra~ives on early Amharic didactic prose fic0ion in thernroles of narrators.rnThe thesis has four parts: the first chapter is the theoreticalrnpart which deals with the concept "narrator" and ~he roles ofrnnarrators in fiction. The second chapter is devo~ed to the rolesrnof narrators in Geez narratives. The third chap~er is con.rnivrnwith some influences of Geez narratives on early Amharic didacticrnprose fiction in the roles of narrators. The fourth chapter isrnthe conclusion.rnThe researcher has described the influences of Geez narra~~ves onrnearly Amharic prose fiction in terms of content and form. In therncase of content, the influences concern preoccupation withrnreligious and moral themes as seen from the point of view of thernOrthodox church. In the case of form, the influences concern thernidentification of character and setting, description ofrncharacter, preoccupation with summary, report and commentary,rndirect addressing narratee, wavering of point of view,rnintercalation, heading and content, and "sacred", traditional andrnfigurative languages. With respect to these thematic and formalrnaspects, the objectives of narrators in using the techniques, andrnthe manner, extent or frequency of the techniques used in thernnarratives are taken into account.

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