The inquiry of literature

Abstract

This is an essay, theoretical and critical, that tends to examine literature through a blend of moral, philosophical, aesthetic and intellectual attitudes and judgments that cohere into what is entitled here as “The Inquiry 'Literature.” It owes its insights and inspiration to many years devoted to reflecting about the subject, and to reading, studying, lecturing, teaching and writing about some of the finest writers in world literature. And the range of writers focused on here from William Shakespeare, Saint Augustine, Robert Graves, John Keats, Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka to Romanus Egudu to elucidate its claims and assumptions, underscores its over-riding strength in context and comprehension. The essay concludes without a conclusion because of the vast possibilities and impossibilities about the subject of “the inquiry of literature.”