African Literature in the New Media: Towards a Mass Appeal and Social Mobilisation

Abstract

Literature and the mass media are linked in the aspect of the latter being the means by which the former can be transmitted to the mass of the people. For literature to have a wider reach, therefore, the role of the new media cannot be taken for granted by the literary artiste. This paper explores the relationship between literature and the new media based on the normative theory of choice maximisation and Marxism. It establishes that the synergy between the two disciplines greatly enhances the objective of literature to raise the people's consciousness in the affairs of their society. The paper opines that the conventional modes of transmitting literary art are no longer adequate in the modem age if the earlier identified objective of literature as a vehicle for the education of the mass of the people must be achieved. Thus, the paper argues further that since it is necessary in the light of the advancement in modem technology to improve the reach of the mass media to a mass audience, African literary practitioners must work at deploying the resources of the new media to advance the course and cause of literature. Finally, the paper posits that for literature in Africa to retain its popularity and advance its social objective, the art cannot but explore the resources of the media in the old and new forms for the advancement of human society.