Search for criteria to identify a ‘classic’

Abstract

The IsiZulu Language Board has embarked on a search for criteria to identify a ‘classic’. What follows is my contribution to this search, arrived at through long discussions with members of my Department, and shorn of any pretence to finality. After an introduction on general ideas about literary inspiration, as seen by some modern schools, the article deals with criteria applicable to a literary work, and examines them in an African and Zulu context, but without applying them to any specific work. Characteristics of the oral literature, which forms the cultural substratum of the emerging literatures in African languages, are emphasized. It is hoped that this article may stimulate a lively discussion.