Review of Ruth Finnegan, Limba Stories and Story-Telling

Until recently, it was still possible for Godfrey Lienhardt, one of the general editors of The Oxford Library of African Literature, to comment that there was no good and convincing account of adults sitting together in an African village, telling stories for entertainment. (The New African, 1966: 124.) At long last, here is a book which provides exactly that: a convincing description of adult African villagers telling stories to each other as recently as our own decade. The tales they exchange are not a negligible part of their culture, a degenerated, barely remembered tradition. On the contrary, among the Limba people, story-telling is a vital, dynamic activity in which all men partake. In fact, they almost compelled the researcher to collect their narratives, as they themselves viewed it as a significant part of their culture.