JOURNAL OF LIAONING TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY
(NATURAL SCIENCE EDITION)
LIAONING GONGCHENG JISHU DAXUE XUEBAO (ZIRAN KEXUE BAN)
辽宁工程技术大学学报(自然科学版)
Literariness in Ge’ez Hagiographies: Figurative Languages and Literary Techniques in Focuss
Dawit Girma
Abstract
The general objective of this study is to investigate literary features in medieval Ethiopian hagiographies, Gädlä Krestos Sämra in focus. It intended to endorse whether these text qualifies literariness. Accordingly, the literary elements (style) and techniques were examined in the hagiography. Since the study is done on a text, qualitative research method is applied. This research developed key findings. The results show that Gädlä Krestos Sämra has contained literary features. Stylistically, the narrative is constructed in well-arranged figures of speech, simile, metaphor, symbolism, and others. Techniques of a novel, foreshadowing, dialogue and description are on the other hand revealed in the text through the study. The principal conclusion drawn from this research was that irrespective of the reality of the stories for followers, it qualifies the prominent literary features. Based on the finding of the research, it can be argued that the text is a religious fiction.