Shona People’s Concept of Beauty and its Relevance to their Literary Appreciation

Literary appreciation, just like literary production, is both cultural and environmental. A critic usually appreciates a work of art depending on how he or she was socialised. For a work of art to be considered beautiful, it is cultural. Hence, what can be beautiful in one culture may be viewed as ugly in another. In Shona people’s cosmology, it is clear what for example, a beautiful woman or a beautiful tree is. It is this concept of beauty, which is even exploited by the Shona in their appreciation of works of art. What the people view as a beautiful or good work of art is quite the same as what they regard as a beautiful woman or a beautiful tree. This paper seeks to show that Shona literary appreciation is both inspired and informed by the people’s social concept of beauty. This social-literary beauty interface will be explored using examples and extracts from Shona folktales, proverbs, prose and poetry.