Abstract

Literature is generally identified by the language in which it is written or by the people who write it. This paper is a survey of the imaginative literature of Urhobo writers who write in English. It is on the basis of their ethnicity that these writers are seen as Urhobo. As a people, the Urhobo have their unique experiences, worldview, sensibility, folklore, and other specific modes of living that make them an ethnic group. The selected writers will be examined on how they incorporate their Urhobo heritage into their writings. It will be seen that they exhibit their Urhobo-ness in varying degrees and use their respective knowledge of Urhobo in their writings according to their talent and passion for the culture. Thus, consciously or unconsciously, the writers whose works form Urhobo modern literature or literature in English show, in one way or the other, diverse aspects of their Urhobo experience.