Proverbs in Wole Soyinka's Construction of Paradox in The Lion and The Jewel and Death and The King's Horseman
TL;DR: In this paper, a critical study of the proverbial idioms employed in the plays (these idioms are critically related to some salient Yoruba proverbs outside the texts) show that the charge of obscurity that is often levelled against Soyinka is attributable to his deployment of the tool of paradox to achieve aesthetic and philosophical significance.
Abstract: Summary Paradox, which is one means through which conflict is resolved in Soyinka's works, also accounts for the difficulty in interpreting his works. Proverbs play a significant role as a creative tool in the playwright's construction of paradox for the representation of the reality of his society and envisioning a better one. The article focuses on how proverbs have been strategically infused into the plays to lend a paradoxical edge to characterisation and the ironic resolution of conflict in the plays. A critical study of the proverbial idioms employed in the plays (these idioms are critically related to some salient Yoruba proverbs outside the texts) show that the charge of obscurity that is often levelled against Soyinka is attributable to his deployment of the tool of paradox to achieve aesthetic and philosophical significance. The study is informed by an agential approach to literary criticism which makes possible the establishment of connections between authorial intention and the agency of the text.
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TL;DR: Soyinka's manner of realizing this is through theoretical adventure that reveals his own very post-modernist imaginings, per... as mentioned in this paper, where death and King's Horseman showcase a condition of cultural rupture.
Abstract: Death and King’s Horseman showcases a condition of cultural rupture. Wole Soyinka’s manner of realizing this is through theoretical adventure that reveals his own very postmodernist imaginings, per...
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429 citations
Book•
02 Sep 1976
TL;DR: The ways in which the African world perceives itself as a cultural whole that interconnects myth, ritual and literature and the differences between its essential unity and the sense of division pervading Western literature are emphasized in this article.
Abstract: The ways in which the African world perceives itself as a cultural whole that interconnects myth, ritual and literature and the differences between its essential unity and the sense of division pervading Western literature are emphasized in this classic analysis.
415 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1975
TL;DR: The King's Horseman in Antigone as discussed by the authors is a classic 20th century drama with a single protagonist, Elesin Oba, who commits ritual suicide and leads his King's favorite horse and dog through the passage to the world of the ancestors.
Abstract: "The action of the play is as inevitable and eloquent as in Antigone: a clash of values and cultures so fundamental that tragedy issues: a tragedy for each individual, each tribe" Daily Telegraph "This play, by the winner of a Nobel Prize for Literature, asks: 'On the authority of what gods' the white aliens rupture the world. It puts exciting political theatre back on the agenda...a masterpiece of 20th century drama" Guardian Elesin Oba, the King's Horseman, has a single destiny. When the King dies, he must commit ritual suicide and lead his King's favourite horse and dog through the passage to the world of the ancestors. A British Colonial Officer, Pilkings, intervenes. This edition features an interview with the author. Commentary and notes by Jane Plastow
139 citations
TL;DR: The most important achievement of the Conference of African Writers of English Expression held in Makerere College, Kampala, in June I962 is that African literature as now defined and understood leads nowhere as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Dorothy Sekkade, Death. 1963. Woodcut Perhaps the most important achievement of the Conference of African Writers of English Expression held in Makerere College, Kampala, in June I962 is that African literature as now defined and understood leads nowhere. The conference itself marked the climax of the attack on the Negritude school of Leopold Senghor and Aime Cesaire. For some time now, African writers of English expression like Ezekiel Mphahlele, Wole Soyinka, and Christopher Okigbo have treated this kind of literature, which expresses sterile concepts such as "negritude" or the "African personality,"1 with the utmost derision. One would say that Negritude is now dead, judging from the confident tones of the remarks and decisions made at the Makerere conference. Another significant event at the conference was the tacit omission of Amos Tutuola. Not only was Tutuola, who is undoubtedly one of Africa's most significant writers, not present in the conference, but there was a deliberate exclusion of his works in the discussions of the conference. In fact, according to the conference report, Tutuola's publishers protested the implied questioning of their integrity in publishing this writer's works. One can guess that Tutuola received this kind of treatment partly because influential critics like Janheinz Jahn have repeatedly grouped him with the Negritude school, and partly because he has gone out of line, winning acclaim overseas for using a kind of English expression that is nonIbadan and non-Makerere. With the now seeming defeat of the Negritude and Tutuola schools of African writing, what now represents African literature can be seen from a few examples from some of the writings of those who now dominate our literature. Una Maclean, reviewing J. P. Clark's play, Song of a Goat, opens in the following fashion: "The author of this poetic melodrama possibly perceives himself as some sort of Tennessee Williams of the Tropics. Suddenly the sultry symbolism of the sex war seeps through the swamps, to hang like a
133 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1962
TL;DR: The best-known play by Wole Soyinka, How the Lion hunts the Jewel as mentioned in this paper, is set in the Yoruba village of Ilunjinle, Nigeria, and the main characters are Sidi (the Jewel), 'a true village belle' and Baroka (the Lion), the crafty and powerful Bale of the village, Lakunle, the young teacher, influenced by western ways, and Sadiku, the eldest of Baroka's wives.
Abstract: This is one of the best-known plays by Africa's major dramatist, Wole Soyinka. It is set in the Yoruba village of Ilunjinle. The main characters are Sidi (the Jewel), 'a true village belle' and Baroka (the Lion), the crafty and powerful Bale of the village, Lakunle, the young teacher, influenced by western ways, and Sadiku, the eldest of Baroka's wives. How the Lion hunts the Jewel is the theme of this ribald comedy.
86 citations