• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

A Song for the Road Wole Soyinka’s Imagery and Tradition V. N. Manjula, Ph.D. Head of the Department of English NGM College Pollachi - 942001 Tamilnadu, India [email protected] Language in India www.languageinindia.com 12 : 1 January 2012 V. N. Manjula, Ph.D. A Song for the Road - Wole Soyinka’s Imagery and Tradition 1 Preface As a student I enjoyed reading modern plays. Among the modern plays, the plays of Soyinka were my favorites. Soyinka deals with tradition and exploits traditional language, songs, dances, and themes and myths to help us see the good and bad effects of the world around us and creates in us a desire to move forward to create a new world, which would cherish the past but will not be bound by its evil elements. There is more to study and enjoy in Soyinka’s plays. This book deals with Soyinka’s imagery and tradition. My grateful thanks are due to my teachers, especially Dr. Mangaiarkkarasi, PSGR Krishnammal College. My husband and life-partner … has been my strength and great support in all my studies. To him and to all the members of my family I owe a special sense of debt and gratitude. V. N. Manjula, Ph.D. Head of the Department of English NGM College Pollachi - 942001 Tamilnadu, India [email protected] Language in India www.languageinindia.com 12 : 1 January 2012 V. N. Manjula, Ph.D. A Song for the Road - Wole Soyinka’s Imagery and Tradition 2 Contents Chapter 1 Modern African Literature and Wole Soyinka Chapter 2 Songs and Mimes in Aid of Ridicule, Satire and Change in Society - Lion and the Jewel Chapter 3 Songs of Contemplation – The Road Chapter 4 Songs as Expression of Conflict - Kongi’s Harvest Chapter 5 Songs as Medium of Convention – A Dance of the Forest Chapter 6 Soyinka’s World Language in India www.languageinindia.com 12 : 1 January 2012 V. N. Manjula, Ph.D. A Song for the Road - Wole Soyinka’s Imagery and Tradition 3 Chapter 1 Modern African Literature and Wole Soyinka ========================================= Wole Soyinka Scope of Commonwealth Literature Modern African Literature is part of Commonwealth Literature which is a collection of writing outside the tradition of Britain and United States. Commonwealth writers are native to the regions they write about: the Caribbean, India, China, and parts of Africa. One of the most predominant themes of commonwealth Literature is the interaction between the forces of tradition and modernity. It is a normal off shoot of the intermingling of culture due to the effect of colonization. The meeting of East and West is one of the prominent themes of the Commonwealth Literature. The diversity of the commonwealth literature is further enhanced by the contemporary African literature. The Versatility of Modern African Writers Language in India www.languageinindia.com 12 : 1 January 2012 V. N. Manjula, Ph.D. A Song for the Road - Wole Soyinka’s Imagery and Tradition 4 African literatures in English and other European languages have added a new dimension to the commonwealth literature. Commonwealth Literature has reached a greater height in its search for universality and truth. The African writers have deep acquaintance with the European and American literature and they are in touch with the literary movements all over the world. In the words of Shiv.K.Kumar, Soyinka “Spoke in a deep bass voice, lunging his hands into the air as though he were tearing apart everything around him social injustice, hypocrisy and above all tyranny.” African poets and playwrights have produced some of the most endearing literary works by any standards in the world. Particular emphasis is placed on Nigerian Gender Poetry, Yoruba theatre Eastern African traditionalism, African American movement and African Canadian writing. Venkata Reddy opines “Wole Soyinka, whose work alone seems to be enough to establish Nigeria as the Commonwealth Literature is a veritable store-house of different cultures and perspectives. Specialized Drama in Africa According to Finnegan, African people like specialized drama. They lay greater stress on certain dramatic characteristics of their literatures than do cultures which rely primarily on written forms. The earlier forms if these dramas are said to be as puppet shows from Bruno, mimicry imitations, particularly dramatization of hunting from Bantu Africa. More elaborate forms of these dramas from puppet shows to the masquerades are from West Africa, mainly from forest regions. These dramas include most of the dramatic elements: the enactment of characters and Language in India www.languageinindia.com 12 : 1 January 2012 V. N. Manjula, Ph.D. A Song for the Road - Wole Soyinka’s Imagery and Tradition 5 events, several actors-in puppets rather in human forms –plot, a little linguistic content with specialized costumes, a limited amount of singing, dancing and music. The important aspect of the civilisation of Africa is concerned with the geographical or racial origin of the people called “Bantu”. They have an adequate language and the traditions of the tribes are preserved by oral narratives and folklore. There are two broad groups of Nigerian drama, namely, the traditional, which includes the sacred and secular drama and the modern, in which one finds the folk theater and the literary drama. However, music, dance and poetry have been associated with Nigerian drama from the earliest birth, marriage and death cycle ceremonies and rituals to the present trails by error of today (118). The Masquerades The masquerades are specially developed in forest areas where the carving of wooden masks has reached a high degree of artistic development. The masquerades probably vary throughout the region in content, purpose and pattern, but they all seem to include certain elements of drama and are often referred to as ‘plays’. This is in fact a kind of representation by the masked figure with great emphasis on costumes and on music and dancing. Finnegan adds that with a few possible exceptions, there is no tradition in African of artistic performances which include all the elements which might be demanded in a strict definition o drama. Traditional drama was being performed before the colonial era, and its many forms, still performed. Side by side with this there are two other types of drama-‘popular’ and ‘literary’. Popular drama aims at mass audience or at an unsophisticated audience with little formal education. The ‘literary’ drama is that which is inspired by European models. Impact of Modern European Drama on Modern African Drama Modern drama and stagecraft in Africa owes much to the introduction of European dramatic technique. Many of the contemporary writers, writing in English and French have also been involved in experimental works in the African universities. Traditional drama embodying all these chances gave way to the literary theatre which was written with a particular audience in mind. This was away from ‘popular’ theatre. ‘Literary’ drama was another name for ‘art-theatre’. But broadly speaking as a category, literary theatre approaches theatre from the side of the artistic product and focuses on the process of creativity whereas popular theatre approaches theatre from the side of the audience and focuses on the process of consumption. In the end they are not exclusive categories and can merge depending upon the audience. Drama is not merely the printed word. It is much more than that. Some critics believe that removed from its performance drama becomes elitist. But it is a fact that drama as ‘literature’ or ‘text’ outlasts any performance and history. Language in India www.languageinindia.com 12 : 1 January 2012 V. N. Manjula, Ph.D. A Song for the Road - Wole Soyinka’s Imagery and Tradition 6 Development of Modern Drama in Africa Michael Etherton, in his book The Development of African Drama, analyses the causes that led to the development of drama as play-texts in Africa. According to him there are three main reasons: 1. The development of the study of drama in African Universities. 2. The extensive influence of classical (Greek and Roman) and European form of drama on African playwrights. 3. The establishment of play-texts as the dominant mode of drama. Giving Life to Performance Live performances, whether of drama or story are the most ephemeral of all arts. They vanish within moments of being brought into existence, and only remain as memory. It is very difficult for someone from outside the specific culture to know what he or she is looking at and listening to, during a particular performance. The very style of a performance is a short form of actual meaning which has been established jointly by artists and their audience over a period of time. To give life to a performance, and make it permanent, a performance is recorded, generally as a written text. In that way drama as text or literature comes into existence. Here a transitory moment is eternalized and made accessible for a larger number of audience. The meaning of drama as performance and as text differs. As performance it has a subjective meaning for the audience collectively assembled there. As a text it has an objective meaning- to the extent that there is no influence from outside the text-and as well as a subjective meaning-in the sense of the personal experiences of the reader of the text. In a way we are now beginning to set the objective experience of a play-text in opposition to the subjective experience of it as a performance. Heterogeneous Mixture in Africa and Soyinka’s Plays Africa is a heterogeneous mixture of colours, races, religions, languages and civilizations-past and present political influences, cultural concepts, negritude, colour bar, colonialism, Africanness and racial inheritance confiding to geographical areas.

Load more

  168

Copy Link