Table of Contents

Chronology; 1. 'Representative' and unrepresentable modalities of the self: the Gnostic, worldly and radical humanism of Wole Soyinka; 2. Tragic mythopoesis as postcolonial discourse - critical and theoretical writings; 3. The 'drama of existence': sources and scope; 4. Ritual, anti-ritual and the festival complex in Soyinka's dramatic parables; 5. The ambiguous freight of visionary mythopoesis; fictional and nonfictional prose works; 6. Poetry, versification and the fractured burdens of commitment; 7. 'Things fall together': Wole Soyinka in his own write.

Promotional Information

Jeyifo examines the connections between the innovative and influential writings of Wole Soyinka and his radical political activism.

About the Author

Biodun Jeyifo is Professor of English at Cornell University. He is the author of The Popular Travelling Theatre of Nigeria (1984) and The Truthful Lie: Essays in a Radical Sociology of African Drama (1985). He has written essays and monographs on Anglophone African and Caribbean literatures, Marxist cultural theory and colonial and postcolonial studies and has also edited several volumes on African drama and critical discourse.

Reviews

'... there are very few critics writing in the field who can carry out this kind of examination so well.' African Affairs '... fascinating ...'. Wasafiri