Influences and Traditions: Wole Soyinka and the Nigerian Theatre

Year 2011, Volume: 1 Issue: 1, 93 - 103, 30.06.2011

Kenneth Efakponana Enı

Abstract

Soyinka is a major dramatist whose work welds a lot of influence on generations of dramatists in Nigerian. A careful study of his work reveals a level of steady flow of influences that has shaped and continues to shape the literary theatre tradition in Nigeria. This paper focuses on two select works of Soyinka as a dramatist in order to highlight foreign influences that have seeped into the Nigerian theatre through his works. The paper adopts literary and critical methodologies in discussing the subject matter and in exploring the selected texts. The paper concludes that Soyinka is a major factor in bringing the foreign influences that have shaped Nigeria's theatre.

Keywords

Nigeria, Nigerian, Nigerian literature

References

• Achebe, C. (1997). Africa and her writers: Morning yet on creation day essays. London: Heineman. Adeniran, T. (1994). The politics of Wole Soyinka. Ibadan: Fountain Publications. Banjo, A. (1983). The linguistic factor in literature. Ibadan Journal of Humanistic Studies, 3, 47-69. Bowman, R. M. (1983). Leaders and leftovers: A reading of Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman. Research in African Studies, 14(1), 66-102