Yoruba Festival and the Dramatist: Satire as Spine in Soyinka’s A Dance of the Forests

In most African societies, festivals play especially important roles linked to the survival of the society. This paper investigates the festival motif in Wole Soyinka’s A Dance of the Forests with the purpose of illuminating further his exploration of elements of indigenous African (Yoruba) lore. T...

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Main Author: Olusegun i Olu-Osayomi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: LibraryPress@UF 2023-01-01
Series:Yoruba Studies Review
Online Access:https://ojs.test.flvc.org/ysr/article/view/132802
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author Olusegun i Olu-Osayomi
author_facet Olusegun i Olu-Osayomi
author_sort Olusegun i Olu-Osayomi
collection DOAJ
description In most African societies, festivals play especially important roles linked to the survival of the society. This paper investigates the festival motif in Wole Soyinka’s A Dance of the Forests with the purpose of illuminating further his exploration of elements of indigenous African (Yoruba) lore. The paper contends that the satiric mode explored trenchantly in Soyinka's play's organizing and structuring principles. The paper posits that satiric mode is the fundamental backbone of his work, not just a decoration. The paper explains further that the festival's motif and cultural celebration built into the structure of the selected play and properly harnessed raw material for his poetry. The methodology is analytical and complemented by hermeneutics theory. By vigorously exploiting African (Yoruba) experience, festival motif, and satiric modes, in a manner relevant to the moral development of his world, it will be seen that Soyinka, succeeds in laying the foundation for a truly Nigerian national literature and it is, in fact, on this that his strengths as a satirist playwright lie
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institution Kabale University
issn 2473-4713
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publishDate 2023-01-01
publisher LibraryPress@UF
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series Yoruba Studies Review
spelling doaj-art-e856e552a9d14fd7a3b743c4ebb40aca2025-02-07T13:44:22ZengLibraryPress@UFYoruba Studies Review2473-47132578-692X2023-01-0172Yoruba Festival and the Dramatist: Satire as Spine in Soyinka’s A Dance of the ForestsOlusegun i Olu-Osayomi0Babcock University In most African societies, festivals play especially important roles linked to the survival of the society. This paper investigates the festival motif in Wole Soyinka’s A Dance of the Forests with the purpose of illuminating further his exploration of elements of indigenous African (Yoruba) lore. The paper contends that the satiric mode explored trenchantly in Soyinka's play's organizing and structuring principles. The paper posits that satiric mode is the fundamental backbone of his work, not just a decoration. The paper explains further that the festival's motif and cultural celebration built into the structure of the selected play and properly harnessed raw material for his poetry. The methodology is analytical and complemented by hermeneutics theory. By vigorously exploiting African (Yoruba) experience, festival motif, and satiric modes, in a manner relevant to the moral development of his world, it will be seen that Soyinka, succeeds in laying the foundation for a truly Nigerian national literature and it is, in fact, on this that his strengths as a satirist playwright lie https://ojs.test.flvc.org/ysr/article/view/132802
spellingShingle Olusegun i Olu-Osayomi
Yoruba Festival and the Dramatist: Satire as Spine in Soyinka’s A Dance of the Forests
Yoruba Studies Review
title Yoruba Festival and the Dramatist: Satire as Spine in Soyinka’s A Dance of the Forests
title_full Yoruba Festival and the Dramatist: Satire as Spine in Soyinka’s A Dance of the Forests
title_fullStr Yoruba Festival and the Dramatist: Satire as Spine in Soyinka’s A Dance of the Forests
title_full_unstemmed Yoruba Festival and the Dramatist: Satire as Spine in Soyinka’s A Dance of the Forests
title_short Yoruba Festival and the Dramatist: Satire as Spine in Soyinka’s A Dance of the Forests
title_sort yoruba festival and the dramatist satire as spine in soyinka s a dance of the forests
url https://ojs.test.flvc.org/ysr/article/view/132802
work_keys_str_mv AT olusegunioluosayomi yorubafestivalandthedramatistsatireasspineinsoyinkasadanceoftheforests