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- Title
An Interface of the Old and the New: Creating the Conscious Nigerian via an Interrogation of Sophocles' Antigone in Osofisan's Tegonni.
- Authors
Taiwo, Emmanuel Folorunso
- Abstract
Postcolonial dramatists from Nigeria betray an affection for classical drama. Many classical plays have been adapted by some of the most renowned African playwrights such as Soyinka, Walcott and Aidoo among others. Some argue that there is some kind of affinity in the two traditions especially in the role of supernatural forces/gods in the affairs of men; as well as courts and kings in both traditions. Femi Osofisan, whose play this paper explores, has also been attracted to classical drama; but he seems to critique the two worlds - of classical Athens and traditional Africa - which many African adaptations have previously embraced. In his adaptation of Sophocles' Antigone (titled Tegonni) Osofisan subverts the Athenian world of Greek mythology to make complex arguments about the relations between colonial and postcolonial, British and Yoruba on one hand, and the military jackboots of Abacha's era and the citizenry on the other. This essay seeks to explore the playwright's use of the existing complexities and contradictions in his cultural environment in creating an awakening of the consciousness of the average Nigerian during the period in question.
- Subjects
NIGERIA; POSTCOLONIALISM; DRAMATISTS; CLASSICAL drama; ANTIGONE (Mythological character)
- Publication
Nebula, 2009, Vol 6, Issue 3, p121
- ISSN
1449-7751
- Publication type
Article