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Contemporary Realities in the Selected Plays of Femi Osofisan, Sam Ukala and Tess Onwueme

Received: 5 November 2021     Accepted: 24 December 2021     Published: 8 January 2022
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Abstract

It has often been said that a writer’s assumption, criticisms, and everything he or she writes about are a result of the society he or she has found himself or herself. Literature is a product of the society. No writer writes without reflecting the prevailing issues or problems bedeviling the society he or she comes from. This paper takes a look at the contemporary issues in the Nigerian (even African) polity that have received the attention of Femi Osofisan in Who is Afraid of Solarin? and Women of Owu; Sam Ukala in Odour of Justice and Tess Onwueme in The Missing Face and Tell it to Women. The major aim of this paper is to expose some of the prevailing issues in contemporary Nigeria. These issues have continued to cause major setbacks in the Nigerian polity. The paper has helped in opening the eyes of the readers and drawing their ears on the corruption and other vices perpetuated by the leaders, women and tricksters in our midst. The selected playwrights beam their critical lens on the contemporary realities in Nigeria through their adaptations of oral traditions in their works. It is concluded that the playwrights are very much at alert with their social realities and they expose these socio-political and cultural issues in Nigeria, especially, for positive change.

Published in International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 10, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijla.20221001.11
Page(s) 1-10
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Contemporary Realities, Socio-political, Cultural Issues, Women Liberation, Corruption

References
[1] Achebe, Chinua. “The Duty and Involvement of the African Writers”. The African Reader, Independent Africa, edited by Wilfred Cartey. Nairobi: Oxford University Press, 1983, pp. 160-178.
[2] Awodiya, Muyiwa. (ed). Excursion in Drama and Literature: Interviews with Femi Osofisan. Ibadan: Kraft Books Limited, 1993.
[3] Carrington, Walter. “Democracy, Free Enterprise and Accountability”. Cross Road (U.S. Information Service), 1995.
[4] Chinweizu, Onwuchekwa Jemmie and Ikechukwu Madubuike. Toward the Decolonization of African Literature. Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publishers, 1980.
[5] Ogu, J. N. “Modern African Literature: A Literary Echo of Cultural, Political Reality”. Literature and Society: Selected Essays in African Literature, edited by Ernest N. Emenyonu. Calabar: Zim Pan African Publishers, 1986, pp. 98-120.
[6] Ojaide, Tanure. Poetic Imagination in Black Africa. Durham: Carolina Academic Press, 1996.
[7] Omatsola, Dan. The Language of Humour in the Okiroro Festival Theatre of Okere. Ibadan: Kraft Books Limited, 2018.
[8] Onwueme, Tess. Tell it to Women: An Epic for Women. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1997.
[9] Onwueme, Tess. The Missing Face. San Francisco: African Heritage Press, 2002.
[10] Osofisan, Femi. Who is Afraid of Solarin? Ibadan Scholars Press, 1978.
[11] Osofisan, Femi. Women of Owu. Ibadan: University Press Plc, 2006.
[12] Raji, Wumi. “New Nigerian Playwrights: An Update”. Drama and Theatre in Nigeria: A Critical Source Book. 2nd edition, edited by Ogunbiyi Yemi. Lagos: Tanus Books Limited, 2014, pp. 623-654.
[13] Senturia, J. J. “Political Corruption.” Encyclopedia of the School Services, III – IV. New York: Macmillan, 1931.
[14] Ukala, Sam. Odour of Justice. Ibadan: Kraft Books Limited, 2011.
[15] Wa Thiong’O, Ngugi. Homecoming: Essays on African and Caribbean Literature, Culture and Politics. London: Heinemann, 1972.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Alex Roy-Omoni. (2022). Contemporary Realities in the Selected Plays of Femi Osofisan, Sam Ukala and Tess Onwueme. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 10(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221001.11

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    ACS Style

    Alex Roy-Omoni. Contemporary Realities in the Selected Plays of Femi Osofisan, Sam Ukala and Tess Onwueme. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2022, 10(1), 1-10. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20221001.11

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    AMA Style

    Alex Roy-Omoni. Contemporary Realities in the Selected Plays of Femi Osofisan, Sam Ukala and Tess Onwueme. Int J Lit Arts. 2022;10(1):1-10. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20221001.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijla.20221001.11,
      author = {Alex Roy-Omoni},
      title = {Contemporary Realities in the Selected Plays of Femi Osofisan, Sam Ukala and Tess Onwueme},
      journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
      volume = {10},
      number = {1},
      pages = {1-10},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20221001.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221001.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20221001.11},
      abstract = {It has often been said that a writer’s assumption, criticisms, and everything he or she writes about are a result of the society he or she has found himself or herself. Literature is a product of the society. No writer writes without reflecting the prevailing issues or problems bedeviling the society he or she comes from. This paper takes a look at the contemporary issues in the Nigerian (even African) polity that have received the attention of Femi Osofisan in Who is Afraid of Solarin? and Women of Owu; Sam Ukala in Odour of Justice and Tess Onwueme in The Missing Face and Tell it to Women. The major aim of this paper is to expose some of the prevailing issues in contemporary Nigeria. These issues have continued to cause major setbacks in the Nigerian polity. The paper has helped in opening the eyes of the readers and drawing their ears on the corruption and other vices perpetuated by the leaders, women and tricksters in our midst. The selected playwrights beam their critical lens on the contemporary realities in Nigeria through their adaptations of oral traditions in their works. It is concluded that the playwrights are very much at alert with their social realities and they expose these socio-political and cultural issues in Nigeria, especially, for positive change.},
     year = {2022}
    }
    

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Author Information
  • Department of English and Literary Studies, Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria

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