A READING OF OLA ROTIMI'S "OUR HUSBAND HAS GONE MAD AGAIN" AND WOLE SOYINKA'S "KONGI HARVEST"

1.1 Introduction

This study attempts to scrutinize the Ola Rotimi's "Our Husband has Gone Mad Again" and Wole Soyinka's "Kongi Harvest" comparatively. The yardsticks adopted in this comparative synthesis are trans-generational perspectives and intertextuality. Wole Soyinka and Ola Rotimi are playwrights of longevity and extensive productive life. Their plays in terms of ideological frames and mechanics of composition seem to transcend the limit of the boundary set by any identified generation of Nigerian dramaturgy, and therefore cannot be pushed into any single periodic category with absolute fidelity. An aspect of this study will explore how these playwrights handle trans-generational issues with respect to their points of convergence and divergence. There appear to be reasons to believe that the Ola Rotimi's "Our Husband has Gone Mad Again" and Wole Soyinka's "Kongi Harvest are amenable to intertextual analysis and interpretation. The mechanics of their messages as well as the messages of their plays seem to have been explicitly and implicitly drawn from existing literary and extra literary materials, such as past dramatic texts, colonial and postcolonial history as well as the cultural ambience of the people.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

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1.2 Background of Study

The background of study examines the major influences on the dramaturgy of Wole Soyinka and Ola Rotimi. Wole Soyinka and Ola Rotimi are indigenes of Yoruba land. Their origin made them quite naturally part of that culture. These playwrights, especially Wole Soyinka, seem to have profound artistic and scholarly interest in the cultural ambience of their people especially as it relates to performance idioms and mythological world picture. Soyinka’s artistic form appears to show his bias for traditional theatre in its eclectic formation of intermingling dance, song, mime, music and ritual display. “In his search for universal and humanistic values, his exploration has taken him into the universe of Yoruba mythology for the purpose of confronting the profound meaning of existence” (Adedeji 105).

The literature of Ola Rotimi's “Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again” (Rotimi, 1977), as a general formulation, the ontological relatedness of drama and society has provided the anchor for various sociological perspectives on the development and growth of drama. Two basic referents, issuing from a wider context of the mutuality of art and society, are recognisable: (i) a view of art as a form of human thought rooted in clearly social concerns, and (ii), a view of drama, in particular, as an adventitious outgrowth of social life. Conjointly, both views speak manifestly to the essentiality of drama as an inherently social activity whose true mold consists in the operative and diverse constituents of social life.

The core of drama is mimesis, a principle through which drama presents a social conflict and a structure of actions displayed by characters whose interaction, whether it furthers fiction or harmony, illumines the complex social relations that bind them together. In a neo-Aristotelian mould, utilising such compositional aspects as plot, character, thought, diction, music and spectacle, drama recomposes a society and a social milieu in which dramatic action is set as mainly a mesh of details bearing on the events and directions of a factual society. The peculiar nature of the affinity of drama and society inheres in the form as much as in the content of drama. The content of drama is a focal replay of the contradictory impulsions of the social structure. These impulsions are deployed as the conflictual tendencies of the personages who are outposts of various ideals and institutions. These personages compete for dominance to determine not merely the direction of the society in which they exist, but far more significantly, they strive to show this direction as the historically valid and objective norm.

Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Literature and the Socio Political Space in Reading of Ola Rotimi's "Our Husband has Gone Mad Again" and Wole Soyinka's "Kongi Harvest”.

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1.3 Statement of Problem

The radical dramatist has always been a front-line soldier in the fight for a transformed society. This he does by rejecting in totality, all unacceptable standards. The political class therefore perceives the radical dramatist as a ‘thorn-in-the-flesh’. The dramatist, who writes about the dark sides of the socio political life of the society, has often met stiff opposition from the ruling class. This is because the radical playwright is never in the same camp with the ruling class; especially under an undemocratic atmosphere. Here, the radical dramatist is considered a threat- an impending time bomb ready to explode any time with a very dangerous outcome. This is why any government with an authoritarian poise would fight theatre radicalism to extinction.

Unfortunately, theatre and politics have proved to be an inseparable pair, since politics is part of the social life of every society, and theatre mirrors life. The radical dramatist therefore sticks out his neck to play his role as a social commentator; else, he would not be doing his part as the watch-dog of the society. The unending war of ideology between the radical dramatist and the ruling class has resulted in several sad tales on the part of the dramatist. Many of them have resorted to self exiles, while very many others have at one time or the other, been condemned to varying jail terms. Nikolai Gogol of Russia, Ngugi Wa Thiongo of Kenya and Wole Soyinka of Nigeria are some examples of playwrights who have suffered one form of persecution or the other from the government, for attempting to correct the ills of the society, using drama as a tool. It will not be out of place to say that any radical dramatist, who operates in an autocratic atmosphere, unarguably constitutes himself into ‘endangered specie’. This does not however suggest that radicalism in theatre practice should give in to political intimidation; that would be more dangerous because it will open a flood-gate of political excesses, which in turn is very unhealthy to social existence.

Presently, there seems to be no sustained effort in criticism to study the plays of Wole Soyinka and those of Ola Rotimi comparatively, especially as they engage transegenerational perspectives and intertextuality. This study may help us in understanding the explicit and subtle similarities and differences that characterize the dramaturgy of these great playwrights. Besides, Soyinka has sustained dramatic writing for over fifty years. His outputs according to Biodun Jeyifo have tended generally to outstrip the scope of each successive study of his plays and, therefore, needs critical reconsideration.

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1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to scrutinize the Literature and the Socio Political Space in Reading of Ola Rotimi's "Our Husband has Gone Mad Again" and Wole Soyinka's "Kongi Harvest". In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To investigate the Ola Rotimi's "Our Husband has Gone Mad Again" and Wole Soyinka's "Kongi Harvest" in comparative terms, using transgenerational perspectives and intertextuality as the yardsticks for the study;
2. To explore how the plays of Wole of Soyinka and Ola Rotimi can be amendable to transgenerational interpretation;
3. To examine how the selected plays of Wole Soyinka and Ola Rotimi relate as well as differ in handling transgenerational issues;
4. To investigate the past textual and extra-textual materials that influenced the plays of Ola Rotimi's "Our Husband has Gone Mad Again" and Wole Soyinka's "Kongi Harvest"

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1.5 Significance of Study

The study shall provide a step-by-step approach to a logical and critical evaluation of the social and political malfunctioning of the society while at the same time suggesting the way forward to solving the society’s problem. The research work shall serve to expose the ills of the society, especially those emanating from bad leadership and political insincerity; opening the worm cans of the oppressors and giving the oppressed the courage to stand up to the challenge of fighting oppression to a stand- still in a class conscious society such as ours. It will also serve as a research material for student and other researchers who may wish to carry out research in similar areas.

The major significance of this study is that it may assist us to have a wider and deeper understanding and appreciation of the nature of the playwrights’ consciousness and the way they articulate such consciousness in their plays in terms of the areas of common bond and differentiation.

This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

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1.6 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• What is the relevance of transgenerational perspectives to the interpretation of the selected plays of Wole Soyinka and Ola Rotimi?
• How do the selected plays of Wole Soyinka and Ola Rotimi relate as well as differ in handling transgenerational issues?
• What past textual and extra-textual materials influence the Ola Rotimi’s “Our Husband has Gone Mad Again” and Wole Soyinka’s “Kongi Harvest” and how do they compare?

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1.7 Methodology

Data used in this work is derived primary from secondary sources. The methodology therefore, is basically documentary in nature. This involves learning new facts and principles through the study of documents and records. The documents and records include journals, textbooks, newspapers, magazines, official publications etc. By putting together logically evidence derived from documents and records. Conclusion which either established facts hitherto unknown or sound generalization can be obtained.

For purposes of analysis and interpretation of the Ola Rotimi's "Our Husband has Gone Mad Again" and Wole Soyinka's "Kongi Harvest" plays, the study adopted myth criticism, Marxism and feminism as well as intertextuality as critical options in order to cause the texts to account and yield a web of meaning reflecting the complex and multiple worlds the texts were built on.

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1.8 Scope of Study

The study focuses on the Literature and the Socio Political Space in Reading of Ola Rotimi's "Our Husband has Gone Mad Again" and Wole Soyinka's "Kongi Harvest".

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1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet).