WOLE SOYINKA's Death and the King's Horseman: Tragedy and Ritual Drama
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- čas přidán 8. 01. 2021
- This episode will focus on Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman, the Nigerian Nobel Prize winner’s most well-known play. The presents an almost perfect interpretation of the elements of error of judgment, reversal of fortune and anagnorisis that would have been much appreciated by Aristotle. It also has a number of other elements that that are reminiscent of the Greeks, such as a strong degree of disputatiousness, a carefully choreographed chorus-function, and an idea of the pharmakos that aligns sacrifice directly to the welfare of the polis. What prevents us from asserting a simple line of Greek influence to Soyinka’s dramaturgy is his explicitly acknowledged debts to Yorùbá cosmogony, especially with respect to the stories of Ogun and Esu, both of whom provide explicit ideational templates for several of his plays. Death and the King’s Horseman draws inspiration from a real historical event that occurred during the colonial period, and which Soyinka adroitly manipulates to generate what he terms the “threnodic” essence of his play. The emotional crux of the play centers on the failed ritual suicide of Elesin Oba, the king’s horseman of the title, who by tradition is supposed to extinguish himself some forty days after the death of the King. We shall see how the play stages a confrontation between personal weakness and the expectations of the community in the face of a metaphysical crisis and how this is exacerbated within the context of colonialism.
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Suggested Readings
David Richards, “Òwe l’esín óró: Proverbs Like Horses in Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman,” Journal of Commonwealth Literature 13.1 (1984): 89-99.
Tejumola Olaniyan, “Festivals, Rituals, and Drama in Africa”, in The Cambridge History of African and Caribbean Literature vol 1, eds. Abiola Irele and Simon Gikandi, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), pp. 35-48.
Ato Quayson, Strategic Transformation in Nigerian Writing, (Oxford and Indiana: James Currey and Indiana University Press, 1997).
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy and the Genealogy of Morals, translated by Francis Goffling, (New York: Doubleday, 1956).
Karin Barber, “Oríkí, Women and the Proliferation and Merging of Oríṣa,” Africa 60.3 (1990): 313-336.
Wole Soyinka, Myth, Literature, and the African World, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975).
Bolaji Idowu, Oludumare: God in Yoruba Belief, (London: Longman, 1994).
Adeleke Adeeko, Arts of Being Yoruba: Divination, Allegory, Tragedy, Proverb, Panegyric. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2017).
The extracted conversation between Iyaloja and the Elesin is something else. Thanks you prof.
Glad you liked it, Ageyiwaa.
Thank you so much for the video! I am studying for a literature exam now and this was extremely helpful. Loved the play and your analysis as well. Nice drumming and your delivery of the quotes made them more impactful for me.
"I need understanding" - that Elesin's sentence in the 5th act strangely echoes Mrs. Pilkins's to Olunde in the 4th: "I feel the need to understand as much as I can".
I like the point about markets and liminality. Looking sharp too!
Yes, it was a great choice by Soyinka to set the opening scene at the market. And in fact, what he illustrates there can also be found at our own Makola. I remember going there with Grace to get some groceries some time in December 2019 when we came home for Christmas and what should we find at the grocery stands alongside Makola no. 2? Giant speakers blasting a whole array of music (Davido and Tekno were in there!) while the women broke from their selling of tomatoes, okro, etc. from time to time to either sing loudly along or simply rise for a quick jig, all the while with an eye on their customers. Laughter and jokes were in abundance. And it was clear that this was not the only time. There are particular features of festival theatre that are often illustrated in our open air markets.
Thanks for this it's helpful to time
wow, really love this development for the book, thank you so much prof!!
Thank you very much Professor! Your explanations are clear, very clear. From Senegal
Thanks, Abdoulaye. I am glad you found the episode useful.
I have read DATKH but I didn’t have a very good understanding of it. Thank you for this video, professor!
Glad it was helpful!
This is the best analysis
Holy Moly!! Back in 1999, I worked in the booth, running either the light or the sound board (don't remember which, I did both for so many shows) when this play was performed on the main stage of Harbach Theatre at Knox College, in Galesburg, Illinois. Mr. Soyinka himself even attended one of the performances; I think it was opening night. I remember being kinda surprised at how many of the (white) regulars didn't even bother to audition for this MAIN STAGE, PROFESSOR DIRECTED production, of which there were only three per year! It's not like there aren't meaty European characters to play here! But all those roles went to freshmen, while the African character roles went to black students who really hadn't been so actively encouraged to participate in the department, even if they hadn't been actively excluded. I'm not trying to be critical of any individuals involved here, just saying what I remember feeling at the time, as it's an experience that has stuck with me ever since. I remember this production with great pride, fondness, and love.
"Sacred Dread." This.
❤ From India Sir👍
Lovely drumming as well 🪘 🙌🏾
Thank you, Kwabena 🙌!
Interesting video, African Literature even in written form does not deviate from oral tradition- i like the drumming. I haven't read Death and the King's Horseman but this video has whet my appetite to read it. And in teaching tragedy i think lecturers in Africa can use this book (and other African books) in addition to Oedipus the King. Thank you Prof Quayeson.
Hi Benjamin, I am glad that you enjoyed the episode, and that it has whet your appetite for Death and the King's Horseman. There is now a long and complicated debate about the relationship between orality and African literature. The relationship between the two is no longer considered as so straightforward. I may put out an episode on the history of that question some other time.
Elaudey my E upper floor mate. Boatuuu