“Our World is Tumbling in the Void of Strangers”: A Failed Ritual in Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman.
This article focuses on the dysfunctional dance ritual that lies at the core of Wole Soyinka’s 1975 play Death and the King’s Horseman – a flawed ritual suicide that the main protagonist Elesin fails to accomplish, partly because of his inner weakness and flaws and partly because of the disruptive i...
保存先:
| 出版年: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/pla, |
|---|---|
| 第一著者: | |
| フォーマット: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| 言語: | Anglais |
| 出版事項: |
Postcolonial Literatures and Arts
2025
|
| 主題: | |
| オンライン･アクセス: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| 要約: | This article focuses on the dysfunctional dance ritual that lies at the core of Wole Soyinka’s 1975 play Death and the King’s Horseman – a flawed ritual suicide that the main protagonist Elesin fails to accomplish, partly because of his inner weakness and flaws and partly because of the disruptive interference of the British District Officer, Simon Pilkings. I argue that the play questions the possibilities of survival of traditional ethics in a (post)colonial context where religious and cultural values have undergone profound changes. My contention is that Soyinka uses the ritual format not only as a cohesive and conciliatory dramaturgical aesthetics but also as a critical dissident tool that invites us to reflect on the conditions of the rebuilding of a communal Nigerian identity in the modern era. The fault line lies both in the divide between Elesin’s hubristic will to accomplish brilliantly his religious mission and its failed outcome, and in the dramaturgical aesthetics of the play itself as it confronts two opposed views on ritual. This confrontation opens up a new space for critical thinking. |
|---|