Literature, revolution and healing the society

Abstract

Literature and revolution are motifs aimed at exploring the enormous contributions and roles played by the study of literature across Africa. This study is mostly centered on the dilemma tales of Ama Ata Aidoo‟s The Dilemma of a Ghost (1965) and Athol Fugard‟s Statement Plays (1972). The paper argues that the discipline is far above bibliolatry and it further examines the authority in which the discipline wields in the society. This preconceived power in the discipline is expressed through the study of themes and dramatic techniques as seen in the plays of the two playwrights from different regions of Africa exploring the socio-political wound that led to the reactions and concern of great writers and playwright like Athol Fugard and Ama Ata Aidoo. Fugard‟s Statement Plays (1972) especially the stapled parts appear to be neglected as a result of its complexities and dynamic socio-political situation that may be summarized as “apartheid”. The Dilemma of a Ghost (1965) delineates on folk drama in modern theatre. It is a dramatic art of storytelling where by the theatre or environment is combined with eating and drinking, poetry reading and plays. It is the techniques and convention that matter most in this kind of drama where issues of morals are examined. This plays can also be classified as dilemma tale; a tale which poses a difficult questions of moral or legal significance on older and younger generation. The two plays therefore are a response to the various anger and attack of different sorts arising from the social and political upheavals in the society. For proper evaluation and explication of this research the theoretical framework adopted for this study is the post-colonial theory which makes the work more relevant and appropriate for the evaluation of the issues that transcends between socio-political and economic life of Africans and further reinstates that literature uses revolution to heal all kinds of debilitating wounds whether political, social or emotional.