PANDEMIC POETRY AND SURVIVOR COMPLEX IN REMI RAJI’S WANDERER CANTOS (2021)

Abstract

Historical occurrences have always been one of the sources that critics have linked with the inspiration and composition of literary writings. Like their other counterparts in the world, Nigerian artists have been inspired immensely by historical occurrences which are sourced from oral history or tangible experiences of the nation and the world. The experiences that have been mirrored in global art, however, had remained localised until the outbreak of the coronavirus plague in 2019. For the first time after a long time, historical experiences coincide in literary writings across the world on account of the covid-19 surge. This paper takes a critical look at Remi Raji’s latest poetry collection, Wanderer Cantos (2021), with a particular focus on his covid-19 section - “Coronavirus Cantos and Monologues: My Life in the Bush of Impossible Virus”. The inquiry into Remi Raji, regarded as a third generation Nigeria poet, engages with the evolutionary trends in modern Nigerian poetry After noting that Remi Raji’s covid-19 compositions are different from others because of his personal experience as a victim of the virus, the paper points out how the poet has used his encounter to meditate on the social trauma that beclouded his space and the world during the lockdown. The aggregation of the personal, domestic and universal experiences mirrored by the poet in the isolated verses, leads to a conclusion that emphasises common humanity as the thrust of Remi Raji’s covid-19 intervention but also exposes to re-interrogation settled theorising such as the postcolonial.