Universal Vision in the Fiction of Ben Okri

Srividya Nammi

doi:10.24113/ijellh.v8i11.10841

Abstract

Okri’s fiction is a mix of fantasy, realism and oral tradition of Africa. Though the trilogy nearly covers some fourteen hundred odd pages, it doesn’t have a proper beginning or end. Okri’s view of an unnamedAfrican ghetto, which is going to get independence, is presented in these novels. He is not giving solutions to the existing problems , he is simply presenting the true nature of an African state in an elusive manner. He narrates The Famished Road through the experiences of an ‘abiku’, Azaro, a seven year old child. He uses Azaro to narrate the chaotic state of affairs in an African state , and educates Azaro with the rich African culture in the form of stories told by his mother and father, and shows the real state of Africa in the form of photographs taken by the photographer, Jeremiah. Okri’s fiction has many layers of meaning which makes the task of analysis difficult. Though several labels like magical realism, Post-colonial, post-modern text are given the trilogy defies any particular definition. After examining his Trilogy thoroughly, it seems that Okri though elusive in his writings apparently wants a new – world. The Trilogy moves in the direction of anticipating a world fine tuned to harmonious living.

Highlights

The main characters Azaro, Dad, Madame Koto, the photographer and mum are chosen to present the corrupt Africa and the consequences it will be facing in the immediate future
In an early review of the book, Kwame Anthony Appiah emphasizes The Famished Road’s “spiritual” terms of reference, and he distinguishes Okri’s “spiritual realism” from the more postmodern and postcolonial “magical realism” of Latin American authors. He says that there is a difference between theways in which Latin American writers draw on the supernatural and the way that Okri does
Masquerades and spirits are used exclusively throughout the trilogy to emphasize the importance of spirits in revitalizing human life in the physical world

Summary

Introduction

The main characters Azaro , Dad , Madame Koto , the photographer and mum are chosen to present the corrupt Africa and the consequences it will be facing in the immediate future. “Azaro is a protagonist who “materialized in some under water kingdom” only to flit between physical and spiritual worlds throughout his childhood Azaro’s case is an exceptional one, yet Okri suggests that all people, as discussed earlier are constituted” (Hemminger 73 -74).

Results

Conclusion