Читать книгу Dynamics of Distancing in Nigerian Drama - Nadia Anwar - Страница 5

The study carried out in this book is important to me for two main reasons. Firstly it is an attempt to challenge the way in which postcolonial writing has thus far been circumscribed to limited locales, leaving out the huge output of significant writers from Africa; and secondly, it engages critically with the fact that in some parts of the world, including South East Asia and particularly Pakistan, non-western literary plays and academic writing about them get less attention due to the predominance of western educational systems in place. As a result, African literatures in general have been sidelined from mainstream academia in countries of the East. My study is not only an attempt to bring to the fore lesser known yet major voices of world literature, but also to tackle the paucity of theoretical frameworks which could facilitate contextually appropriate analyses of less well researched areas of African literature, in particular Nigerian drama. In order to do so I use the existing theoretical lenses developed by twentieth-century German dramatist and theatre practitioner Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) and American social psychologist Thomas J. Scheff (b. 1929) as a starting point from which I move on to develop a new, reliable and relevant framework for the reading of dramatic literature from Nigeria.

In this study I look into the concept of metatheatre, a well known but highly contested theatrical situation, and its distancing function, by taking into account the performance practices of post-independence Nigerian drama from the first to the third generation of Nigerian playwrights. In order to deal with the problem of generational categorization, I have selected playwrights according to specific phases in time during which their literary talents were more pronounced and they addressed pressing issues of that specific phase in political history. Current Nigerian drama can be appropriately grouped into three categories according to historical political and social contexts, namely the first (pre-independence), the second (post-independence), and the third generation (military), implying “the thematic and stylistic preoccupation of a group of writers responding to a distinct circumstance, partaking in the same narrative, consciously or unconsciously gravitating towards a unifying body of discourse” (Egya 2011, 50). But, following Harry Garuba’s analysis of generational categorization in “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” (2011), it is also worth pointing out that a specific literary period cannot be restricted to a single theme and style because of modern African literature’s association with “extra-literary context”.

In the examination of the selected texts, I have kept the theoretical focus on Brecht’s principles of dramatic distancing, and on the optimum distancing paradigm put forward by Scheff. Both models inform the theatrical, illusive, and fictional nature of metatheatrical performances that help in creating a balance between under- and over-distanced dramatic situations. I use notions of metatheatrical illusion, the Brechtian concept of estrangement or alienation, and the phenomenon of distancing interchangeably because they all tend to distance actors/performers and audiences/readers from an emotionally affective theatrical environment. However, it should be kept in mind while reading this book that the term ‘alienation’, when used to connote a distancing, in no way attempts to challenge or critique an individual’s mastery over her or his surroundings or feelings, as do some more formal and existential approaches towards alienation, which, according to Jaeggi (2014) see it as characterized by deficient relationships, indifference, and powerlessness. In fact, it empowers the theatrical space by offering possibilities of emotional balance.

This book particularly focuses on how metatheatrical elements can help in achieving a balanced state of audience reception by affecting the viewers on both cognitive and emotional levels. In the textual analysis I will look into the specific instances and varying degrees of metatheatrical illusion and into how that illusion is balanced and optimized in accordance with the shifting structural patterns within the texts. I have focused on the fluctuating levels of distancing created by metatheatrical techniques, noting their development from the metaphysical and spiritual plays of the first generation playwrights to the highly political and socialist plays of the second and the third generation, post-independence dramatists. This study also investigates why metatheatrical distancing is particularly relevant in the work of three generations of post-independence Nigerian theatre; and so includes playwrights Wole Soyinka (1934), Ola Rotimi (1938–2000), Femi Osofisan (1946), Stella Oyedepo (1949), and Esiaba Irobi (1960–2010). In addition, the analysis of the selected texts will show those theatrical features each generation of playwright shared and those that distinguish them and how their perspectives transformed over the course of their careers.

Given that it is impossible to incorporate all the dramatic literature written in the recognized national and regional languages of Nigeria; that the works of very few authors who write in their indigenous language have to date been translated into English; and that the literary output of all three generations of playwrights continues today, I have made a careful selection of playwrights to best reflect the three generations. The dramatists selected belong to the Nigerian cultural groups of the Yoruba and Igbo, both of which have a rich cultural history of performance and are known for their artistic contribution to Nigerian theatre. Although another major group, the Hausa, and many other ethnic and cultural groups such as the Efik, Ijaw, Tiv, and Ogoni, also display rich performance traditions, I have not examined their works, because they are mostly produced in their indigenous languages and are less well documented than the Yoruba and Igbo literatures.

Since through the course of history Nigerian drama has experienced many crucial political, social, and cultural moments, it is less important to investigate the change in the oeuvre of each dramatist than the transformations in the wider environment that has greatly affected all post-independence playwrights. In the case of the first and second generations, I have curtailed my selection to two plays from each playwright, one from an earlier phase of their career and one that is comparatively recent, so that the evolution of their styles can also be examined. From the third generation playwrights, I have selected one play each by Esiaba Irobi and Stella Oyedepo in order to highlight their experimentation with dramatic form in covering a wide range of everyday issues. Finally, I have categorized them according to the extent to which they make use of those metatheatrical elements that are the focus of this book. The transformation in the themes, which appear in their plays through metatheatrical techniques, occurs on three distinct levels; from one generation to another, from one playwright to another belonging to the same generation, and from the earlier work to the later work of a single playwright.

This book is aimed at students, teachers, and scholars of English Literature, especially postcolonial drama and theatre. It aims to provide an essential introduction to a subject that is both under-researched and academically enabling. The application of the framework used in this study also allows me to make new theoretical insights and the analysis of the play-texts aims to facilitate a critical reading and evaluation of them in the light of emerging trends and theoretical tropes in drama studies.

Note: To avoid potential inconsistencies in presentation, no diacritic signs or accent marks are used with non-English (especially Yoruba and Igbo) words, names, and titles in this book, whether in the main text, footnotes or bibliography.