Twenty-first century relevance of Soyinka’s <i>A dance of the forests</i>: a postmodern conceptualization

Abstract

This article embarks on a re-reading of Wole Soyinka’s A Dance of the Forests in order to determine the relevance of the play to the twenty-first century Nigerian cum African society. The re-reading is cast in a postmodern conceptualization because it attempts a deconstructive reading procedure, which reassesses and subverts earlier significations imputed to the text by previous readers, the author and characters in the text itself. It affirms that, to the 21^st century reader, the play is a paradox of dramatic representation which integrates antinomies that are antithetical to progress with a shallow but conceivable salutary vision to the twenty-first century African society.

Keywords: Twenty-first century African society, A Dance of the Forests, Antinomies, Post-modernity