A critical exploration of Soyinka’s “metamorphosisation” of corruption in <i>Interventions I, II and IV</i>

Abstract

Critics use several avenues to describe and decry the deplorable socio
political situations in the twenty first century Nigerian nation. Amongst these critics, Wole Soyinka plays a prominent role. In the past, several researchers had analysed Soyinka‟s literary and non literary works using different theoretical perspectives such as pragmatics, stylistics and critical discourse analysis. However, Soyinka‟s pictorial depiction of the “metamorphosisation” of corruption in the Nigerian nation, hence its Nigerianness, using the Interventions has not received much critical attention. This study, therefore, adopts Critical Metaphor Analysis and Cognitive Semantics as the theoretical framework in identifying, interpreting and explaining how corruption has “metamorphosed” in a manner that is uniquely Nigerian in Interventions I, II and IV with a view to showing how metaphors are domesticated to suit different societies. Soyinka‟s Interventions I, II and IV constitute the source of data, and are purposively chosen for their content on the “metamorphism” of the societal canker corruption. Metaphor exploration of Soyinka‟s language use helps us assess the world in a way which may vary from the way we typically perceive it, and consequently, offers various new interpretations.