Revolution in the Nigerian Literary Space: A Marxist Reading of Select Nigerian Dramatists

Abstract

Literary writing and revolution are closely related, and this relationship is crucial. Writers are necessary for revolutions, as are ideas. Revolutions are social struggles which result in the transformation or reconstitution of society. Implicitly, human progress is produced historically by economic, social, political, and intellectual struggles which could be considered the locomotives of human history – propelling humanity forward. Leaning on Marxist theory of revolution, this study examines the treatment of revolutionary themes in select plays of Femi Osofisan and Esiaba Irobi. Adopting a critical content analysis approach, the study reveals a common theme of the Marxist Revolutionary Romanticism which is characterized by revolution as opposed to resignation to fate; the collective energy of the people that is vigorously employed in praxis is not based on metaphysicalilty but on social awareness and articulated struggle.  Specifically, Osofisan handles revolutionary subjects such as compelling stories about peasant uprising and the metamorphosis of the wealthy class who join the struggle, the difficulties of revolution and the costs associated with it as well as class conflict and the struggle against subjugation. Irobi, on the other hand addresses concerns on the aggressive features of revolution and the pursuit of social and political transformation on personal initiatives leading to revolutionary transformation as well as support of a terror-filled environment to oppose political oppression. It could then be submitted that the plays studied lean on the Marxist worldview centred on the conflict between the exploiter and the oppressed, which ultimately determines whether society will advance or not.