Wole Soyinka, Requiem for a Futurologist

Craig McLuckie (Okanagan College)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 8.2.3: Anglophone African Writing and Culture: Subsaharan.
Vol. editors: Helen Rachel Cousins (Newman University), David Firth (University of Manchester)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1983

Places

Nigeria (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play

Resources

The only problem which we all face is one which besets not only writers but citizens in Nigeria: the problem of our unbelievable and unacceptable socio-political situation, which gets more and more reactionary and inhuman with every succeeding regime. (Soyinka, in Wilkinson 91)

Requiem for a Futurologist is Wole Soyinka’s use of the stage farce as provocative witnessing. It makes the audience painfully aware that chaos (penkelemes: “peculiar mess”) governs, that one slip can bring this society down. The ‘hero’ is a trickster figure (like Jero in The Trials of Brother Jero and Jero’s Metamorphosis) who delights in his ability to turn a material profit, to accumulate …

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2096 words

Citation: McLuckie, Craig. "Requiem for a Futurologist". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 February 2004 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=12840, accessed 25 November 2024.]

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