Written Igbo Drama: A Critical analysis.
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Date
2012
Authors
Nnabụihe, C.B
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Abstract
This thesis is a critical analysis of written Igbo drama which is a sub-genre of written Igbo literature. The thesis investigates the advent of written Igbo drama and follows its development to maturity. It establishes that written Igbo drama as a sub-genre of written Igbo literature was given vent by the existential experiences of the Igbo , especially during the trying times of the Nigerian Civil War. The thesis proves a point of departure from pupils’ concerts in schools and radio drama to a period of serious drama scripting. It argues that the scripts meant for public staging served the purposes of entertainment and as balm to massage the frayed and jaded nerves of the audience. The audience comprised the troops, the refugees and the general public whom the civil crisis suddenly brought hard-to-explain hardship, suffering and death. The thesis notes that written Igbo drama entertained enthusiastic audience; boost their morale and triggered both creative and critical interest in the sub-genre beyond the civil strife which paved the way for it to emerge. It goes further to pinpoint various social facts like agrarian questions, religious crises, armed robberies and leadership tussles as burning issues Igbo playwrights explore as themes. These themes are critically analysed in the light of their socio-political exigencies. The analysis is grounded on the premise of the Marxist dialectics which projects class dominations and struggles. In the five written Igbo drama texts being analysed in the course of this study, preponderance instances of power, wealth and personality clashes, dominations and conflicts which are the main-thrust of Marxist dialectics are divulged. It is observed that all the playwrights whose works are analysed identify with the masses and the oppressed to inveigh against the capitalist leaders and robbers who dominate and deny them their legitimate earnings and rights. At the end, the analysis gives a clearer understanding of written Igbo drama as a sub-genre of written Igbo literature. It brings to the fore the origin of the sub-genre, its development, its present status as well as its pedagogical importance to the larger Igbo society. The thesis concludes with an in-depth analysis of the literary appreciation of the language use in the five texts being studied.
Description
A Thesis Submitted to the School of Postgraduate Studies, University of Lagos.
Keywords
Language , Igbo Drama , Drama scripting , Research Subject Categories::HUMANITIES and RELIGION::Languages and linguistics::Other languages::African languages
Citation
Nnabụihe, C.B (2012), Written Igbo Drama: A Critical analysis. A Thesis Submitted to University of Lagos School of Postgraduate Studies Phd Thesis and Dissertation, 319pp.