Wole Soyinka, b. 1934, Nigerian writer, poet and playwright; Derek Walcott, b. 1930, Caribbean poet, playwright, writer and visual artist and Girish Karnad, b. 1938, Kannada playwright and actor from India.
This book concentrates on the works of major dramatists from former colonies, including writers such as Wole Soyinka from Nigeria, Derek Walcott from St. Lucia, Girish Karnad from India, Athol Fugard from South Africa, Jack Davis from Australia, Vincent O'Sullivan from New Zealand, and Kee Thuan Chye from Malaysia. Although these dramatists reflect different cultures and histories, a common condition of cultural subjection or oppression informs their works. Key texts analyzed in the book include Wole Soyinka's The Bacchae of Euripides: A Communion Rite, A Dance of the Forest, and The Road; Derek Walcott's Dream on Monkey Mountain, The Sea at Dauphin, and Ti-Jean and His Brothers; as well as Girish Karnad's Tughlaq, Hayavadana, and Naga-Mandala. The book examines the ways in which these writers' works become significant sites for resistance, investigating how postcolonial dramatists use some common strategies, such as: rewriting of canonical texts; reworking of Christian myths and doctrines; the reclamation of forms which existed prior to the colonial encounter; the combination of indigenous and Western forms, such as ritual, song, dance, language, history, myth, and story telling. The dramatists, although from different continents, make use of certain strategies in their works in order to bring to the center their own indigenous cultures while tackling contemporary themes. Thus, they succeed in combining what is native with that which is superimposed by the colonizing culture. Based on this premise, Postcolonial Drama keeps in view the fact that an erstwhile colony cannot escape the trauma of being a subject nation, and the impact is reflected in the art and literature produced by its people.
