Naming, Historiography, and the Making of a Pasquinade in Wole Soyinka’s A Play of Giants

This study examines the intersections between names of characters and the recreation of history in African literature. It investigates the significance of naming to the creation of satire, lampoon and pasquinade. These issues are examined through the analysis of Wole Soyinka’s A Play of Giants, a satirical play that focuses on the idea of tyranny and abuse of power in postcolonial Africa societies. It is argued here that the writer rewrites the histories of some African dictators through the inversion of their names in an attempt to foreground the effects of tyranny while satirizing dictatorship. To do this, archetypal theory is employed as analytical framework because it relates to the evaluation of archetypes as examples people could relate with. It also aligns with recurring motifs like the naming of characters. The study finds that in satirizing African rulers, Soyinka uses the device of inversion to subtly distort their names but ensures that readers are in no disagreement with the specific people he is referring. Thus, their histories are retold as the readers are sure of the referents, which were only thinly disguised. The study also reveals that naming is an important aspect of story-telling and interpretation. The names of the characters also help them to further the subject matter and authorial vision of the text, which is to create a parody of the characters especially through their names and descriptions. In essence, the study aligns with the idea of literature as a mirror of the African experience in all ramifications.

Keywords: A Play of Giants Historiography Naming Satire Soyinka

Author

• Mulikah Adeyemi Lawal
  Department of English, University of Lagos
  madedamola@unilag.edu.ng
  07030903337