The Lion and the Jewel

This is cute, although I found the obscurity, the assumption built into the very grammar of the sentences, that we would recognize all the references a bit annoying (but it's probably good for me to be annoyed in that way--like reading a Victorian novel would have been for Soyinka at Leeds). The only character more ridiculous than the shallow and venal traditional Yoruba is the modernizing fool Lakunle; the language is stilted in this pseudo-Elizabethan way that lends a spurious, but entirely charmingly so, dignity; everyone can summon up an all-singing, all-dancing chorus to tell a story at the drop of a calabash; and it's the only stories I've heard of where the ruttish old patriarch wins in the end without leaving a sour taste in show more your mouth. Because Baroka and his first wife/procurer Sadiku represent the ignorant, horny past, Lakunle the even more ignorant (Iignorant of the horrors it'll bring) future; and Sidi the site where they clash. Which is a retrograde plot, perhaps, but then Sidi takes it into her head to mess the whole thing around, making her more of a Pandora (with the expected unfortunate consequences for her), and when the Crocodile wins you cheer not only because it's done so playfully but also because at least it goes down as a loss in colonialism's column. show less

A thought-provoking play by the first African author to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. The play deals with the conflict between traditional ways and modernization; for example, should a man pay a bride price in order to marry? The young schoolmaster, a believer in Western culture, wants to marry 'the jewel' Sidi but doesn't want to pay her bride price claiming it is old-fashioned (though the reader/viewer is also left with the impression that he can't afford it!). The headman of the village, 'the lion', is in his 60s and has several wives and concubines already but can pay. The village is still traditional in its daily life but one senses that it is on the verge of change. As a Westerner myself, I started out with the preconceived show more notion that modernization would be a beneficial change but by the end of the play, I was not so sure. The 'Lion', representing the traditional values and culture, was not as weak and aged as he appeared to be -- I assume that is Soyinka's way of saying that the tradional culture isn't as ready to fade away either. Whether that is good or bad is unclear to me but interesting to think about... show less