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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Grotesque and mirthless humour in 'Midnight Hotel' and 'Morning yet on Judgement Day' |
Author: | Bamidele, Lanre |
Year: | 2009 |
Periodical: | African Performance Review |
Volume: | 3 |
Issue: | 1 |
Pages: | 59-73 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Nigeria |
Subjects: | humour drama |
About persons: | Hyginus Ekwuazi Femi Osofisan (1946-) |
Abstract: | This paper examines theories of humour in which the comic and the tragic meet through the style and structure of a text. It defines the grotesque along this line and interprets Femi Osofisan's satiric pieces in 'Midnight Hotel' (1985) within the ambit of an unnatural disordered universe which he creates to arouse laughter. This is in contrast to the kind of humour that is mirthless, as in Hyginus Ekwuazi's play 'Morning yet on Judgement Day' (1987), because the issues discussed range from the serious to the tragic about the sociopolitical environment in which the play weaves the plot. In other words, the reception of each of these Nigerian plays depends on the use of language and style to elicit either of the reactions: the grotesque in terms of the comic and mirthless humour in terms of the tragic, which are illustrated in the two plays. Bibliogr., sum. [Journal abstract, edited] |