The Sociopolitical Imagination in Soyinka's Season of Anomy

Foreign Literature Studies ›› 2020, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (4): 137-148.

• Criticism and Review • Previous Articles Next Articles

The Sociopolitical Imagination in Soyinka's Season of Anomy

Song Zhiming

Online:2020-08-25 Published:2021-02-25
About author:Song Zhiming is an associate professor at the College of Chinese Language and Culture, Beijing Normal University (Beijing, 100875, China). His major research fields are foreign literature and culture and teaching Chinese to speakers of other languages. Email: songzhiming1006@163.com
Supported by:
A Study of the Nigerian Writer Wole Soyinka” (17BWW087) sponsored by the National Social Science Fund of China

Abstract

Abstract: Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka's novel, Season of Anomy, depicts a communal utopia and embeds the mythical structure and seasonal cycle into the textual narrative, but such a creative narrative mode fails to blend well with the political theme of the novel. The political ideals are flimsy and abstract, separated from other ample factors, such as religion, mythology, ritual, and the “philosophy of regeneration” extracted from traditions. The construction of an ideal society is eventually dissolved into a symbolic mythical salvation. The power of social regeneration hinges upon the cycle of nature. Despite being criticized as a “work of failure”, this left-wing novel not only shows that Marxist ideology and communism used to be one of the options for the social development in Africa, but also reveals another direction in which African intellectuals could explore and pursue their social reform.

Key words: Soyinka, Season of Anomy, utopia, myth, “philosophy of regeneration”

Song Zhiming. The Sociopolitical Imagination in Soyinka's Season of Anomy[J]. Foreign Literature Studies, 2020, 42(4): 137-148.

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