The narrative is a funny and magical piece of work: full of folk fantasy, folk wisdom. But it's also got its share of folk cruelty. And more than that--its share of hard political reality as well. Written in 1962--when Soyinka was a young man...
The Question and Answer section for The Lion and the Jewel is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.
The narrative is a funny and magical piece of work: full of folk fantasy, folk wisdom. But it's also got its share of folk cruelty. And more than that--its share of hard political reality as well. Written in 1962--when Soyinka was a young man...
Lakunle is a smart but arrogant twenty-three-year-old schoolteacher who lambasts Ilujinle for its backwards views. He thinks semi educated people lack substance and create half-baked ideas.
It does not seem that Soyinka consciously tries to make a statement about gender in regard to power, but he does so nonetheless. On the one hand, he creates two female characters that are sassy, opinionated, manipulative, and independent. On the...