Yoruba Mythology: Osofisan’s Ideological Haven in Once Upon Four Robbers and Esu and The Vagabond Minstrel

Abstract

Scholars and critics around the world interpret Femi Osofisan’s literary oeuvre from different perspectives. Beyond aesthetics, his dramaturgy offers multiple vistas for a critical appraisal of society. Given the many interpretations of his works, it is problematic to circumscribe them within a single ideological chamber as many scholars and critics have sought to do. However, this study demonstrates that Osofisan’s ideological profundity derives mainly from the Yoruba mythology which foregrounds the matrix of his literary haven. Utilizing the rich potential of Yoruba mythology, Osofisan projects his social vision by revalorizing the complementarities of opposites as inexorable items of social progress. Through the critical lens of deconstructive criticism, this study reveals another stratum of meaning in Osofisan’s plays. Using his two plays One Upon Four Robbers and Esu and the Vagabond Minstrel, it is revealed that their primal ideological praxis derives from the Yoruba mythology. Thus, the Yoruba mythology provides an ideological imperative which galvanizes Osofisan’s creative and aesthetic convictions. While scholars and critics may interpret literary texts from diverse perspectives, the success of Osofisan’s creative leaning on the Yoruba mythology should encourage further interpretations of texts from other African mythological hues which are replete with suitable, ideological framework.