From Popular Justice to (Revolutionary) Humanism: Ideological Shifts in Femi Osofisan

Abstract

Every writer grows in ideological perspectives, whatever his vision is. This growth is usually a result of, or response to, societal becoming. The paper discusses some major plays of Femi Osofisan, the leading figure of the second generation dramatists in Nigeria, as part of the dramatic responses to the shifting environment of the Nigerian state within the postcolony. The paper is of the view that the insistence of the dramatist on the social function of art and the artist in society is responsible for his own ideological mutation from what the paper terms popular justice to revolutionary humanism. This is also a result of the dramatist‟s own artistic maturation over time as it is common to every writer. Again, for art to remain relevant and ideologically verdant, it must continue to respond to the inconsistencies in society. It is on this note that the paper concludes that in any epoch, authorial ideology shifts consistently with the mutation of the general ideology whether at the acquiescing or conflicting levels of social experience.