The Athenian sun in an African sky : modern African adaptations of classical Greek tragedy / by Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wetmore, Kevin J., Jr., 1969-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Adaptations.

African drama (English)--History and criticism.

African drama (English).

Greek drama (Tragedy)--Adaptations--History and criticism.

Greek drama (Tragedy).

Greek drama (Tragedy)--Appreciation--Africa.

Greek drama (Tragedy)--Appreciation.

Africa.

African drama (English)--Greek influences.

Physical Description:

viii, 232 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland, [2002]

Summary:

This is a history of the band through the present. The book includes a chronology of all of the band's recordings and information on all accompanying tours.

Contents:

Introduction: The Library Doors of Classical Africa 1

1. Africa's Classical Legacy

Athens' African Legacy 7

Greek Colonization and the Greek Construction of Africa 8

Afrocentric Classicism 15

The Impact of Afrocentric Classicism on Greco-African Adaptations 20

2. Attic Tragedy

Afric Tragedy 23

Tragedy, Myth, and Orality: Athens and Africa 24

Homer and Indigenous African Epic 28

The Introduction of Greek Tragedy to Africa 30

Postcolonial Theatre, Transculturation, Hybridity, and the Art of Adaptation 35

Tragic Theory and African Tragic Theory 44

Summary: Greek Tragedy in Africa 48

Aristophanes in Africa 50

3. Ritual, Roots, and Tragic Form 53

Ritual and Sacrifice in Greece and Africa 57

A Return to Origins: Song of a Goat 62

Dionysus and Ogun: The Yoruba Tragedy of Wole Soyinka 75

Ritual and Revolution: Soyinka and The Bacchae of Euripides 81

4. The Voice of the Polis 99

Political Theatre in Athens and Africa: Myth as Civic Lesson 99

Fate and the State: Ola Rotimi's The Gods Are Not to Blame 103

The Household Suffers as Society Suffers: Edufa 120

South Africa as Tragic Protagonist: Demea 130

5. Orestes in South Africa 143

The Myth of Orestes 143

Orestes the Mother-Killer: Fugard's Orestes 145

Orestes on Trial: The Song of Jacob Zulu 153

Changing Orestes, Changing South Africa 166

6. African Antigones 169

Antigone in Africa 169

African and Greek Attitudes to Death, Burial, and the Gods 173

Antigone in Exile 1: Odale's Choice 176

Antigone in Exile 2: Tegonni 181

Antigone Under Apartheid: The Island 194

Life Mirrors Art: Black Wedding Candles for Blessed Antigone 203

Conclusion: African Theatre in a Postcultural World 213.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-227) and index.

ISBN:

0786410930

OCLC:

47181969