A Literary artist's understanding of ''freedom'': A study of existentialist influences in tile short stories and poems of Taban Lo Liyong

Abstract

Taban Lo Liyong is one of Africa's most prolific literary writers and arguably, the most controversial. He is one writer whose works have baffled most literary critics specifically because of his iconoclastic ideas as well as modes of expression. This study identifies existentialism as the principal philosophical theory which has influenced and shaped the artistts subject matter and style. The study, therefore, discusses Taban's short stories and poems against this philosophical theory. The 'introduction' traces the background to the writer in order to show how he became influenced by existentialism. An attempt is made to shed light on what the philosophy is all about. The section, also discusses and appreciates sr.JTIe of the views expresaed by literary critics of Taban's works and reviewers of his books. Chapter one discusses the subject matter of Fixions and The Uniformed Man , The chapter attempts to show that Taban Lo Liyong emerge an existentialist as in his short stories. He pleads for freedom of the individual person and demonstrates that superpersonal forces such as social conventions, moraL values and traditional prctices are agents which deny the individual the expression of his authentic freedom the existentialist idea of the conflict between "Existence" and "Essence'' Chapter two examines aspects of form and style in Taban's short stories. The chapter studies such key macro-stylistic features as plot, point of view and introduction of allegorical devices. Microstylistic features such as the writer's syntax, lexical choices arid phonological resources are also examined e An observation is made that the writer urges for freedom in a style which manifests or enhances his existentialist ideas. His style tends to go against literary conventions. In chapter three, the themes of Taban's poetry are discussed. The works dealt with here include, Frantz Fanon's Uneven Ribs, Another Nigger Dead, Ballads of Underdevelopment and the three sets of politicophilosophical verses found in Thirteen Offensives Against Our Enemies. The chapter sees parallels between Taban's thematic concerns and the subject matter of Jean-Paul Sartre's idea of committed literature or what the French existentialist refers to as, ''La litterature engagee''. The poet. emerges as one who shuns conservatist tendencies of certain Africa's of traditional cultural institutions. He urges for Africa's freedom from the fetters of such traditions. It seems he is pre-occupied with and urges for the existentialist for notions of change, adaptation action and involvement. The poet also pleads for synthesism or miscegenation of the world's races. He urges for a situation where all people are free from racial prejudices. To such an extent, he appears to plead for Friedrich Nietzsche's 'Superman,The chapter also notes that the Poet's preoccupation with personal idiosyncracies, feelings of anguish and se e of futility are all suggestive of his existentialist influences. Chapter four studies the artistic modes of Taban ! s poetry. The chapter investigates such aspects as the structure of Taabn's books of poetry, and the micro-stylistic elements such as sound effects, lexical choices and semantics. Taban's tendency to write 'concrete poetry has parallels with the existentialist idea of putting emphasis on the concrete being and situation as the ab..odes of authenticity • Like in the second chapter, his tendency to defy the confines of literary conventions is suggestive of the existentialist's idea that every person is master of his life, the author of his own values. The last section contains summary and concusion to the study. The study concludes that Taban Lo Liyong is passionately concerned with Africa and the whole world's destiny. He urges for man's freedom in his works. His concerns bear definite parallels with the existentialist philosophical theory web runs through all his works to the extent that any reader or critic who does not acknowledge it, invariably, misses Taban's message and fails to adequately appreciate his artistic modes