Author/Authors :
DEĞİRMENCİ, Aslı Hacettepe Üniversitesi - Edebiyat Fakültesi - İngiliz Dili ve Edebiyatı Bölümü, Turkey
Title Of Article :
The Supernatural and the Real: Dreams, Myths, and Perceptions of Reality in Ben Okri’s The Famished Road
Abstract :
The supernatural content of Ben Okri’s novel The Famished Road spreads through the narrative and also affects the formal structure of the novel. The fact that narrator of the novel, Azaro is an abiku (spirit child) provides the basis for all of the supernatural phenomena in the novel. Furthermore, the Yoruba myth of abiku lends its cyclicality to the narrative structure. Many transitions occuring as Nigeria gets closer to independence are depicted through the eyes of Azaro, who, as a small child from a povertystricken working class family, travels many roads around his ghetto, registering all the developments that transform his environment irretrievably. This article suggests that Okri’s use of a culturally specific supernatural phenomenon (abiku) at the center of his narrative as well as the lack of references to a colonial presence provides him with the ability to depict a single inherently supernatural reality while at the same time depicting the transformation of colonial Nigeria, particularly the environmental changes, quite realistically.
NaturalLanguageKeyword :
Ben Okri , The Famished Road , Magical Realism , Nigeria , Abiku , Supernatural , Postcolonial Novel
JournalTitle :
Mediterranean Journal Of Humanities
