LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 16:11 November 2016
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Renuga Devi, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Cultural Fissures in Wole Soyinka’s The Lion And The Jewel and
Mahesh Dattani’s Dance Like A Man

M. Pandiselvi, M.A., M.Phil.


Abstract

Wole Soyinka is a renowned Nigerian dramatist, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986. The traditions and customs of Yoruba are typically presented in The Lion and The Jewel. Some of the customs like, bride-price, polygamy, wife wooing girls for her husband, are highlighted and the writer challenged these outdated customs and traditions. The final triumph of African culture over modernity recognizes the postcolonial need for a discovery of the past glory and grandeur. Dattani‘s Dance like a Man shows noticeable cultural change and is passing through a transitional phase. The play forms a link among three generations. It focuses on the lives of Jairaj and Ratna, Lata and Viswas and Amritlal Parekh. The father represents Indian tradition and culture whereas the son adapts the western ways. He also highlights how the social restrictions and the consequential conflicts affect the familial relationship of father-son and husband-wife. Amritlal imposed his beliefs on the next generation. He gives priority to the culture. Indian culture is strongly rooted in its tradition and values, while the modernism is attempting to consolidate itself in Indian space.

Keywords: Wole Soyinka, The Lion and The Jewel, Yoruba, African culture, Indian traditions, Mahesh Dattani, Dance like a Man

Introduction

Commonwealth Literature is the store house of different cultures and perspectives. It is characterized by the principle of diversity in union. Whereas the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized happens to be the common denomination of this literature, it is marked by a great variety in its details. For example the love-hate relationship, east-west encounter, sympathy and antipathy, acculturation and enculturation, rejection of British mode of language and impregnation of it by the native vitality. The diversity of Commonwealth Literature is further developed by Contemporary African Literature. One of the predominant themes of Commonwealth Literature is the interaction between the forces of tradition and modernity. It is due to the intermingling of cultures and the effect of Colonization

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M. Pandiselvi, M.A., M.Phil.
English Teacher
Y.R.T.V. Mat. Hr. Sec. School
1-A, Chairman A.R. Arunachalam Road
Post Box No. 340
Poothayammal Nagar
Sivakasi - 626 123
Tamilnadu
India
pandiselvi025@gmail.com
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