Telling the Nation: A Postmodernist Reading of Tanure Ojaide’s God’s Medicine-Men and Other Stories
Author(s)
Henri Oripeloye*
ABSTRACT
Postmodernist reasoning signifies a move from traditional viewpoint to an accelerated technological terrain, the implication of this diversion is noticeable in the eclectic nature of life in contemporary society; all things become a continual flickering without any recognizable or perpetual presence. As a literary concept, postmodernism fashions the problematic landscape for the appreciation of the disordered nature of the world as it focuses on the dismantling of traditional values and affirmation of a fragmented society. Postmodernism, with its subtle emphasis on capitalism, has greatly exacerbated the post-colonial tendencies in Tanure Ojaide’s God’s Medicine-Men and Other Stories as money becomes a recurrent motif and a chief signifier. The stories underpin the overarching effect of cultural materialism, individuals and the society as everyone is caught in its web; these stories could also be read as the author’s depiction of a society that is going through a cultural flux.
Postmodernist reasoning signifies a move from traditional viewpoint to an accelerated technological terrain, the implication of this diversion is noticeable in the eclectic nature of life in contemporary society; all things become a continual flickering without any recognizable or perpetual presence. As a literary concept, postmodernism fashions the problematic landscape for the appreciation of the disordered nature of the world as it focuses on the dismantling of traditional values and affirmation of a fragmented society. Postmodernism, with its subtle emphasis on capitalism, has greatly exacerbated the post-colonial tendencies in Tanure Ojaide’s God’s Medicine-Men and Other Stories as money becomes a recurrent motif and a chief signifier. The stories underpin the overarching effect of cultural materialism, individuals and the society as everyone is caught in its web; these stories could also be read as the author’s depiction of a society that is going through a cultural flux.
Cite this paper
Oripeloye, H. (2014) Telling the Nation: A Postmodernist Reading of Tanure Ojaide’s God’s Medicine-Men and Other Stories. Advances in Literary Study, 2, 95-99. doi: 10.4236/als.2014.24016.
Oripeloye, H. (2014) Telling the Nation: A Postmodernist Reading of Tanure Ojaide’s God’s Medicine-Men and Other Stories. Advances in Literary Study, 2, 95-99. doi: 10.4236/als.2014.24016.
References
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[1] Ahmad, A. (1994). In theory: Classes, Nation Literatures. London and New York: Verso. [2] Appiah, K. A. (1996). Is the Post-In Postmodernism the Post-In Postcolonial. In M. Padmini (Ed.), Contemporary Postcolonial Theory (pp. 55-71). London: Arnold. [3] Davey, F. (1988). Reading Canada. Winnipeg: Turnstone. [4] Irele, A. (1981). Parables of the African Condition: A Comparative Study of three Post-Colonial African Novels. Journal of Comparative Literature, 1, 69-91. [5] Mowah, U. (2004). Liberation Narrative and Post-Modern Africa. In O. Onookome (Ed.), Ogun’s Children (pp. 67-80). Eritrea & Trenton: Africa World Press. [6] Ojaide, T. (2004). God’s Medicine-Men and Other Stories. Lagos: Malthouse. [7] Sangari, K. (1995). The Politics of the Possible. In A. Bill et al. (Eds.), The Post-Colonial Studies Reader (pp. 143-147). London and New York: Routledge. [8] Uledi-Kamanga, B. (1999). Exile and Alienation in Paul Tiyambe Zelaza’s Thejoys of Exile. Journal of Humanities, 13, 26-46.