MARXIST AESTHETICS IN FEMI OSOFISAN’S MOROUNTODUN AND FAREWELL TO A CANNIBAL RAGE
Ojo Paul OluwatimilehinThis study examines Marxist aesthetics in Femi Osofisan’s Morountodun and Farewell to a Cannibal Rage by exploring the society's intricacies and the imbalance apparent. It is a
common misconception that art is merely a means of expressing emotion. While this is not totally untrue, it is important to remember that art allows us to comment on a wide range of political and social events as well as to record history and represent societal values. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that literature is a product of society, as it is a form of art. As Aristotle says, literature is mimesis. Plato and Aristotle spoke of mimesis as the re-presentation of nature. This idea is what bolsters Tyson’s opinion that “Literature is a product of the socio-economic and hence ideological conditions of the time and place in which it was written, whether or not the author intended it or not” (63). This notion guides one to acknowledge the fact that literary works echo the milieu in which they were written. The society, as portrayed in literature, reveals the different facets of the common man's life. It reveals what people thought during a particular time and how they thought about it. It allows the individual to understand how a society functions and why it functions that way. With an individual reading of literary texts, we can detect the representation of the struggle of poor masses against the oppression of the rich. Thus, this project will attempt to study the Marxist concept of revolution as an expression of political and social consciousness in Femi Osofisan’s Morountodun and Farewell to a Cannibal Rage.