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A review by elle_reads
Death and the King's Horseman: A Play by Wole Soyinka
5.0
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BOOK REVIEW
[Death and the King’s Horseman] Based on a true events, a British officer interrupts a horseman of the Yoruba King's ritual suicide.
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WHAT I LIKED
Soyinka economically describes complex layers of ritual in Yoruba and Brittish society without the need for extensive background knowledge. Everything is grey. Everything is questioned. It is not a “clash of cultures.” Clash suggests some facet of equality. No. Truth holds colonialization’s exploitation of weakened cultures grasping for straws of justification. Soyinka's characters ask: what is one ritual suicide compared to the numberless deaths in the trenches? How are masked Yoruba dances any lesser human than a masked ball (could they even be more respectful than the British, who “borrow” ritual masks of death?)? How/when is one justified in their actions again another’s beliefs?
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WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
Give more descriptions of the dances! The masks! The tangible! Death and the King’s Horseman is the only play Soyinka published before its performance. He was exiled at the time of publication. I researched productions of his play to further the tone of his production (because the words are already so moving).
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Death and the King’s Horseman (by Wole Soyinka) ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️5/5
BOOK REVIEW
[Death and the King’s Horseman] Based on a true events, a British officer interrupts a horseman of the Yoruba King's ritual suicide.
//
WHAT I LIKED
Soyinka economically describes complex layers of ritual in Yoruba and Brittish society without the need for extensive background knowledge. Everything is grey. Everything is questioned. It is not a “clash of cultures.” Clash suggests some facet of equality. No. Truth holds colonialization’s exploitation of weakened cultures grasping for straws of justification. Soyinka's characters ask: what is one ritual suicide compared to the numberless deaths in the trenches? How are masked Yoruba dances any lesser human than a masked ball (could they even be more respectful than the British, who “borrow” ritual masks of death?)? How/when is one justified in their actions again another’s beliefs?
//
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
Give more descriptions of the dances! The masks! The tangible! Death and the King’s Horseman is the only play Soyinka published before its performance. He was exiled at the time of publication. I researched productions of his play to further the tone of his production (because the words are already so moving).
//
Death and the King’s Horseman (by Wole Soyinka) ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️5/5