ABSTRACT
There is a growing critical consensus that Ben Okri’s work operates within the same tradition of writing as Tutuola’s and Soyinka’s.1 The Famished Road operates in this tradition of writing in an even fuller and more suggestive way than the short stories. In this work Okri produces what might be termed new mythopoeic discourse with the invocation of myths, folklore and other aspects of indigenous beliefs. Particularly interesting is the range of esoteric passages in the novel and the variety of ways in which they are connected to events in the putative real world of the story. But, because the novel is yet to accrue critical research, the precise terms by which to relate it to the literary tradition remain vague. The novel represents a vast arena of interdiscursivity not only with earlier literary works but also with various indigenous beliefs to do with the relationship between the real world and the supernatural. One of the concerns of this chapter will be to trace the nature of that interdiscursivity in both directions. In addition, attention will be paid to the various ways in which these indigenous beliefs become transvaluated in the body of the narrative to hint at a validation as well as a critique of the indigenous belief system. Finally, an attempt will be made to show how Okri’s work articulates a particular perception of events in post-colonial Nigeria that brings the literary tradition into a direct engagement with the ambit of the socio-political while remaining steadfastly in the realm of the mythopoeic.
