Harnessing the Power of Political Satire in Dismantling Notions of Happiness in Contemporary African Societies Represented in Wole Soyinka’s Chronicles

Abstract

Literary artists criticise and condemn social evil in society in various ways. Writers of contemporary African literature have used satire to condemn and criticise social, economic and political misdeeds. Wole Soyinka is one of these contemporary African literary artists. On this basis, this study seeks to interrogate the use of satire in contemporary African societies. This research article aims to demonstrate how satire is used to dismantle notions of happiness in contemporary African societies, as represented in Wole Soyinka's Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth. The article will rely on two literary theories: post-colonialism as advanced by Balce (2016), Bhabha (1994) and Bertens (2001). Three postcolonial tenets will be utilised in this study: postcolonial satire as a humourous narrative which produces new histories or new ways of interpreting and understanding the colonial past and/or the neocolonial present, the postcolonial satire as an aesthetic response to colonial amnesia by examining the wounds of its past histories or its past hangovers and the idea of cultural ambivalence. This study concludes that the success of satire in dismantling notions of happiness in Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth lies in its capability to show the inconsistencies and pretences intrinsic in the search for happiness within a crooked and unjust society. By uncovering the truths prowling beneath the surface, Soyinka dares readers to oppose painful realities and to attempt a more reasonable, sobre and unprejudiced civilisation. Soyinka gives a detailed account of each evil he satirises in the book as a true reflection of what happens in the real world today.